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Green Collage

From Alaska to Binghamton

| By: Ashley Pickus (apickus1@binghamton.edu)
Jack Green

Jack Green, who led the men’s soccer team in scoring this year, took a long road to get to BU

by Ashley Pickus
Binghamton Sports Information Office

Graduate student Jack Green believes that everything happens for a reason. A series of serendipitous encounters led the soccer player to where he is today.

Green grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, where a majority of the soccer season is spent indoors. Higher level activities were also hard to come by in the state but a chance meeting presented Green with a new opportunity. 

"The Portland Timbers, the Major League Soccer Team in Oregon, had two coaches that came up to Alaska to help run a training session and I didn't know that they were affiliated with them, and I ended up playing really well," Green said. "I was scrimmaging against a team a few years older - the state team, ADP - and I scored a few goals. Afterwards, the head director told me to go talk to them."

A few weeks later, Green competed in a regional tournament for the West Coast state teams where the Portland Timbers' Academy director was in attendance once again. Green was invited to Portland. Unbeknownst to him, the trip was a trial, at the end of which he was offered a spot on the team. At only 16 years old, Green moved from Alaska to Portland — alone.

"My mindset is, what if? What if I don't move down," he said. "What opportunities am I missing out on? And if it doesn't work out, well, then great, I'll just go back home. So that was my mindset and mentality. And that's kind of been my mindset and mentality with everything."

Fortunately, the move did work out for Green and he spent two seasons with the Portland Timbers Academy. Green's trajectory, however, would be shifted again after another stroke of fate. 

"I was on a flight to visit a school in Atlanta and figured it wouldn't be worth it to fall asleep. Instead, I talked to the man I was sitting next to and he told me about American [University]. He turned out to be the father of my future teammate and roommate."

Green eventually reached out to American after seeing that they followed him on Twitter. In another fortunate happenstance, the team would be traveling to the University of Portland the following week. Green attended the game and met with the coaches. Just a few weeks later, he was committed to American University. Throughout his four years, Green aided in a total transformation of the team.

"My first year at American, our team was horrible," he said. "We won three games, and we missed out on the playoffs. My sophomore year, we picked to finish ninth in the conference — we won the conference and lost to the number one team in the country in the NCAA Tournament. And we were up at halftime 1-0. And it was a horrible penalty call that we ended up losing on. My junior year and senior year, we made the championship game in our conference tournament."

The summer before his final year at American, Green competed in the Maccabi Games for a second time. There, Green met former Binghamton soccer player Ethan Homler. After his senior season ended, Green decided to use his last year of eligibility and searched for master's degree programs that fit that timeline. When he came across Binghamton, he knew who to contact.

"I asked Ethan, soccer wise, do you think I'd be a good fit for the team, because I just wanted to know from him as a player," Green said. "And he said, 'we lost a lot of our attacking guys, you should definitely reach out.' Six hours later I got a response."

When Binghamton head coach Paul Marco asked to meet in person, Green was preparing to undergo surgery on his shoulder. Their solution was to meet on the side of a highway in northern Maryland.

"I was driving down from my grandmother's house in New Jersey to Baltimore, where I got the surgery. He was driving up from Virginia to his coaching conference in Philly. When we got on the phone, he was like, 'Where are you going to be January 10th?' And I was like, I'm going to be driving down on my way to get surgery the next day. And he's like, okay, like, we'll find a time to meet in person."

Green ended up leading the Bearcats this past season with 10 total points from three goals and four assists. If there's one thing to learn from his story, it's to always take a leap of faith

"I don't believe anything's by chance," Green said. "Everything, I believe, happens for a reason, whether or not I understand that at the moment."


 
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