Aneesh Rattan may look like your typical 13-year-old, but if you get the chance to know him, you will find a dedicated person with a work ethic you can only admire, who proclaims: “I am satisfied, I don’t ask for much. I hope I succeed in life, I’ll try my best.” I have no doubts that he will succeed as he is not only a good student, but also a dedicated athlete who has devoted his life to soccer. On top of this he has recently become a certified Referee for soccer games played by kids up to his own age. All this and more made Aneesh such an extraordinary individual that it was my pleasure to talk to.

Aneesh has been playing soccer since he was 5-years-old and took to it right away unlike other kids who are started on activities by their parents and come to like it over time. As his older brother Ankush also played soccer, Aneesh has been around it his whole life, and his mother’s brother also played for an Indian national team. His major goals right now are to get good enough to be on the varsity team at Lexington High School, go to the nationals, and get a soccer scholarship for college.

Aneesh has been lucky to have an extremely supportive family behind him. His father has even coached one of his teams for two seasons when their previous coach quit, with his brother as the assistant coach. His biggest role model has been his brother who played soccer very well and on various teams until he got a bad injury and had to stop. “We have played together and he has taught me a lot, he has been really helpful. He came to most of my games and afterwards would give me advice on what I could have done better. You could say that he is my best friend.”

To date, Aneesh has played on various teams including the Lexington Youth Soccer (LYS) town team, the Lexington Independent Soccer Club (LISC), the Lightning U12 team, and most recently the Freedom Maple Club. It was his performance with this last team that was written about in an article in the Lexington Minuteman this past Columbus Day. The article covered the Freedom BU13 team’s performance at the Nashua World Cup Invitational Columbus Day Tournament, where they faced such formidable opponents as Manchester United, Hollis Atlantic, and John Stark United. In the first game against Manchester United, Aneesh scored the first goal and after the opposition tied it up, helped maintain the tie so that the final score was 1-1. He also scored the only goal in the second half of the game against John Stark United to clinch the shutout win 2-0.

On top of playing soccer, Aneesh also recently got a Referee license and has been refereeing since last fall. He found out about it from the director of LISC and wanted to do it because he loved soccer and, more typically of a kid his age, wanted to make some money. “It’s not because my parents wouldn’t get me things, but because I wanted free will with my money.” To get the license, Aneesh had to take several hours long classes and finally a six hour test that asked questions about the rules and what calls should be made in various situations. Out of 30 kids trying for the license, only one other was a sixth grader like Aneesh was at the time, all the others were in high school. Although he isn’t sure how many passed, Aneesh says that he hasn’t seen anyone his age or younger refereeing.

So far, Aneesh has refereed 20-30 games, earning $16 for all LYS or LISC games and $20 for Bay Area Youth Soccer (BAYS) games. His father gets e-mails from the director about games and he referees 1-4 games per weekend, depending on the time and season and whether there is a tournament going on. One specific game that stands out in Aneesh’s memory is one where he asked a coach to leave the game. The coach in question’s team was losing the match and he started yelling at the kids. “The kids were only six-years-old, he should have saved the yelling for older kids. I’m trying to become an assistant coach and I have seen that yelling is not the best way. When he started yelling at me when a player got injured I sent him off the field. Others were upset also, some parents even took their kids out of the game.”

Outside of soccer, Aneesh doesn’t currently do any extracurricular activities. He used to do music and extended chorus but doesn’t have time anymore, and no wonder. On top of having no time on the weekends due to not only refereeing sometimes a few games a day but also playing in some games, he also has practices twice a week for 2 ½ hours. His typical weekend is: waking up, have a game at 12, a few minutes rest then another game, ½ hour rest, come home and do homework, then play with friends for an hour and then sometimes yet another game. His weekdays are somewhat better as he gets time to eat and relax, play with his dog, and sometimes go skateboarding with his friends. He also usually plays a soccer game after school on Fridays with his friends, most of whom have played soccer at some point in their lives, though many don’t anymore. His best friend Michael, whom he has known since kindergarten, is really good at soccer and they have played together for a long time, even going to the Olympic Development program together.

Although an overall good student and getting one of only three perfect scores on the Continental Math League test given to sixth graders, Aneesh’s favorite subjects in school are History and most especially English. “I like history because you get to learn about famous people and their points of view on different aspects of life. I like English because books tell you things and open you up to new worlds.” Untypical of most kids his age, Aneesh most enjoys books that are documentary in nature, his favorite book being His Enemy His Friend by John R. Tunis. The story is about a German general occupying a French village during World War II who becomes friends with the villagers. He used to play professional soccer in Germany and started teaching the kids in the village to play. Everything is good until the villagers kill a German soldier and although he doesn’t kill them all the start hating him and the children ignore him. The story eventually ends with his heroic death while trying to save one of the children. “I liked the way it was written, of course soccer and the conflicts: they knew he was bad but liked him anyway, it goes to show that being ordered to do something doesn’t mean you’re bad.

Aneesh’s biggest hope and wish right now is that he wants to go to Holland for high school because they have a really good soccer training camp there. When asked if his family was going to move there he said, “It’s up to them (his parents) whether they come as well, but I was planning to go by myself.” He seems completely unconcerned about living on a different continent as the rest of his family and says that he is not scared about being on his own for a while. “I know that I will have my parent’s support and I will get a job there, learn to be on my own.” His parents are thinking about it but a final decision hasn’t been made. I don’t know if I would have been able to be so blasé about living so far away from my family at that age, but it’s admirable that he can be and says a lot about his dedication to soccer and strength to take it as far as he can. He is clearly a person we can all look up to.

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