Quinn Mahoney
Gale Gearinger is the last Athlete of the Week for September! Gale leads the Boys Varsity Soccer Team as a captain for his senior year. He’s played club soccer for Santa Rosa United for the last decade, playing a variety of positions. Gale received a multitude of peer recommendations for Athlete of the Week, citing his “intensity, enthusiasm, and insane skill.”
What is your pregame hype song?
Katy Perry is probably up there, and mainly just white girl music. [Mateo] Elliot’s, I guess, convinced me that it’s good.
What about pregame rituals or superstitions?
Um. Well, something that the team does now that’s kind of new is pray before every game. I think it’s nice. Other than that, I just mainly listen to music before every game. I occasionally watch some soccer.
What’s your favorite memory of playing soccer?
God, there’s lots to choose from. Either first game freshman year, scoring in that, or winning semis last year. I can’t choose.
Who inspires you as an athlete?
I did have this one club coach that did inspire me a lot to just improve my game and constantly get better. Coach Maxwell. Two years ago. He did play at a professional level… Overall, it was just his whole demeanor, just really inspiring. Talks before every game, always motivating us, always trying to get us to be better… I did get to know a bit about his career and how he had to overcome some hardships, so that inspired me even more.
What’s your favorite thing about playing soccer?
God. There’s a lot. Um, you have scoring goals and the celebrations after and just all the chaotic moments with your teammates and, like, the interesting things that go on in the locker room (may or may not involve shotgunning Yerbs for every game). But, uh, I would say… I always enjoyed the tactics when it came to soccer and just how the game works. Like at a high level. I always enjoyed that. Yeah, tactics and just playing with my teammates… making memories with them on the field. There was a game we had about two weeks ago where we were down 1-0, and to tie the game, I got a header and scored and then immediately after that we scored two more goals and won the game. Even though I didn’t really think much of it, people did say, like I inspired the comeback. It’s just moments like those that really just make the sport so great.