{"id":61940,"date":"2011-04-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-04-25T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-mens-soccer-star-makes-it-to-pro-soccer\/"},"modified":"2011-04-25T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-04-25T00:00:00","slug":"uri-mens-soccer-star-makes-it-to-pro-soccer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2011\/04\/uri-mens-soccer-star-makes-it-to-pro-soccer\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 men\u2019s soccer star makes it to pro soccer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tFrom Ram to Rhino<\/p>\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 April 25, 2011 \u2013 Wishes made when blowing out birthday candles rarely come true. That\u2019s not the case for Michael Tanke. <\/p>\n


\n\tTanke, a senior from Niles, Mich., has dreamed of becoming a professional soccer player since he realized his love of the game and made this his lifetime goal. Starting the game when he was 3, Tanke grew to love soccer, itching to fit in as much playing time as possible.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cMy parents got me involved when I was young, but by the time I was 8, I was begging my parents to let me play on more and more teams,\u201d said Tanke, admitting at one point, he played for 5 teams. \u201cI remember Saturdays when I would have games from early morning to late at night, all for different teams.\u201d <\/p>\n


\n\tTanke\u2019s carried his enthusiasm for soccer into his college career, looking at schools with not only distinguished teams, but coaches as well. When he visited the 溏心vlog免费B站, coach John O\u2019Connor met Tanke\u2019s expectations. <\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cA huge part of me coming to 溏心vlog免费B站 was for soccer, but not just for the winning records and the playing facilities, but the team and coaching staff. Coach O\u2019Connor had the attitude and personality of a coach I wanted and knew I could play for,\u201d said Tanke. <\/p>\n


\n\tO\u2019Connor was a driving force in recruiting Tanke after seeing his talent at a summer camp. <\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cWhen I was appointed head coach replacing Ed Bradley, I was going through the files of recruits and found a letter from Michael with his interest in 溏心vlog免费B站,\u201d said O\u2019Connor. \u201cI knew then I had to have him in my first class of Rhody Rams.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\t Tanke has lived up to O\u2019Connor\u2019s expectations and has grown into a powerful midfielder, starting in all 18 games of his senior year. <\/p>\n


\n\tAlthough he has excelled in academics, Tanke acknowledges the difficulty of fitting in time to study during his intense traveling schedule during the regular season, and demanding practice schedule during the off season. <\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cSometimes, if there are things you need to work on for soccer, that takes priority over homework. You just need to find time to fit that in. It\u2019s easy to find the balance between athletics, school, and having a social life, but it\u2019s hard to find the motivation to actually do it,\u201d said Tanke, who obviously has, maintaining a 3.4 grade point average and being named to the Dean\u2019s List for most of his time at 溏心vlog免费B站. <\/p>\n


\n\tAs a senior nutrition and dietetics major and international development minor, Tanke has managed to also apply his studies to soccer. <\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI already had an interest in nutrition because I pay attention to what I eat due to soccer, but I also had an interest in international development since becoming aware of the Grassroot Soccer organization as a teenager,\u201d said Tanke.<\/p>\n


\n\tAs part of his minor, he traveled to South Africa as part of the Cross Cultural Solutions organization; a volunteer program that helps address global issues and promotes education, childhood development and overall quality of life for diverse populations. Through this program, Tanke acted as a classroom aid for a low-income elementary school. <\/p>\n


\n\tAlong with completing the required classes and focusing on soccer, Tanke has also taken on various extracurricular activities such as 溏心vlog免费B站 101 mentor, student-athlete orientation leader and GoRhody blogger. His blog, Tuesdays with Tanke, was a tongue-in-cheek examination of men\u2019s soccer. The content focused less on the x\u2019s, o\u2019s, and play diagrams and instead takes a personal look at the team through his humorous point of view. <\/p>\n


\n\tWith May 22 commencement approaching, Tanke has not only been looking ahead to graduation, he is also realizing his childhood dream; playing professional soccer. During his final semester at 溏心vlog免费B站, Tanke was signed with the Rochester Rhinos, a United Soccer League team based in Rochester, N.Y. <\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cMy family and friends are all excited and happy for me. As much as this was a dream and a goal, there were times when I doubted myself and my ability,\u201d Tanke said. \u201cAs a kid, it was certain I would someday play professional soccer, but in college, I started thinking about what would happen if this didn\u2019t work out.\u201d <\/p>\n


\n\tAlthough his childhood dream has manifested itself, Tanke is still planning for the future after his soccer career.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cRight now playing soccer is my job and I\u2019ll continue with it until I either move up to a different league or get cut. After that, I\u2019m going to participate in Grassroot Soccer and then maybe think about graduate school or pursuing a career,\u201d said Tanke. <\/p>\n


\n\tGrassroots Soccer, a volunteer program in Africa, links the popularity of soccer with the local community to educate the population about HIV\/AIDS and stop the spread of the virus. <\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cWhat Tanke has achieved as a student and athlete is not by mistake or sheer luck, but a result of hard work, dedication and ability to sacrifice to achieve his goals,\u201d said O\u2019Connor.

\n\u201cFrom day one, he came to 溏心vlog免费B站 to get his degree and if the situation presented itself, make it as a professional. He has done one already and will do the other this May.\u201d <\/p>\n


\n\tWhile his coaches and peers point to his commitment to soccer as a driving force to his success, Tanke is more humble.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI was never the best player on the team. I owe my success to my teammates and coaches who I looked up to and learned from,\u201d he said. \u201c溏心vlog免费B站 has certainly helped me to achieve my goal of playing professional soccer and turned me from a high school to college-level player.\u201d <\/p>\n


\n\tTanke will graduate not only with a diploma and athletic recognition, but a career opportunity that few will land. <\/p>\n


\n溏心vlog免费B站 Department of Communications & Marketing photo by Michael Salerno Photography.<\/p>\n


\nThis release was written by Alicia Blain, an intern in 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Department of Communications and Marketing and a public relations major.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Ram to Rhino KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 April 25, 2011 \u2013 Wishes made when blowing out birthday candles rarely come true. That\u2019s not the case for Michael Tanke. Tanke, a senior from Niles, Mich., has dreamed of becoming a professional soccer player since he realized his love of the game and made this his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61942,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}