Anytime a freshman can contribute at the varsity level, it is considered a major accomplishment. Making that jump to the high school level and playing against kids who are older, bigger and stronger than you can sometimes be a vaunting task.

For Tecumseh sophomore Kenyon Runner, he survived his freshman season on the Tecumseh boys’ soccer team, and provided several highlights for the Arrows. Not only did he play as a freshman, but he established himself as one of the elite newcomers in the Dayton area last season.

But now, Runner must prove that last season wasn’t a fluke, and he has been putting in the time to make himself and the Arrows better.

“The main thing that I do to work on my off-season is train with my Ohio Galaxies team and have a good season with my club,” Runner said. “When it comes to high school season I can continue training and working with my teammates as we put in the work and are getting ready for the season to start up.”

Runner was honored by the coaches in the Central Buckeye Conference last year as a first-team player, along with bring named as a third-team all-Miami Valley player. He also received the Arrow Award with the Arrows.

“The goals I have for the upcoming season are just trying to improve on little things and taking it practice by practice and game by game working with all my teammates, making the season as great as possible,” he said.

While he excelled on the soccer field last season, Runner also played on the basketball team. He enjoys both sports, but it doesn’t take long to find out which one he favors.

“My favorite sport is soccer, one thing I have enjoyed playing with Tecumseh would have to be my teammates working with all my friends through every practice and every game creates a strong connection between all of us,” he said. “We all work together and that’s when we do our best. Another thing I enjoy about playing with Tecumseh is the atmosphere of all the families of the players, everybody treats each other like family.”

“The things that influenced me to playing sports was that most of my family grew up playing sports and I wanted to be as active as I could be.”

Runner has worked this summer to improve his game, and he knows that if the team plays well together, good things can happen for the Arrows.

“Some things I’m working on to improve my game are continuing to train and put in work on my free time,” Runner said. “Also not only help myself improve, but also train and work with my teammates and improve our team together.”

In addition to playing sports, Runner is also active in student council, and is a referee in the TAYSA young soccer league in Park Layne.

As for his future, in addition to wanting to bring home the league titles to Tecumseh, Runner also wants to stay involved in the sport after he leaves Tecumseh.
“My future goals are going to college and playing soccer,” he said. “I would also like to coach soccer as well in the future.”
Only a sophomore, Runner still has a lot of time to decide what he wants to do for the rest of his life, and is undecided what he wants to major in college.

“I am looking forward to figuring that out soon.”

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