Taylor Rudolph’s Rise to Soccer Stardom

April 28, 2015

He said it was the biggest struggle that he’s ever endured.
With the seventh game of his junior season almost over
, star soccer player Taylor
Rudolph (12) chased his collegiate dream- a dream that Rudol
ph, with a relatively short body,
never thought possible. But after he earned Best of Preps
honors for the 2013 season, the dream
was transitioning into a reality.
It was April 11, 2014, and the Spartans were facing off agains
t the Bearden High
School Bulldogs. The Bulldogs were on the verge of a win
.
Rudolph’s eyes scanned the field. Gliding through the middle o
f the field, he saw two
Spartan strikers cutting toward the goal. “We need to scor
e,” he thought. Then pop. A Bearden
player got a foot in front of Taylor and tripped him. Rudolp
h face-planted toward the ground.
“They were already beating us, and the dude just purposely t
ripped him,” teammate
Xavier Lake (12), who played soccer with Taylor since thei
r freshman year, said. Even Rudolph
later admits that the trip was purposeful.

He attempted to stand up but was fixed to the ground after he
aring a pop in his
shoulder. Lake, who helped lead the team to the State t
ournament in 2013, squatted down at half
field ,wondering why this was happening to his friend.
White Station’s trainer came to help Rudolph off the fiel
d. For the rest of the game, he
stood on the sidelines moving his arm around, worrying about his
future in soccer, and
wondering how the team could survive without him.
Later that night, the doctor delivered the news. Broken col
lar bone. No soccer for three
months. Just like that, his season ended and his dream to pl
ay college soccer was in jeopardy.
Humble Beginnings
In Rudolph’s love for soccer started in his backyard.
Austin Rudolph, Taylor’s older brother, introduced him to
the game. The two began a
life-long, brotherly rivalry through their intense back
yard battles and pick-up games.
“Before soccer I was really interested in basketball
,” Rudolph said, “and [Austin]
slowly persuaded me into playing soccer, and I enjoyed the spor
t from the start.”Jonah 4
Soccer seemed to come naturally to him. At first, the y
ounger Rudolph dabbled in a
church league, but it wasn’t competitive enough for him.
Then, he played up three years with Austin’s recreation
al team. But it was always
obvious that Rudolph was a cut better than the rest. So fr
om fourth grade onwards, Rudolph
played on various competitive teams including the Memphis F
alcons, Tennessee Rush,
Collierville Lobo and Lobos Rush. All of his coaches he
lped reinforce his dream to play college
soccer, but only one of these coaches transformed and re
fined his game more than anyone else:
Dwayne Lawrence.
Dwayne Lawrence coached both the Falcons and Tennessee
Rush, and his advice that
he would need to gain better techniques and tactics in order
to compete with the bigger, taller
opponents.Six years later, Rudolph still raves about L
awrence’s coaching abilities.
“After our training sessions were over for the day, he w
ould pull me aside and show
me a few things that everyone else didn’t get to do. H
e always looked out for me,” Taylor said.
Making Adjustments
At their freshman tryouts in 2012, Rudolph, Lake, Caesar Gue
rrero (12), Max Law (12)
and Patrick Rose (12), all major prospects, were all plac
ed on the same practice team. Needless

to say, they won every game, and the coaching staff was puzz
led with what to do with their
abundance of freshman talent.
“Our freshman class was the best class the soccer te
am has ever had here. We had 20
players that could easily go into starting JV,” Lake sai
d.
Rudolph wasn’t picked for junior varsity. He was brought st
raight to varsity, which
showcased Rudolph’s immense talent and ability. “[Being pic
ked for varsity] was a really big
step for me,” Rudolph said. “I had to balance my school
work and soccer. The first couple weeks
after tryouts, I had trouble juggling the two. But throughout
the season, the upperclassmen
guided me and helped me. It kind of gave me a good perspective on
how they had success in
those two areas.”
During the next two years, he would gain the vital skill
s of responsibility, maturity and
time-management. He would be awarded Best of Preps honors
for his spectacular sophomore
season where he scored seven goals. Coming off of an openi
ng round loss in the 2013 State
tournament, Taylor and the rest of the Spartans were p
oised to make it back in 2014. There was
no room for error.