Maryville Soc­cer Player Spot­light – Mirza Hase­cic

Mirza Hase­cic, a Saints soc­cer star, has had a fan­tas­tic sea­son last year at Maryville Uni­ver­sity. Hase­cic was named to the United Soc­cer Coach­es’ first team for the 2021 sea­son at the end of the sea­son, one of many ac­co­lades the se­nior mid­fielder has earned dur­ing his 4 years at Maryville. The se­nior mid­fielder from Grin­davik, Ice­land, added to his al­ready stel­lar sea­son by be­ing named to the NCAA Di­vi­sion II Con­fer­ence Com­mis­sion­ers As­so­ci­a­tion All-Mid­west first team, as well as the Col­lege Sports In­for­ma­tion Di­rec­tors of Amer­ica Aca­d­e­mic All-Dis­trict team and the Great Lakes Val­ley Con­fer­ence first team.

But, for Hase­cic, soc­cer is more than sim­ply a game and a way to get recog­ni­tion.

De­spite be­ing one of the Saints most valu­able player, Hase­cic be­lieves there is more to soc­cer than re­ceiv­ing awards. 

In an in­ter­view, Mirza stated, “My fa­vorite as­pect of play­ing soc­cer is the op­por­tu­ni­ties it brings, not to men­tion the health ben­e­fits, friend­ship and, most im­por­tant of all, the pas­sion and love of the game. To me, it is more than just a sport, it’s a way of life. Hase­ci­c’s pas­sion for soc­cer dates back to his child­hood. It’s been a part of his life since he was a child, as his dad in­tro­duced him to the sport.

“I used to watch my dad play when I was younger, and he is the rea­son why I love this sport” Hase­cic re­marked. “Through­out the years, he has also been my per­sonal coach. He gives me a lot of ad­vice af­ter every game”. Hase­cic stated that he has never at­tempted to im­i­tate other play­ers. “To me it was more of find­ing me own play­ing style,  and to be­come the best pos­si­ble player I could be.”

“Set­ting goals for your­self is crit­i­cal,” he says.  “It was­n’t un­til my sopho­more year, I dis­cov­ered how cru­cial it is to set goals for your­self. This is a good way for you to per­form within your stan­dards.  And, de­spite the dif­fi­cul­ties that come with play­ing soc­cer, these goals typ­i­cally lead to good re­sults.”

Hase­cic fur­ther ex­plains how im­por­tant it is to be con­fi­dent and to be­lieve in your­self. “It is crit­i­cal to be­lieve in your tal­ent re­gard­less of what hap­pens.” Soc­cer is both a phys­i­cal and a men­tal sport. Foot­ball, in gen­eral, is a rough sport, and it can cer­tainly knock you down.” Hase­cic men­tions how set­backs are a big part of the game, and how in­juries can eas­ily de­stroy some­one’s ca­reer. Those who man­age to bounce back from in­juries tend to be way stronger men­tally and phys­i­cally mov­ing for­ward. Hase­cic suf­fered an ACL in­jury his ju­nior year and ex­plains how that process has made him a stronger per­son. “These are the set­backs that re­ally test you and your men­tal strength. “An in­jury like this can eas­ily put you out for a year, and it was cer­tainly not easy com­ing back from such an ex­treme in­jury.”