ROCKINGHAM – Jackson Haley, a senior on the Richmond Senior High School soccer team, has been named the second Official Richmond County Male Athlete of the Week for the 2018 fall sports season.
ROSports brings back its successful “Athlete of the Week” segment for the second consecutive school year, as teams are in their second week of play following Hurricane Florence. Under a new format, the feature will continue to highlight one female and one male student-athlete each week for their performance on their respective playing surfaces.
Haley has been a member of the Raider soccer program for four seasons, and this year is his first as the starting varsity goalkeeper under first-year head coach Chris Larsen. Currently, the Raiders are 5-7 on the 2018 campaign, and are battling for the third-place seed in the Sandhills Athletic Conference. This is Haley’s first career selection.
Athletic Profile
Age: 17
Birthday: April 7, 2001
Year: Senior
Fall Sport: Soccer
Position: Goalkeeper
Years on Varsity: 2 Years
Height & Weight: 6-2, 210 pounds
Experience: 11 Years
“KICKING IT AROUND” WITH JACKSON HALEY
RSHS Academics: Haley falls right in line with several former Official Athletes of the Week when it comes to his academic achievement, as he’s enrolled in RSHS’ Advanced Placement and Richmond Community College cluster during his final year of high school. He’s taking five courses this fall, three of witch are at Richmond, while the other two are across town at RichmondCC.
“This semester, I’m taking AP Biology, AP Earth and Environmental Science and Digital Art and Design II at Richmond,” Haley explained. “And at RCC, I’m taking English 111 and Statistics 152.
“I’d have to say that AP Earth and Environmental Science is favorite class this fall,” he continued. “I usually like history and math more, but I mainly have sciences right now. I like it because it’s the best science I’m taking, and Mr. (Daniel) Diggs makes it really interesting.”
Currently, Haley boasts a 4.545 GPA and is ranked in the top 15 of the graduating class of 2019. He further explained that taking several AP and RichmondCC courses “is a good way to bring up my GPA and it’s a good way to make sure it’s not too much on my schedule.”
College Aspirations: While balancing his rigorous course load, Haley is working through the process of applying to several universities across the state, which include East Carolina University, North Carolina State University, UNC Chapel Hill and UNC Wilmington. He’s already received his acceptance letter to be an ECU Pirate, and is hoping to get the same result for the other schools.
“I want to get into (NC) State, but if I don’t go there, then I’ll go to ECU,” Haley noted. “I say that because most of my family has gone there. I started looking at State because my uncle wanted to get me go there because there’s a little bit of a family rivalry between the two schools. I’ve looked at both pretty good, and I really like them.”
Whichever school he ultimately decides to attend, Haley said that he’ll go in as an “undecided major.” He’s still got some time to knock out his general education courses before declaring for a major, but expressed interest in veterinary sciences. Growing up, Haley explained, he was “always around animals,” which sparked his interest. He added that he used to pick up stray pets when he was younger, which one time included a squirrel.
Jackson Haley (1) makes a save against Pinecrest earlier this season.
Athlete of the Week Stats: As a single-sport athlete, Haley devotes all of his playing time to the Raider soccer team during the fall. After getting called up to the varsity team for his junior season, Haley split time last year with three other keepers before getting the nod for the starting role this year as a senior.
Through 11 games this season (not counting Wednesday’s match against Jack Britt), Haley has played in all of them, recording 683 minutes between the posts, and has given up just 12 goals for an impressive 1.41 goals allowed per game average. He’s recorded two shutouts against Sandhills Athletic Conference opponents Purnell Swett and Jack Britt high schools, and is making an average of 3.4 saves per match. Also impressive is his saves-to-goal ratio, as he’s stopped 37 of the 49 shots he’s faced.
When asked which matches he thought were his best performances of the season, he noted the the shutout against a stingy Jack Britt team (a 3-0 win), the 1-0 loss against a highly-ranked Porter Ridge High School squad and Monday’s bruiser against rival Pinecrest High School.
“My positioning has gotten a lot better this year, and so has my stance when ball is coming toward me,” Haley said. “I give credit to the guys in front of me, and I think we have one of the best defenses in the conference. It’s definitely an inspiration to benefit the team this year.”
RAPID FIRE – FAST RESPONSES
1) What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not on the soccer field:
“It’s definitely playing video games on my PS4,” Haley said. “I play a lot of Rocket League, which is like playing soccer with cars. I also can tolerate Fortnite, too.”
2) Describe your dream vacation — where would you go and who would you take:
“I’d probably go to the Carolina mountains,” Haley shared. “I go to a church camp at Montreat College (Montreat, N.C.) which is in the mountains, and it’s really pretty there. I like the mountains better than the beach — and I’d take my family and my girlfriend, Morgan (Hooks).”
3) Who is someone who has impacted your life positively such as a mentor, teacher or coach:
“Both of my parents, Jimmy and Ricki Haley, have definitely pushed me through school and all of my extracurricular activities,” Haley said. “They are a great support system to me.”
4) What is so special about being part of the Richmond soccer team and playing for Coach Larsen:
“Larsen is a really good coach and the best I have ever played for,” Haley explained. “It’s the way he makes us play so hard in practice that makes it really special to use that in games to try and win. This season has been a lot of fun so far.”
5) Name one interesting fact that most people don’t know about you:
“I love Star Wars,” Haley said. “It’s just a really good series that I could watch it all day. My favorite character? Darth Vader all the way!”
Coach’s Corner: Larsen has been with Haley since he began playing for the Raiders as a freshman, serving as his junior varsity coach for two years and acting as an assistant during Haley’s junior campaign on varsity. During that span, Larsen has watched Haley develop into a quality goalkeeper.
“Jackson always seems to step his game up whenever times get tight for us,” Larsen said of his No. 1 keeper. “Throughout the year, he’s made some really key saves that have kept us in some ball games. It’s kind of like a turnover in football — big saves by your keeper can be a momentum swinger. When he lays it out on the line, that gets the rest of the team pumped up.
“As a high school kid, Jackson is a goofball,” Larsen concluded with a grin. “He’s got a goofy side and can cut up with the best of them. He knows when to have a good time and when it’s time to be serious on the soccer field. And I think learning that at a young age is a good quality to have — it keeps the enjoyment in a lot of things.”
