By Melanie Petrucci, Senior Community Reporter
Shrewsbury – Kealan Green is just like any normal teenager. He hangs out with his friends. He enjoys track, rowing and surfing and he loves his pets. The 14-year-old Shrewsbury High School (SHS) freshman also likes football. He is a really good player, too. He recently secured a spot on the USA Football Under-16 National Team in the International Bowl IX. He was selected out of a field of 10,000 athletes.
International Bowl IX will take place in January 2018 in Arlington, Texas, and will feature some of the best football players in the world. The International Bowl is a series of 12 games featuring top players from the United States, Canada, Japan, Mexico and the Nordic nations. The games are played at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys.
Kealan has one primary goal and that is to play football with Notre Dame University’s Fighting Irish. He fell in love with the team when he was very young.
“Almost since day one, he has had a football in his hand, explained Kealan’s mother Elisa. “His dad used to play football.”
He began playing with the Pop Warner Colonials then he switched to the AYF Patriots town team.
“I started playing when I was about 5,” he said. “I’ve grown up playing with my friends.”
Kealan now plays on the SHS freshman team.
2014 was a pivotal year. That’s when he attended Football University (FBU), a nationwide camp staffed with NFL-level coaches.
“I was in sixth grade and I tried out that year and I made the Massachusetts team,” he recalled. Every state has a team and the games are organized in bracket fashion. Massachusetts came in sixth place.
The next year he couldn’t play because of an injury, but in 2016, he attended a USA Football camp at St. Mark’s School in Southborough, made the Boston team and from there he was spotted by a scout who invited him to attend a camp at Walsh University in North Canton, Ohio.
After another evaluation, 50 or so athletes were selected out of 10,000 athletes for the U.S. Under-16 National Team. This is Kealan’s second year making the team. He is the first from Shrewsbury to do so.
It’s not all about sports, however. Kealan is motivated and understands that to get into Notre Dame he needs to have strong academics. Schoolwork is a priority. He is particularly strong in mathematics. His curriculum includes honors level courses and he is on pace to make honor roll this semester.
In addition to building a strong resume of athletics and academics, Kealan also plans to volunteer at St. Anne’s Free Medical Clinic. He developed an interest in medicine because of his previous injury.
Ultimately, Kealan would like to play in the NFL but he is keeping his options open. His “Plan B” is to become an orthopedic surgeon. It’s just possible that he ends up doing both.