Thomas Campbell Blog #14: Closing things out

Thomas Campbell is a senior forward on the UNC Greensboro men's soccer team. This year has been different for the three-year starter, however. Campbell, UNCG's leading scorer last season, is sitting out his redshirt season while recovering from a knee injury he suffered last spring. Each Friday, Campbell has blogged about the Spartans' soccer season, his teammates, his classes and his journey back to the soccer pitch in the rehab process. Today is his final blog for the season.

Hello all,

This week has been extremely busy and fast. This time of the year is always busy because the semester is coming to an end and everyone is rushing to get things done. As we all know by now we lost at USF. We played an awesome game and we were up 1-0 until the 84th minute. We gave up a tough goal and ended up going into overtime, and then penalty kicks. We lost it in penalty kicks. It was such a tough way to end our great run but I am happy for the guys and what they have done to turn this season around.

After spending Thanksgiving break in Tampa we got home around 3 on Sunday afternoon. It was a long trip that was full of some classic moments. On Friday, we had a pretty normal day, ate meals together and trained in the afternoon. Most of the guys went to see the Dark Knight in IMAX, but a couple of the guys including me stayed at the hotel to do some work. Tebatso Manyama and I had a marketing project due, so we stayed at the hotel and worked on it. That night we had an intense game of Hearts and my assistant manager Chad "Deputy" Dickerson might be the worst Hearts player I have ever met.

Saturday was game day so from the second the guys woke up it was quiet and everyone was preparing themselves. We had a nice team lunch and then left for the field. USF has a nice stadium and a cool atmosphere to play in. They had a good crowd and it was kind of cool that some of our parents and fans were able to make the trip down to see the game. Like I said earlier, we didn't get the result we wanted, but I am pretty sure most people will remember this team for a number of reasons -- including the "Cinderella run."

Sunday was a rough day. We woke up at 7am to leave to go to the airport. We flew into Charlotte so we had to drive back to Greensboro. By the time I got home I was exhausted and needed a nap. I spend the rest of the afternoon finishing up a huge marketing project that I had due.

Monday was another busy day and we had our end of the year meeting. We have one every year as the season ends to kind of close things down. It's always upsetting to end the year no matter how well the season goes, but this meeting was a little different because Coach Parker showed up with a FULL 'stache. It was a classic 'stache and a good way to kind of keep the spirits of the team up and end the year on a memorable note.

The rest of the week was full of work. I haven't had much time to do anything but school work and sleep. I did a second Biodex test on my knee to check my strength and I have increased my strength a little bit, so I am not moving to a new stage of my rehab. I am just about 6 months out now, so I will be back on the field sometime in the near future.

Writing this blog was a very different experience for me and gave me something to do as I sat out the year. It was fun to kind of put your mind into our work week-by week and share my life. Thank you all for reading and maybe I will be blogging again next year.

Thomas Campbell, #7, UNCG Men's Soccer

PS - Four Sweet 16's in five years -- not many teams can say that. :)

- UNCG -