Division III athletics tend to draw a lot of talent from the region they're in. On the Trinity College football team there’s dozens of players from Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York, but this year there's also one player on the roster joining the Bantams a long way from home.
Freshman kicker J.P Dallazem went to high school in Gainesville, Florida, but before that, he was playing soccer in his home country of Brazil.
“I was not a great soccer player in Brazil,” Dallazem said. “I just had a strong leg.”
A great leg for kicking a football.
“This is the first time we’ve ever had an international student playing for us,” said Bantams head football coach, Jeff Devanney.
Though Dallazem’s parents live in the U.S. now, many of his friends and family still live in Brazil and look forward to when he visits as a chance to play American football.
“But they’re not very good, so that’s funny,” said Dallazem of his friend’s effort to play the game he loves. “They really don’t know what’s happening on the field but they have fun with it.”
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And Dallazem isn’t the only one who brings football home to a foreign country. Sophomore wide receiver DeVante Reid was born in London, England. Though he was raised in New York, he spends most summers visiting his family – and teaching them football – across the pond.
“Half of them don’t even know what 246 yards really mean,” Reid said, referencing his program-best receiving performance from Saturday against Bowboin. “But it’s fun explaining to them and showing them what it is over here.”
Trinity will travel to play Middlebury on Saturday September 28.
