Senior Adam Granai (‘26) was hard to miss in his three seasons with the Green Hope Soccer team. Starting at center back as a freshman, and captaining the team his sophomore and junior seasons, Granai had solidified himself as a key piece of the Green Hope roster. Instead of continuing his career with the Falcons his senior year, Granai was instead focused on playing club soccer at the highest level, MLS Next: his pathway to committing to play Division I soccer at Campbell University this coming fall. The GH Falcon sat down with Granai to discuss his path to committing and the role that Green Hope played in that journey.
Like most athletes at that level, Granai fell in love with his sport early, playing soccer competitively for the first time at just eight years old and sticking with it since. As he has progressed through the levels of the sport, so has that time that Granai commits to staying competitive at that level. Granai’s week is packed with four team training sessions, two additional sessions alone or with a friend and one speed and agility session at Athletic Republic, a gym that he claims to have helped improve his athleticism significantly. With such a busy week, Granai emphasized the importance of recovery, stressing the importance of icing his body, as well as eating and sleeping well to stay in shape for games on the weekend.
Everyone’s recruitment process is different, and Granai’s started at the MLS Cup Showcase. Here, Granai first won the eyes of college coaches and began his process of talking to coaches and going on visits to schools across the country. Ultimately, Granai landed on Campbell, sharing that, “I decided on Campbell because they have a great program and a nice school. Their coaching staff and environment are top-notch, and I think it is a great place to learn and win a lot at the same time.” He also shared that Campbell was high on his list of top schools because of its close-to-home location: a key factor for his parents, who he credits as his biggest supporters. Granai elaborated on this, saying, “Another reason I chose Campbell is because of its locality and the ability for my parents to come watch me play.”
Though he didn’t stay with the Falcons for his senior year, Granai credited Green Hope soccer as a unique, positive experience for his growth as a player. He said, “Green Hope soccer helped me become a better leader and created so many great memories for me. Being captain of varsity sophomore year gave me experience in
leading guys who are older than me. It was an all around great experience.” In addition to his growth on the field, Granai made a multitude of memories with his Green Hope teammates. He cites his favorite memory with the sport so far as “Going deep in the state tournament last year with the boys. We made it to the final four and had an incredible year overall.”
Looking beyond high school and his collegiate career, Granai shared his hopes to play soccer professionally. “I genuinely believe I can. I just have to keep being myself and working hard.” In addition to this goal, Granai said that he hopes to own gyms where he helps kids develop their athletic skills and play an important role in their journey. He also gave his advice for kids who hope to follow in his footsteps and play at the division one level, saying, “Don’t wait for coaches to reach out to you. You have to reach out to them and be super proactive about it. I didn’t like reaching out at first and used to procrastinate a lot. My dad helped motivate me and eventually I became persistent. When I did this, a lot of opportunities came my way that I grasped to achieve my goal of playing at the next level.” In addition, Granai also stressed the importance of finding interest in a small list of schools as opposed to spending loads of money attending ID camps.
A prominent piece of every team that he finds himself to be a part of, Granai has a bright future at Campbell University, reflecting the best of Green Hope athletics.
