By Andrew Dini

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UK soccer players Paul Sime and Kristoffer Tollefsen have experienced change and adversity to the highest degree.

Tollefsen, a sophomore center midfielder, and Sime, a freshmen defensive midfielder, are two of the four foreign-born players on the men’s soccer team.

Adapting to a culture and life change seems difficult enough. The players ultimately came to the United States to fulfill their dreams of receiving a college education and playing Division I soccer.

Tollefsen is from Sandefjord, Norway.  He never took an official visit to the university and relied on trusting his coaches in Norway and the UK coaches recruiting him.

“I never saw the campus, I didn’t really go on an official visit or anything like that, it was all based on my gut feeling.” Tollefsen said. “Talking to the coach and hearing about all the plans (they had for the future), I wanted to be here and be able to build something, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Sime, a Pointe-á-Pitre, Guadeloupe, native, took a considerably different route to the United States. He began his American soccer career at the beginning of his freshman year of high school for the IMG Academy, a boarding school in Florida.

“I went to high school in Florida for four years, and one of the coaches (from Kentucky) came and found me. Kentucky had a really good soccer program and I liked the facilities,” Sime said. “You get used to the campus, and I like how it’s not too small. There’s a lot of different choices when it comes to things like where you want to eat or where you want to hang out.”

Both players agreed the physicality and tempo of the game in America was the most evident difference and toughest adjustment compared with foreign play.

“Definitely the physicality, soccer in America is way more physical,” Sime said. “Players are bigger and there is a lot more contact and hard tackles.”

Tollefsen agreed and reflected on the athleticism and finesse instilled in American soccer players, something he said was unmatched compared with soccer in Norway.

“First of all, the tempo of everything (is much different), going from playing with older guys (in Norway) that have a better understanding of the game compared to here where everyone is really, really fit,” Tollefsen said. “But the tactical level is not as high (in America), and in result, there is a lot more running.”

The sport is more popular in Norway than in the United States. In the Caribbean, and in Guadeloupe, Sime said soccer was “what everyone did.”

“In Guadeloupe, soccer is the main sport, so everyone played soccer, everyone lived for soccer,” Sime said.

Both players relished the opportunity to play in America, but the path in adapting to living here was not easy.

“For me, the language barrier was the most difficult transition,” Tollefsen said. “You don’t think of it as a big deal but as you realize to be able to communicate not only on the field but off the field, and be efficient at it, is very important.”

Learning and mastering a foreign language isn’t the simplest of tasks, especially in a matter of months.

“I honestly thought I was really good at speaking English, but when I got here everything went so much faster than what I was used to and my vocabulary was limited,” Tollefsen said.

Sime said the long-term goal of the men’s soccer team hasn’t changed: Make the NCAA Tournament.

“I think we have the talent and potential to do it. I think the spring was really good in a way that we play more as a team and it gave us a chance to see what we can do,” Sime said. “A team wins when a team can withstand each other, and I think the spring helped us with that.”

Tollefsen agreed, saying anything short of making the NCAA Tournament is a disappointment.

“We have to make the NCAA Tournament,” Tollefsen said. “We have to do it. And win a game (in the NCAA tournament), it’s been a while since the men’s soccer team has won a game in the tournament. Then we’ll take it from there, and see how far we can go.”