Tony Janzen has been playing soccer his entire life, from when he was from eight years old to now, but he always wanted to do more. During his time at Goshen College soccer was not the only thing on his mind. He became more open minded and interested in different cultures, his faith grew very strong, and he had a great opportunity to better his soccer career.
When Tony Janzen enrolled at Goshen College he knew that he had to go over seas for a semester, but he didn’t know how much it would influence him now. After he went to study in the Dominican Republic he became very interested in other countries cultures, as he mentioned,” The opportunity to live in a place were you are not considered stupid, but lower on the chain gives you a clearer perspective on how others live differently.”
While he was in Cambodia, Janzens bond with God had grown stronger than ever. For example, while he was there some of his family and friends, that were still in the United States, got very sick. So, that was very stressful for Janzen but he always would go and pray and that would make things a little bit easier to handle for him. He also grew up in a very religious family, ” Growing up in a Mennonite church and going over seas always seemed like the right thing to do,” Janzens says. So, even when he was young he was raised to help others.
But, even though he was very busy working, helping the local people, etc. he always found time to keep playing and practicing soccer . Many different soccer teams had asked him to play with them, “It was a great opportunity to play soccer at that level,”Janzens says. Even though he didn’t get paid he still found it great that he got to play in the top division in Cambodia.