16-Year-Old Noel Buck Embracing Every Challenge As He Looks To Make His Mark With Revolution
FOXBORO (CBS) -- Noel Buck is not your average 16-year-old. Sure, he still has to deal with bed head and some acne, but unlike other teens, Buck is now gearing up for his career with the New England Revolution.
He still has to worry about school, but that will now take place around soccer practice. Earlier this week, the Revolution signed the young Arlington native to a Homegrown Player contract that runs through 2025, plus a team option year.
Buck is no stranger to the Revs, having been in the Revolution Academy since he was 12. He's developed his game quite a bit over the last four years, and was named the Revolution Academy Player of the Year in 2021.
Now he's preparing to head to Los Angeles with the team next week for training camp. It has been a wild week for Buck as he tries to find his way on the first team, but he's ready to put in the work necessary to earn his spot on the club.
"A lot of it is just take it as it comes," Buck told WBZ-TV's Levan Reid at Thursday's Media Day in Foxboro. "There will be a lot of challenges this year, my first year and rookie year, but you just have to embrace it. Come in with a positive attitude and be ready to work your ass off to even just get on the field. So I'm coming in and embracing everything that comes with it.
"It's never going to be easy, especially at my age," he added. "It is going to be tough but I'm ready for the challenge."
That challenge will include balancing his blossoming career and life as a teenager. He'll be finishing school online, and has just three semesters to go before graduating. And with his new status with the Revs comes a lot of added popularity.
"A lot more people know me," Buck said with a smile.
But the midfielder still has to earn his way in Major League Soccer. He said that being a homegrown kid makes it both easy and hard, but his New England teammates are happy to show him the way. He's still in the middle when they do rondos at practice, but that is just part of being a rookie.
Buck knows that he has a lot of work to do with the Revs, but he already has a lot of experience to draw from. He played in 70 games while at the Revolution Academy, including 28 games for the Revolution II in 2021. He finished last year with five goals and an assist, becoming the youngest player to score a goal in the club's history.
He has dreams of making a huge impact for the Revolution in the near future, and making a big splash on the biggest stage in soccer somewhere down the road.
"The next step is becoming a proper player on this team, a full team player starting games," Buck said. "The long term goal is I'd like to go to the [Premier League] -- that's the tippy top goal. But I'm going to take it one step at a time, and that [first step] is to get on the field."
Watch Levan Reid's full 1-on-1 with Noel Buck from Sunday night's Sports Final on WBZ-TV in the video above!