CALEDONIA — Aiden Farmer has thought about playing college soccer for a long time.
“When I started playing travel ball and started getting into it more, I was thinking to myself, ‘Hey this is a dream that I kind of want to accomplish,’“ Farmer recalled. “I told my parents and my grandparents that I wanted to push through and play to that higher level.
“I just want to make my parents proud, make my family proud.”
There was plenty of pride on display Thursday morning at Caledonia High School at a small celebration of Farmer’s choice of Meridian Community College.
Farmer said he felt a strong connection with Meridian from early on in the recruiting process.
“Junior year, I used to email a whole bunch of other colleges,” he said. “They were one of the colleges that actually stayed on me, talked to me every week to keep up with me, ask how I’m doing. They asked me for a visit, and I was like, ‘Wow, this is really happening.’
“I loved the campus, the coaches are awesome, the field was super-nice. That campus, I feel like it’s a great place for me to grow and develop. The coach said he could help me with anything I need to get to the next level, and I loved that about him.”
To hear Cavaliers coach Thomas Blake tell it, Farmer has what he needs and simply needs to continue to develop.
“He’s always been a hard worker,” said Blake, whose Cavs improved to 9-3-1, 4-0 in Class 4A-2, with a 7-0 rout of South Pontotoc on Thursday. “He’s become more technical, understands the game at a higher level, just a smarter player in general. His style will carry over to that next level.”
Work comes a lot when Blake discusses Farmer, as it does when Farmer talks about soccer.
“I feel like I put in the most work of anybody around me,” Farmer said. “I work hard; I work every day. I go outside and practice every day.”
“He works extremely hard, and in soccer having players who can work very hard is important,” Blake said.
But Farmer hasn’t just worked hard, he’s worked hard for a long time, first taking up the sport at age 5.
“There was rec soccer, then I played for Caledonia Crossfire, then there was Caledonia Alliance, then I went up to U10 and I started playing more travel ball in Starkville,” Farmer said. “It was IFC before and then it changed to TFC and I’ve been playing TFC for two years now. I’ve been loving it. It’s been awesome.”
That’s a lot of soccer, although Farmer also finds time to run track for Caledonia. He placed fourth in the 1,600 meters at last spring’s Class 4A-2 meet, running a personal record of 5 minutes, 25.93 seconds, but there’s no doubt about his first love.
“Ever since I’ve been playing, I’ve loved the game,” he said. “I always go outside every day and practice.”
The center midfielder is also one of the Cavaliers’ captains.
“That’s voted on by the players, so you know they look up to him,” Blake said.
Farmer said one part of his game that has improved over the years is his field vision.
“I can envision the field really well,” he said. “My vision of the field is a whole lot better. I’ve been working at the midfield position for a while, so I can really see around the field what’s going to happen before it even happens.”
Meridian finished 8-6-1 this fall, 3-6-1 in the MACCC South Division to finish fourth.
“I have a lot of friends going there and they told me about the program, how good the coach is, how they treat you like family,” Farmer said.
“We’ve had a lot of players go down there and play,” Blake said. “I think the players we have go down there usually enjoy it.”
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