BIDDEFORD — Brad Spear and Joe Berger both graduated from Knox County high schools in 2016. Spear from Camden Hills and Berger from Oceanside. 

Now, both are playing in the midst of their sophomore campaigns as respective members of the soccer and football teams at the University of New England in Biddeford. 

How exactly did these two Midcoast natives decide to continue their respective athletic careers with the Nor’Easters?  

“I have a great love for soccer,” said Spear, a sophomore defender on the soccer team. 

“I liked that it was a first-year program, everyone was starting from the same position on the totem pole which meant that there was ample opportunity for people to compete for spots,” said Berger, a sophomore tight end and fullback on the football team. 

Spear, a marine biology major, and Berger, an applied exercise science major, shared some tips for current Midcoast student-athletes wanting to play at the collegiate level as part of a series where former Midcoast student-athletes provide advice for the next group of Midcoast student-athletes hoping to extend their athletic careers by making the leap to collegiate athletics. (See sidebar for more interviews.)

“I would recommend that you work hard to stay in shape during the summer,” Spear said. 

“Try to learn how to study before you get to college; your down time gets spread thin pretty quickly when you have sports on top of a full course load, it’s important to know what your learning/study style is so you don’t feel overwhelmed,” Berger advised. 

Pitch Talk

In the classroom, Spear’s goals are simple: he intends to “learn something new, something meaningful” and receive good grades. 

Spear, a six-foot-one 155 pound defender, maintains an equally simple goal on the soccer pitch of doing his best and assisting his team in securing victories. 

“My mom made me pick a sport to play every season when I was little and soccer was my favorite,” Spear said when asked about his love for soccer and how he decided to become a soccer player. 

In life, Spear is motivated by his “love for the water and animals,” which makes sense considering his post-college aspiration is to work in the marine science field, his favorite activity in the Midcoast is spending time at a lake with friends and one place he hopes to visit is the Great Barrier Reef. 

In his downtime, the Rockport native enjoys exercising and believes his greatest accomplishment is “[m]aintaining loyalty and friendships with many friends that I have grown up with.” 

Spear’s favorite quote is “Do or do not, there is no try,” which is incredibly fitting since his favorite sports related memory is when the Windjammers upset top-ranked Edward Little in the 2016 Class A regional semifinals. 

Gridiron Talk

“On the field, I’m trying to do what the coaches ask of me to the best of my ability,” Berger said of his on-field goals. 

Asked how he ended up a football player, a six-foot-one 225 pound Berger noted he joined the Mariners football team his sophomore year after multiple friends on the team convinced him to play.

“What made me fall in love with the sport was the brotherhood that comes along with it; the bonds you make with your friends through football, you can’t get that anywhere else,” he said. 

At Oceanside, Berger was the captain of the football team and received the team’s Coach’s Award and Most Improved Award, according to his university biography.  

Speaking of his Oceanside days, when asked for his favorite sports related memory from high school, Berger noted being able to win a playoff game at Oceanside’s Wasgatt Memorial Field was his favorite memory. Meanwhile, he stated his greatest accomplishment is being an honors graduate from Oceanside and a member of the National Honor Society. 

Off the field, Berger — who enjoys watching collegiate and professional football games with friends and playing the guitar in his downtime — strives to keep his GPA above 3.5 to get into physical therapy graduate school program, setting “a standard and represent UNE Football in a positive manner” and building “bonds with professors and other faculty.”

After he completes his goal of graduating from a physical therapy graduate school program, Berger would love to work at a practice near Rockland, his hometown and a place he tours “the beautiful coastline” with his father via motorcycle. 

At some point, Berger hopes to travel to Alaska since “the amount of untouched nature there is astonishing.” 

With several goals Berger is chasing, one is compelled to wonder how he remains motivated. 

For Berger, the answer is simple — his admiration of his mother is what fuels his fire on and off the gridiron. 

“I strive to one day be as good of a person as she is,” Berger stated. 

With that said, Berger’s favorite quote truly sums up his hunger for success: “A mind troubled by doubt cannot focus on victory.” 

Reach George Harvey and the sports department at: sports@penbaypilot.com.