Imagine starting your senior year of high school the same year you sign your first professional contract with Sporting Kansas City. One weekend you're traveling with the first team, the next you're trying to finish a paper before a due date. That’s the very real, very surreal life of 17-year-old Ian James.
A professional athlete and a full-time student, managing a schedule that’s equal parts tactical drills and homework deadlines.
One part of Ian’s life is laser-focused on gameday prep and performance. The other part is spent in front of a laptop, squeezing in schoolwork between matches and recovery sessions. Somehow, he’s managing both with a smile on his face.
“I feel like with every minute I spent on the field, I got more comfortable, and I got more experience,” Ian shared. “And as the season's gone on, training I felt like really prepared me for the game. So, when I got the opportunity to step on the field, I was ready, and I was able to execute and do my job.”
For Ian, this life has always been the dream. But that doesn’t mean it hasn’t exceeded expectations.
“I mean, it was always a dream come true to sign the contract and be on the team. And it continues to be just an absolute dream come true every single day to be playing on the team. Being around the guys, it's just every part of it is just exceeded all expectations and it's been absolutely great so far.”
The surprises haven’t just been on the field. It turns out that being a first-team player involves a lot more time than just showing up for practice.
“I think the thing that surprised me most was how much time you spend at the facility. It's like, even if you're only on the field for practice, for an hour or two hours, it's a lot longer of a day and there's a lot more going on outside of practice,” Ian explains.
“There's a lot going on behind the scenes. It’s time in the sauna, time in the training room, there's a lot of film. There's watching the other team play as a team in a setting with the coaches, but there's also watching them play individually, watching your own game, watching things you can improve on, watching training, spending time in the gym, spending time stretching.”
“There's eating well, sleeping well, there's hydration, there's just a lot that pours into it, which you don't really understand. But to be able to perform at the highest level, there's so much stuff that goes into it, and that was something that just kind of like… it used to be just show up, drink a bottle of water, go play and then go home. But it's definitely a lot different now.”
And then there’s the juggling act of being a full-time student on top of all that.
“Yeah. It's definitely a juggling act, but it's also, carving out time for what's most important. So, if I need to have a little bit of a shorter day at the facility to get home and do schoolwork because we're traveling the next day, it's doing that,” he says.
“If it's doing homework in the hotel room, just so it's done, it's doing that. It’s just making sacrifices to make sure I'm able to do everything. And sometimes if there's a long day, I might not get to as much school as on a day where we had a shorter training. So, it's just kind of balancing it, but it's also staying on top of everything and you're learning life skills like time management and stuff like that.”
At the time of this interview, Ian’s break from school is coming to a close and he is ready to embark on a new chapter, senior year.
“Yeah, I start school in one week. The 23rd is when I start my senior year. I've had a nice little chunk of time off.. It's been nice to have some time off and really focus, and I'll just keep grinding away on the school.”
There’s definitely excitement about being in the final stretch.
“Yeah, I mean, there was no question I had to finish high school. So, it was just the kind of thing where it feels good to be a little bit closer to being done, but there's still a lot of work to do to get there.”
Even with a packed calendar, Ian makes space for moments that make him feel like a regular 17-year-old.
“I don't spend a lot of time with my friends, but when I have a little bit of free time to see my friends from my old school, I always try to do that,t and just hanging out with them is really grounding.”
“Or when we have the break, going back home and seeing some of my childhood friends was really good, because it just kind of reminds you that, ‘hey, I'm still a kid.’ I still, kind of split between two worlds when you have a lot of responsibilities here but it’s also okay to be young and go to the beach once. Go to the lake. So, you know, it's a balancing act.”
Another way Ian makes sure to balance work and play, video game battles. NHL is the go-to with his travel roommate Jacob Bartlett, even if no one’s quite sure who’s winning the season-long series.
“When we travel right now, we always play NHL. We'll play random teams, the night we get there, we'll play a couple of games and maybe like 1 or 2 games during the day for the match day, and then go on our merry way.”
Who’s leading the tournament? Hard to say. If you ask Ian, he and Jacob are pretty even, but Barlett wanted to go on the record, saying. “Bartlett's opinion, not even close.”
Ian’s competitive spirit is not only apparent in NHL tournaments with Barlett, but also in everything he does.
“I did school Jansen [Miller] in the 2000 quiz. So, you know.” Ian boasted as his teammate walked past.
“That’s CRAZY,” Jansen jumps in.
Ian’s competitive streak doesn’t stop at music trivia. Whether it’s the hot dog race he won at the Royals game, the 2000s quiz or anything else, if there’s a score to be kept, Ian is locked in.
“If you ask my brother, you know, we're both very competitive. Yes. I'm a very competitive person in whatever it is and in everything,” he says.
“It could be that who put their laundry away the fastest. It's a competition in everything.”
Whether he’s locking down attackers on the pitch or logging into class from a hotel room, Ian James is living proof that with the right mindset, structure, and support, it’s possible to chase a dream without letting go of being a teenager. He’s still growing, still grinding, and still finding time for lake days, video game rivalries, and late-night laughs with friends. It’s not always easy, and the balancing act takes real sacrifice, but Ian is managing to pull it off with humility, hustle and heart.
It’s not just soccer or school. It’s both.
Ian James is living the best of both worlds.