Graduating Senior Q&As: Mosca relives great memories playing for Griffins
Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – From the moment a student-athlete steps through the doors at MacEwan, their journey is a special one filled with memories of great plays, big wins, unforgettable times with teammates and a transformation into the person they are today.
In five years (or less), which feels like the blink of an eye, that journey is over.
As our graduating student-athletes move on from the program and prepare for the next chapter of life, we are asking them to reflect on their time as a Griffin.
From March 15-24, we will be featuring Q&As with our graduates by sport.
Here is the schedule:
Today – Men's Soccer
March 17 – Women's Hockey
March 18 – Men's Basketball
March 19 – Women's Volleyball
March 22 – Men's Hockey
March 23 – Women's Soccer
March 24 – Cross Country
Griffins midfielder Alex Mosca drives past a defender during 2019 action (Chris Piggott photo).
Alex Mosca
Defender/Midfielder (2016-21)
Graduating with … Bachelor of Commerce in International Business
Future plans … Pursuing work career and soccer opportunities in Europe; Future plans to return to school for Bachelor and Masters of Laws (LLM) degrees.
(Note: This interview was conducted via e-mail because Alex is currently living in Poland. It has been edited for brevity and clarity)
What are some of your favourite memories playing soccer for the Griffins?
"This group of guys has been the most fun group I have ever had the chance to play with. I can firmly say that my best friends are the friends I made during my time with the Griffins. The first road trip I went on with the Griffins was in my first year. It was a preseason tournament in Kamloops – a 12-hour drive if I can remember correctly. I was dreading this ride as I am not a fan of long car rides. That feeling left me as soon as I stepped on the bus. Former teammate Jose Cruz immediately put his arm around me and pulled me to the back of the bus where they had cards set up ready to play. This was the norm for all bus rides. We would play cards, tell stories, laugh, they were all an amazing experience. The tournament was amazing as well, as you can imagine, a freshman on his first road trip with the team in his first year. I remember getting to the locker-room and being told by Adam (Loga) that I was starting. Could you imagine the excitement I had being told I was starting in my first game of my career at MacEwan? This trip has to be one of the best memories of my time at MacEwan."
I understand you are currently living in Poland for an internship. Can you tell me what the experience is like?
"I've been living in Poland now for about a month and a half and it has been an amazing experience. It has always been a dream of mine to live in Europe (my family immigrated from Italy to Canada and I still have many cousins/uncles and aunts in Italy) and with school being completely online I decided to seize the opportunity and look for job and internship opportunities abroad. Getting here was a challenge and with COVID being as prevalent as it is made it even more difficult. The internship is for a company called Tagvenue. It is similar to Airbnb, but rather than marketing places to stay it markets venues and spaces for hire. I am on the finance team and I am responsible for various activities such as debt collection and invoicing. They have also placed me on the special projects team where we are planning on implementing a new payment platform for the company. They have placed a lot of trust in me, which is a great thing. Living in Poland is amazing, the change of pace is welcomed. There is a much more relaxed attitude among people here, it is almost like a 'Go with the flow attitude.' Obviously, there are challenges, language being the biggest, however I live here with my girlfriend who is fluent in Polish, so she can translate if needed. She studies Medicine here and is completing a degree in Dental Surgery. I hope to achieve great results for Tagvenue in the hopes that they hire me as a full-time employee following graduation from MacEwan which should allow me to stay in Europe on a more permanent basis."
When you look back on your time with the Griffins, how have you grown as an athlete and a person?
"The amount I have grown since 2016 is incredible. Adam has stressed since Day 1 that he not only wants to make us better soccer players, but also better men off the field. This is something that is evident in the way he acts with us day in and day out. Some of the qualities that have been implanted and grown inside me include respect, professionalism, a community mentality and mentality to win. No matter what the situation, we were expected to act with as much respect as possible. This has stuck with me through my time at MacEwan and will not go away in my lifetime. Adam also stressed community involvement, which is something I personally underestimated before my time at MacEwan. We often found ourselves involved in the community in various ways, whether it be coaching or helping out in the local soup kitchen. We were not only expected to be involved in the community, but also encourage others to get involved as well. This is something that has really changed for me, my outlook on the impact volunteering has on people has developed incredibly. Lastly, my mentality to win has developed during my time at MacEwan as well. To become a winner at anything in life you need to put as much effort as you can. You cannot be successful in anything, whether it be sports, academics, your career, if you do not treat it like the World Cup final. During my time at MacEwan I have learned that if I want to be successful in life I need to have this mentality to win at all times."
Any particular highlights or stories stand out to you playing for the Griffins?
"Most of my highlights came against the Dinos. Being from Calgary, that game was always an intense one for me. I knew nearly every player on that team and had been playing against most of them since I started playing soccer. I believe it was my third year, the away game against the Dinos and I received my first red card of my career. I do not remember the score of the game or what the result ended up being, but I remember it was one of the most intense games of my life. Another more exciting highlight is in my fourth year. The first game against the Dinos that year I scored my first goal as a Griffin. It was a volley with my left foot from the top of the box through traffic into the bottom right corner off the post. As you can imagine, this was a massive goal for myself as it was not only my first goal as a Griffin, but also it came against a team from my hometown. Later that year we played the Dinos away in calgary. Again, another physical and emotional, intense game which ended as a draw. We were down 2-1 in the late stages of the game and we had a corner. Following a failed clearance from the Dinos, the ball fell to my foot and I whipped in a cross which Liam Creek headed into the back of the net to tie the game."
Anything else you want to say about your time as a Griffin?
"I want to say that I have loved being a Griffin. I owe a lot of who I am to the Griffins, specifically to Adam Loga as he has been a mentor to me for the past five years and will continue to be my mentor for the rest of my life."
