How this Harris County native became US Soccer’s Cerebral Palsy Player of the Year
Trying to balance providing their son with the treatment he needed for his disability while also not handicapping his self-image, Rachel and Mike Crumbley didn’t tell their son Jacob the name of the brain disorder he was born with until he was 17.
After all, Jacob excelled in the Columbus Youth Soccer Association at Woodruff Farm Soccer Complex, where he still plays in an adult recreation league. At Harris County High School, where he graduated in 2018, he played soccer and kicked for the football team. The Ray Guy Kicking Camp ranked him as the nation’s third-best high school kicker in his graduating class.
So the developmental delays Jacob had during his childhood didn’t prevent him from succeeding in sports. But when Mike noticed on the internet that Jacob’s disability could enable him an opportunity to have a world-traveling experience through soccer, he and Rachel decided it was time to tell Jacob his diagnosis:
Cerebral palsy, a group of disorders that affect a person’s ability to move and maintain balance and posture.
Breaking that news to him allowed Jacob to try out for the U.S. Cerebral Palsy Men’s National Soccer Team. Six years later, U.S. Soccer named Jacob as the 2024 Male Cerebral Palsy Player of the Year. As told to the Ledger-Enquirer, here’s how that happened:
Early challenges and diagnosis
Rachel noticed Jacob as a toddler lagging behind the physical progress of his older brother, Matthew, at that age.
“He was swinging his right leg, but he wasn’t swinging his left leg,” Rachel said.
“Doctors told me I wouldn’t play or ever run,” said Jacob, 24, a recreation services technician for Georgia Power. “But I played soccer since before middle school, junior varsity and varsity football. … I played baseball for a while. I shoot archery, not competitively, but I hunt. So, I mean, there’s nothing that I can’t do.”
Rachel explained the decision to keep the diagnosis of cerebral palsy secret from Jacob.
“I just had this feeling of self-fulfilling prophecy, and I didn’t want it to limit him,” she said. “I believed that he could be as good as he wanted to be, and I didn’t want him to be using it for a crutch ever.”
So the Crumbleys simply referred to Jacob’s disability as “his left side being tight,” meaning the cerebral palsy hindered him from having complete range of motion on that part of his body.
Joining the US national team
Rachel recalled how she and Mike approached Jacob with the news of his diagnosis and the opportunity to try out of the national team.
They were in their kitchen, cleaning up after dinner, and Rachel asked Jacob, “So, what if there’s a chance that you could travel internationally and play soccer? Is that something you’d be interested in?”
Jacob was intrigued.
“Well, yeah,” he said.
Rachel continued.
“It would be your left side being tight that would qualify you,” she said.
Jacob said, “OK.”
Now that Jacob had agreed to explore the opportunity, he researched about it online for around 45 minutes. He learned the cerebral palsy national team also includes players who have had one of two other neurological conditions: stroke or traumatic brain injury.
When he returned to the kitchen, Jacob asked, “So, Mom, what do I have?”
Rachel paused, thinking how to phrase her answer.
“You have left-side hemiparesis,” Rachel told him, using the scientific term for his disability.
“I still couldn’t tell him the common term because I still didn’t know what he understood about it,” Rachel said.
That answer sufficed until a few weeks later. Jacob was at a Future Farmers of America meeting. Some club members were making fun of a fellow student who has a more severe disability than Jacob.
“Jacob shut them down on the spot,” Rachel said, “and after the meeting, she came up and thanked him and said no one had really ever done that for her.”
While eating at a restaurant with his family, Jacob asked what disability she has — and whether his disability is the same.
She has cerebral palsy, Rachel told him. And, although Jacob has a milder form, yes, he also has cerebral palsy.
Jacob took the news in stride, viewing it as a stepping stone rather than a setback.
“I knew I had something wrong on my left side, but I didn’t care,” he said. “I was still competing at high levels of all sports, so I didn’t let it bother me at all.”
He agreed to have his demonstration of the national team’s seven required soccer skills video-recorded and submitted to be evaluated for an invitation to the national team’s camp. In December 2018, while still a senior in high school, Jacob received the invitation.
The following spring, Jacob played for the national team during a tournament in Spain, and he’s been on the roster ever since, also playing in England, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Australia and Ireland, and training in Florida, California and Georgia.
And now, to be selected as the program’s Player of the Year, well, “it’s incredible,” Jacob said. “… It means the world to be named that.”
Player development
Stuart Sharp, head coach of the U.S. Men’s Soccer Cerebral Palsy National Team since 2014, has seen Jacob’s improvement.
“When Jacob joined the team, he was by far nowhere near the strongest player on the team,” Sharp said.
Jacob’s versatility, however, quickly became evident. He has played multiple positions for the national team, such as forward, goalkeeper, fullback and center midfielder. In 2024, he led the team with five goals and eight overall goal contributions. He also was one of three players on the team to appear in all eight matches.
Highlights of his 2024 season include scoring two goals and one assist in a friendly against Australia and the tying and winning goals in a 4-3 comeback victory over Germany during the International Federation of Cerebral Palsy Football World Cup in Salou, Spain, where the U.S. finished seventh out of 16 teams.
At the Parapan American Games (2019 in Peru and 2023 in Chile), Jacob helped the U.S. men’s soccer team win bronze medals.
Sharp is impressed with Jacob’s adaptability and growth mindset.
“He had to really work hard just to make the roster for his first competition,” Sharp said. “He then used that as a launch pad to learn and continue to push. With grit and determination, he learned the game and also developed his skill levels, and that took him to this achievement last year, winning the Player of the Year award.”
Sharp described Jacob’s approach to training and how that translates to the field.
“His enthusiasm to learn and work hard, I’ve got to say, has helped him,” Sharp said. “The game has slowed down for him. It’s become easier for him. He doesn’t over-complicate things. He doesn’t try to overplay. He sees the passes. He sees the plays. … He’s just very calm when he’s on the field now. If you’d asked me that five years ago, the answer would been no, but he’s matured.”
Sharp observed such maturity during that friendly last year in Australia. The team had lost some veteran players, so Jacob helped fill the leadership gap.
“He has a spirit that’s very infectious to be around,” Sharp said. “He was going around the locker room to make the younger players who’ve come in on the back end of the roster feel comfortable, feel relaxed, and he showed them the ropes, not in any highfalutin way but just in his natural, friendly manner. … So he’s really guided these new players.”
Jacob shrugs off the accolades.
“I just love competition, anytime, anyplace, anywhere,” he said. “I just love to play. So this just happens to be what I’m good at.”
For his parents, watching Jacob compete internationally is a joy.
“Seeing him play in the World Cup brought tears to my eyes,” Rachel said. “It’s a reminder of how far he’s come.”
Significance of the journey
Sharp considers Jacob’s accomplishments inspirational for anyone who is challenged by a hardship to overcome.
“He’s a great example,” Sharp said. “If you decide to commit and focus, no matter the odds, you can achieve if you don’t set limits. That’s certainly what he’s done, not only in even finding the team and coming on to the team, but since he’s been on the team, he’s really thrived within our environment.”
Rachel praised Sharp and the rest of the national team for what they’ve provided Jacob.
“I can’t express the amount of pride and the amount of confidence and growth that the whole program has given him,” she said.
Rachel also cherishes the community and camaraderie the team has given Jacob.
“He’s made some amazing friends,” she said. “It’s like a brotherhood.”
Sharp’s coaching philosophy echoes the decision Rachel and Mike made to not tell Jacob his diagnosis until he was 17.
“Every player that I come across is unique in some way,” he said, “and it’s my role to coach them to the best of their abilities. … Jacob found his way, and his parents found their way, recognizing that he had an impairment of sorts but not seeing it as a barrier … Then there came a point in his life that maybe his impairment became an opportunity.
“It’s never been a limiting factor for Jacob, and I think for anyone out there, whatever they’re going through in their life, there will always be obstacles and barriers, but it’s how we seek out the opportunities to thrive with what we have that really matters.”
Reflecting on the decision of when to tell Jacob about his diagnosis, which led to him representing his country, Rachel said, “It felt like we were able to tell him the message wrapped in a red-white-and blue ribbon. I’ve heard him say there’s nothing like playing for the United States of America with the crest on his chest. That means a lot to him and to us.”
Jacob is grateful for his parents.
“I never would have gotten this far without them,” he said.
This journey has taught him, Jacob said, “I’m a competitor and hardworking, so there’s nothing that could stop me.”
By sharing his story, Jacob hopes to inspire anyone challenged by tough times to persevere.
“Always try to be the best version of yourself,” he said.
How to contact the national team
If you know someone who would benefit from being in the U.S. Cerebral Palsy Soccer Program, including someone who has had a stroke or traumatic brain injury, email ExtendedNT@USsoccer.org.
