Thanas Strati wanted to try something new.
He also wanted to get bigger.
He never thought it would end up with him becoming a football player.
Strati is a sophomore at Archbishop Ryan High School and prior to his sophomore year, he was a three-sport star, competing in soccer, swimming and track.
While he was working to get bigger and stronger, he started hanging out with a new group of friends that led to a major change in his fall sport of choice.
“I grew up in Albania and there it’s always soccer,” said Strati, who has lived in Fox Chase since moving to the United States in 2019. “In Albania, the main sports are soccer, really that’s the biggest, and people play volleyball and basketball, more for recreation. The main sport is soccer. We knew of American football, but not much about it. I knew it more from movies.
“Last year I played soccer, but I really wanted to get bigger and stronger and start bench pressing. I started working out with the football team, just trying to get bigger and stronger and they all became my friends.”
When the football coaches were patrolling the weightroom, they noticed a kid who was dedicated to working out. Strati was there as much as the football team, so the coaches asked him if he wanted to try football.
“I told them I played soccer so they asked me if I wanted to try kicking,” Strati said. “I had no idea what kickers do. But I wanted to play football. They wear helmets and uniforms look nice.”
So he tried out.
It wasn’t easy.
Strati knew he had the leg to make it work. But that’s all he knew. He never played football. He doesn’t even watch it. It was a sport he knew very little about, but wanted to learn more.
He hooked up with Ryan kicking coach George Karusky, and he started to learn his new craft.
“It started off and I tried kicking with Coach George,” Strati said. “He texted me after the other coach found me in the gym. We went out, and started to kick, I had no idea what I was doing. I knew to kick it through the uprights, but that’s it. I didn’t know how to do it or how much time you have, I didn’t know where I’d be blitzed. I just knew I have to stay cool and calm.
“It was a lot to process and he knew that, so he made it easy. A lot of new information, but at first, it was just extra points and 25-yarders. I didn’t expect to be that good.
“Soccer definitely helped me. I feel like it’s the foundation for every kicker. Every kicker I feel has played soccer, unless they start kicking at a young age. Soccer players, personally, I don’t know anything about kicking.”
He went on to have a fine year.
As the Raiders went on to win their second consecutive Catholic League Blue Division championship, Strati did his part, connecting on 33 extra point attempts. But his biggest kick was his only field goal of the year when he connected on a 34-yard field goal with six seconds remaining in Ryan’s 3-0 victory over state semifinalist Lansdale Catholic. The victory gave Ryan the divisional crown.
“I became good gradually,” he said. “If I showed up every day with Coach George, I knew I’d improve. The technique, strength and power. My max now ever was a 45-yarder during warm-ups against Lansdale Catholic. I felt really strong that day, it’s when I kicked the game-winning field goal. I felt something different that day.
“With the pressure, I was very, very scared. I feel like it was more training for pressure, the mental side. During training, when I’d kick with the team, we’d do days where everyone would yell around me and I’d have to block out the noise. That was a way to train against the pressure. It made a big difference. The other part is breathing, relaxing, take deep breaths. I didn’t think it mattered, but it slows your heart rate. It really helps. That’s what I did.”
Kicking is certainly his future. He will continue to work out all offseason, but he’s just as focused on helping the Ryan swimming team, where he swims the 50-yard freestyle, the 100 freestyle and the backstroke.
“Swimming is a great workout, it works out your entire body,” Strati said. “Other people don’t realize, it works out your mind. When I swim, I enter this flow state because the water in your ears makes a constant sound. You have to breathe every certain stroke. It puts your mind in a meditative state. It helps physically and mentally with other sports.”
He still loves swimming and track, but right now he thinks his future is in football.
That means he needs to get better. He sees a lot of hard work ahead, but it’s work he’s willing to do. It’s also work he’s not doing alone.
“Coach George Karusky, people close to me, my teammates, friends and family have all helped me so much,” Strati said. “My sister and my mom, they always believe in me. They support me, they agree with everything I like to do if it’s not bad. Sportswise, they allow me to do my own thing, choose my sports. And coach has done everything to help me. He understands. When I need help, he knows. He knows it’s hard and I’m trying.
“I’m very close with my sister Xhoana, I tell her everything. We’re like super close together. My mom and me like football now after I got into it. They love it, they come to my games. My cousins would come, too, it was pretty great.”
