Name: Tane Gent
Hometown: Arrowtown, New Zealand
Year: Second semester freshman
Major/Minor: Undecided but hopefully business
Relationship Status: It’s complicated
Astrological Sign: Leo
Before joining Wake Forest’s soccer team, this cutie played professionally for New Zealand! He’s adventurous and laid-back, with an adorable accent. Meet this week’s Campus Cutie, Tane Gent!
HC (Her Campus): So can you tell me more about your experience playing soccer for the New Zealand national team?
TG (Tane Gent): It was a pretty crazy experience. I had to move cities and start training, and then I made the cut for the World Cup squad. We were undefeated in the group stage, which was a first for any New Zealand team, and then we played in Nigeria and got thrashed. But all in all it was a good experience.
HC: What was it like playing in the World Cup?
TG: It was a pretty amazing. I couldn’t hear anything, just horns and drums and people yelling and screaming. For our round of 16 games I think we had around 36,000 people in the national stadium, which was one of the best soccer experiences I’ve had in my life so far.
HC: What was the best and worst thing about being on a national team?
TG: The best thing was definitely the travel and playing around amazing players – just the pro-environment that it encouraged. One of the worst things was having to basically leave my hometown and school during the time I was training up until the World Cup. I had to put everything else on hold for about six months
HC: Have you always known that you wanted to play professionally?
TG: It’s always been in the back of my mind. I just sort of do as much work as I can to get there and hope for the best.
HC: So what made you decide to come to Wake?
TG: I’ve always wanted to continue with soccer and the best way to do that is get out of New Zealand – and I obviously wanted a good education as well. I started looking around for American universities and Wake seemed like a perfect fit. It’s got a great team and is a great university as well.
HC: How do you like Wake so far?
TG: I’ve loved it so far. I didn’t really know much about Wake before I came here – I didn’t visit. I definitely lucked out. The team’s been great – it’s a good group of guys.
HC: I know soccer must take up a lot of time, but are you involved with anything else at school?
TG: With the team we try and do as much community outreach stuff as we can, considering our schedule. Last semester we did a lot with Habitat for Humanity. But most of our time is taken up with training, and when you’re not training you’re either sleeping or doing schoolwork.
HC: So moving on to romance… What do you look for in a girl?
TG: She’s definitely got to be funny, she’s got to be outgoing. And pretty active – that’s always a good thing. Funny has got to be right up there, for sure.
HC: Describe your perfect date.
TG: Where I live at home, we have a lot of mountains and lakes. Any date involving either of those two things would be great.
HC: Yeah, I heard New Zealand is supposed to be really beautiful.
TG: Where I live is pretty amazing. If you’ve ever seen The Lord of the Rings – a lot of where that’s shot is right around my house. So it’s big mountains, big lakes, snow and just about everything in between.
HC: Would you say there’s a big cultural difference between New Zealand and Wake Forest?
TG: Yeah, for sure. It’s hard to pinpoint just what it is, but the whole feeling is different. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s just very different in that back home the whole way of life is definitely a bit more relaxed. People are more willing to have a laugh at themselves, I suppose. Everything just turns into a joke, whether it’s on you or on someone else.
HC: So if you were an animal, what animal would you be?
TG: (Laughs) If I was an animal, I’d definitely be a manatee.
HC: (Laughs) A manatee? Why?
TG: ‘Cause I’m just big and cuddly. But no, I have no idea – I just like manatees. I guess they’re laid-back and easygoing?
HC: You said you really like traveling. What’s your favorite place you’ve ever been?
TG: So far the best place I’ve been is probably Greece. I went there with my dad a few years back and hung out on all the islands, like around Santorini. It was amazing. For a crazy experience, Nigeria was pretty amazing. It was kind of scary as well. There were guys with machine guns protecting (the team) just about every moment of the day.
HC: What’s your favorite ice cream?
TG: That’s a tough one. The ice creams are so different here than they are back home. There are so many more choices here.
HC: What do you have back home?
TG: Just your basics – chocolate, vanilla, strawberry and then a few variations of that. Here you have peanut butter and everything.
HC: Yeah, Americans love food (laughs).
TG: It’s overwhelming how much food you have here. It’s been a shock coming from home. Everything just tastes so good but it’s so bad.
HC: What’s something about you that people wouldn’t normally know?
TG: Well I guess if you didn’t know me, you wouldn’t know that I’m from different country.
HC: Well, they would hear your accent.
TG: (Laughs) Yeah that is true. That’s a slight giveaway. But I play guitar and drums. I’m pretty into music. My dad was a musician so it’s always been a big part of the family. I also have a pet rabbit at home – his name is A$AP Hoppy, as in the band A$AP Rocky, but the “Rocky” is “Hoppy” because he’s a bunny (laughs). And then I have a cat called Detective Mittens, and a dog called Spooky.
HC: So I’ve got to ask, what’s the story behind your beard?
TG: We were training the other day and I was taking a shot against one of the goalkeepers and we decided to put a bet on it. The bet was if he saved it, I would have to go for the rest of the semester without shaving, and if I scored it, he’d have to do the same. Obviously, I lost that bet.