Now, as a starting midfielder for the first-year Austin Aztex, Godbolt is getting back to what he does best: putting the ball in the back of the net. Godbolt already has two tallies for the Aztex through nine regular-season matches.

“It has been great taking a more offensive role this season because nothing really compares to scoring a goal. In college it was my job and responsibility to set up my teammates for goals from the flank. It had been since high school that I had been able to be a true goal scorer and attack the way I wanted to,” Godbolt said. “I’m more of an aggressive goal scorer by nature so I have definitely enjoyed getting back into that role over the course of this season.”

It has been a successful inaugural season for the Aztex and Godbolt in Austin as they have taken a firm hold of first place in the Southern Conference of the United Soccer League’s Premier Development League. Austin has allowed only two total goals through nine regular season games as they sit atop the Mid-South Division with 22 points.

The Aztex, to those who aren’t full-fledged futbol fans or “footies” as some would prefer to be called, would be comparable to a Double-A minor league baseball team, a place where young, and often raw players are groomed for the next level of competition.

The 24-year-old Godbolt’s soccer career has progressed tremendously since he graduated from college in 2006 with an English degree. It is a credit to his stamina and determination that he is now playing upper-level professional soccer in the Capital City with the Aztex. Godbolt’s road to success has been built despite some bad luck and even worse timing.

Godbolt was a highly regarded soccer player at St. Stephens Episcopal School in Austin where he was named to the all-state soccer team for each of his four years at the school and where he served as captain of the team’s 2001 state championship. He received numerous other junior soccer accolades.

Godbolt started his freshman season in Maryland with high expectations and tough competition for playing time on a talent-laden roster.  Halfway through his freshman campaign, Godbolt landed awkwardly on his knee during a mid-season practice and heard a pop. After showing promise early in the season, Godbolt was forced to sit on the sidelines with a torn ACL.

“It really was a crossroads in my life for me because I was away from home and pretty miserable while going through rehab and sitting on the sideline, not feeling like a part of the team,” he recalled.

Godbolt recovered from the injury and established himself as a solid midfielder for Maryland during his redshirt sophomore season in 2004 when he tallied two goals and registered six assists. As a junior in 2005, Godbolt registered 13 assists, the second-highest total in team history, and helped the Terps capture the 2005 National Championship over the University of New Mexico.

“Winning a national championship at Maryland was an indescribable experience for me and my teammates. It was the culmination of so many factors and things that I had gone through personally and it is something that I will never forget.”

After finishing a stellar career at Maryland, Godbolt was drafted 32nd overall by the Kansas City Wizards of Major League Soccer in the 2007 Supplemental Draft.

“Getting drafted, for me, was a surreal experience. I had always watched the NFL Draft so I had never related that to soccer or the MLS.”

However, Godbolt’s excitement and the thrill of being drafted and playing for a professional franchise quickly faded as he suffered another ill-timed injury. After catching the eye of coaches and working his way up to the 18-man roster, Godbolt was poised to make his first appearance in a game for the Wizards against the Chicago Fire only to have his hopes dashed by a painful groin pull in practice.

His momentum was again stalled by more problems with his knee, the same knee he had injured his freshman year at Maryland. He was waived from the team after just one season with no starts. Godbolt was stoic about the waiver and expressed a mature understanding of the challenges facing the Wizards coaching staff.

“Kansas City was a great organization with a lot of good people running things but I just had bad luck at the wrong time and I could never get on the field,” he said. “I would have waived me, too.”

Since leaving Kansas City Godbolt has once again overcome the physical pain and shown a determination to succeed in professional soccer. He has returned to his hometown ready to take advantage of what he considers a strong Aztex organization.

“I looked at the team and the guys they had coming in and coaching and I knew it was going to be a good opportunity to grow my game at a high level,” Godbolt said.  “Plus, it was an opportunity to come back home and be back in Austin for a significant period of time.”

Austin has been home to A.J. since 1992 when his father, Michael “Bucky” Godbolt, took over as running backs coach for the University of Texas after holding the same position at the University of Illinois and Boston College. Bucky spent five seasons with the Longhorns before establishing himself as a popular radio personality on AM 1300-The Zone.

As his father was coaching Longhorn greats Priest Holmes and Ricky Williams, A.J. was finding out that soccer was his game.

“I mostly just played baseball and soccer, but I was around 12 when I really decided to stick with soccer and it ended up being the right choice for me.”

It would be easy to assume that A.J. fell in love with sports because he grew up around a legendary football program with a sports fanatic as a father. That assumption would be wrong according to the elder Godbolt.

Bucky is quick to shift most of the credit to A.J.’s doting mother Patricia, who somehow managed the four Goldbolt children’s year-round, hectic sports schedule with grace and composure.

“People give me way too much credit for the successes A.J. has had in soccer,” said Bucky. “Patricia was the one running all of the kids to different tournaments, practices and wherever else they needed to be. She would drive all day around Austin, get in late and then get up early the next day, go to work and do it all over again.”

Back in Austin for the foreseeable future, the young midfielder has high hopes for his team and himself. The Aztex will be moving up a division next year, placing it in a league very near the competition level of the MLS. Management and coaching staff are already running the organization with high expectations.

The Aztex, a USL division II team, has already acquitted itself well against tougher competition this season, as the team was narrowly defeated in penalty kicks in U.S. Open Cup play versus the visiting Atlanta Silverbacks (a USL First Division team).

“I think a PDL championship this year is very realistic considering the way we have played up to this point,” Godbolt admitted.

Individually, the striker hopes to continue finding the back of the net on a regular basis and regain some of the offensive confidence he had in those earlier days of junior soccer and at St. Stephens.

“Personally, I want to establish myself at this level and become more of a prolific goal scorer to get back to where I was in high school.”

Godbolt is familiar with hard work. He has spent countless hours in grueling rehabilitation and on practice fields, recovering from the injuries that have plagued him in the past. An unfamiliar role awaits him, however, as he presses forward as a leader on and off the field.

“I want to develop as a leader and take on that responsibility full-on, in practice, during matches and away from the field.”