Miranda Lemus '21 Recruiting Profile

I found ice hockey after moving from Texas to Canada due to my dad’s work when I was 11.  I was a soccer player then, soccer was my life. I was playing for the age up and all my dreams were in soccer.  However, once in Canada I was so immediately drawn to  hockey that I signed up for a house league program.  I did not even know how to skate at that time.  5 years later (today) and after a lot of hard work I was able to reach the top level available.  I went from not knowing how to skate, to 1 goal in my first season (house league) to top producer in my 5th season (last season) and making the top competitive team.   There were a lot of obstacles on the way to climb the ranks and a lot of comments on "if I had only started earlier" but reaching the highest level I can play has been one of the most rewarding things I have experienced.  Today I play for one of Canada's most competitive Varsity  HS teams and at the club level I am competing with girls who have been playing at the highest level longer than I have been playing hockey.    This past year after 5 years in Canada, my family was relocated to Miami, which would mean that I would lose my athletic dreams again.  I decided to stay back in Canada to pursue playing hockey in University so I am now a boarding student at my High School.   I have loved every second of it and although I miss my family a lot and I have a lot more responsibilities like driving myself to hockey, doing my own laundry, keeping up my grades, my involvement in Varsity sports in school as well as staying involved in the Arts and leadership positions,  I am learning to stay balanced, to use my time really wisely and to stay focused on my goals more and more!!! As I pursue University admission in competitive Mechanical Engineering programs, my journey through hockey and living by myself at 15-16 gives me the strength and the certainty that anything is possible if we work hard, stay open to be coachable and guided and stay focused on the objective.