Sebastian Montes de Oca '22 Recruiting Profile

As I walked to the soccer field, the ambient was filled with choirs, instruments and cameras. All of my teammates and I were not only chasing a soccer ball but also a deep dream. We all had different stories, different outcomes and opportunities but what we all had in common was that we saw Soccer more than a sport, we saw it as a lifestyle. Perhaps the mechanics of the sport may seem easy to some but ironically like Johan Cruyff said “playing soccer is simple but playing soccer in a simple form is difficult.” My name is Sebastian Montes de Oca and I dream of being an eligible soccer athlete and one of the best players on your team. 

When I was four years old, I started playing soccer in my hometown in Costa Rica. I used to play with my father in the backyard or almost everywhere we went, from the beach to the mountain and even outside a supermarket. The feeling that was conveyed through me, developed a great passion for soccer deep within.  As I grew older I not only understood the sport in more complex manners but also realized as I matured that not everything was rainbow colors. I developed Asthma and had to stop playing soccer because every week I needed to go to the hospital for nebulisations. It was a rough time for my family but eventually, I got cured thanks to God. Once again I could finally practice what I loved the most, soccer. 

After five years of not being able to practice soccer, I had to get in shape and even though I broke numerous windows, lamps and ornaments, I started to develop several qualities as a soccer player. At the age of eleven I remember how the Costa Rican National Team got to the quarter finals of the World Cup in 2014 and that sparked not only passion but also desire and aspiration in me to become one of them some day.  At that same age, I joined a soccer academy in La Sabana where I excelled and flourished my essence as a soccer athlete. Everytime I made a goal, or dribbled past my opponents I watched my dad's face and that brought me an ineffable joy.

 At twelve years of age, I joined my soccer school varsity team where I started to play against other schools but I had an injury and broke my foot. I feared that I could not play again because since an early age my dream has been to play soccer at a professional level. But then, I recovered and at the age of thirteen I joined a team called “TCST,” where I played around seven matches and scored five goals. Then at the age of 15 until 16, I joined in my Freshman year, the “Atletico de Madrid Escazu Academy,” and got promoted to the U-17 team where we competed in two local tournaments. I had 6 assists and 3 goals.  After that I joined “VILLAREAL,”  -U-21 Team in Santa Ana-  where I had 4 assists and 3 goals. Later, at the age of 17 in my sophomore year, I got recruited to Saprissa U-17 where I won a national championship and scored 3 goals and delivered 8 assists. After that in my Junior year, I joined Atletico del Sur, but the season got canceled due to the pandemic. Now in my Senior year, I joined Consultants High Performance Team at the U-21 level. 

Through the years, my mentality has improved along with my resilience, countless of my teammates have quit their aspirations of being a soccer player because of failure and I can proudly say that I have failed plenty of times but have gotten up and even better than last time. The difference between me and others is that I refuse to quit.  Every single time that I have lost a match, I always try to grab the positive and learn from the negative. In all the teams I have been in, the most important is not only to learn from our mistakes but also the chemistry between us and the coach. That's one of the most important factors in my opinion, to succeed in any sport. In any team that I am, you will always have more than a teammate, you will have a friend to count on with an unmatched team spirit. On the field, I refuse that the team gives less than 100% because we are not doing something that we hate, we are doing something that we love, are passionate about and would do the impossible just to play. I like teamwork and pushing my peers to their best version and exploiting their potential. 

At last, when I walked outside the field, I gazed at the midnight sky and saw all these beautiful stars. That night, I knew I had accomplished one of my dreams. I looked back at my experience as a kid, from being Ahsmatic to being in a national final of collegiate soccer. Tears dropped of joyfulness as I grabbed our trophy, the sensation of accomplishing what before looked as impossible gave me chills. I kneeled down to the floor and gave all honor and glory to God. Then, I thanked the coaches who believed in me, gave me confidence and celebrated with them and my teammates. Our team was a family and even though we went through many struggles we overcamed them; we formed a bond of chemistry and unitefulness. Finally, I celebrated with my loved ones trought facetime. This is how I envision myself accomplishing one of my dreams and you can make it possible.