Personal Statement
My name is Lupo Ryder. I am currently a Senior at Raritan High School in Hazlet, New Jersey. I started my soccer career when I was just three years old playing Peanuts. Since then, I have never stopped. I was the little kid who would just kick the ball and never stop running after it. When I turned seven years old, I started playing travel soccer for the Hazlet United Soccer Club. I played for the Hazlet Hurricanes and then the Hazlet Sting. I moved on to the Tinton Falls Jersey Shore Soccer Club when I was thirteen to play at a higher level; and now play for top ranked Dutchmen FC. I played for the ODP NJ team as well. I fell in love with soccer when I started to play travel. I love to compete and win. When I was younger, I would get the best feeling when I scored goals. Now that I am older, I enjoy working with my teammates to win. Winning is not only about being the best that I can be but helping each other to be the best we can be. I believe the relationships we build on our team should resemble a family. I want to build relationships with other players and trust in one another so we can use our abilities to be the best as a team. When I play soccer, I want to be able to help my team in whatever way I can whether it be an assist or a goal, I will always work hard. It is my dream to play at the highest level possible in college and go professional. In order for me to reach my goals, I train almost every day. When I am not playing soccer or at soccer practice, I am working on conditioning my body.
I am a very persistent and determined person. I work very hard. Over quarantine I trained almost everyday whether it was strength training, conditioning, agility, dribbling, or shooting. I would feel guilty if I skipped a day to train because I know there is a lot competition out there. If I ever feel like I had a bad game I will reflect on what I did wrong and use it to make myself better the following week. After training sessions I'll ask my trainer what I can improve on to make my game better.
When I started high school, I made the Varsity soccer team as a freshman. This was very rare for my high school. There has never been any freshman who has made the Varsity soccer team in many years other than one other person. In the past two years, I have been a starting player. I accomplished a lot my sophomore season in high school. I was second on the team in goals and assists. I was the only sophomore to make the all division team and second all county team. I was also rewarded APP player of the week. Outside of my high school team, I am currently a captain for my club team. This has given me the opportunity to be a leader. I take pride in being a role model and go the extra mile to help my teammates.
In the classroom, I maintain honors and/or high honor roll every marking period. My goal is to become a member of the National Honor Society. I am currently taking honors classes and enrolled in Honors and AP classes for my junior year. I am also a member of the Unified Partners club. It is a club that takes place after school where general education students help special needs students with sports and activities. I help my community by assisting the RAINE foundation. It is a nonprofit organization that helps serve families in need. It has made me a better person and makes me feel proud that I am giving back to those that aren't as fortunate as me. I also give back to my community by volunteering to help the kids in my town that play in the Peanuts soccer program where I started out. I enjoy helping them learn the game. I'm excited to start this process and look forward to this journey.
