Antonio Valencia '18 Recruiting Profile

I am Ecuadorian and Dominican and was born in Miami, Florida. I was born into a family that had a passion for soccer. My father having become a head coach for both boys and girls for ODP and my mother being a coach at the travel level. My siblings and I immediately fell in love with the beautiful game. I started playing in Florida when i was around 3 and started again when we moved to Long Island, New York. I started off as a striker at a very young age and was loved by most of the parents because i wouldn't stop scoring(literally). As i started to get older and travel started, my dad started to try me at centre back because of my speed and he wanted me to learn how to defend. Shortly after that season I played right back for the next 3 years, along with left back and both outside mid positions. Because of that, I feel comfortable in most of the positions I play as well as the formations that are used. For my school team, I've always leaded by example on and off the field. Whether its playing good, helping out my teammates and giving advice, or getting underclassmen and others into the gym. I always lookout for my teammates and because of that they highly respect me as well as I do to them. The Grind is real but, it is a two way job where school comes first. Out of my siblings my parents always told me that I were the smarter of my older brother and sister and if I were to keep it up I would be very successful in life. For the majority of my life that fueled me to do better in school and work harder on my mindset towards school. School comes first. For the past couple of years I've also found other interests in my life. When I was around 11 I self taught myself how to play the piano and guitar. My parents were completely shocked to hear me play so good because no one in my family had the musical bone in their body, except for my dad who was a dj before he found out what soccer was. With them hearing this they immediately enrolled me into a music school where I became a musician. I can play the piano, drums, guitar, bass, and I can sing on a good day(I was a bass in my chorus class). My guidance counselor found this out and decided to put my name and information in for a Spanish Heritage Month Award in my town. I ended up winning it based on my effort in my school for helping a program called Ambassadors that set up activities for the kids in the special education program. I was honored at the Town of Huntington for Spanish Heritage Month.