Personal Statement
Growing up I've always been obsessed with playing and watching sports, and as long as I can remember I've been playing baseball. It was my life. In my sophomore year I was an extremely promising player in my high school and was planning on playing baseball in college. During all of this my love of soccer was rapidly growing. Although my Dad and I have watched all the Manchester United matches together for years, I had never even played in recreation soccer league as a kid. The most soccer I had ever played at this point was kicking a ball around with my best friend. It was then in my sophomore year of high school, that I decided to make the drastic decision of quitting baseball to pursue soccer. Even though it was a monumental decision to abandon a sport that I had spent my entire life committed to, once I had my mind made up it was a decision that I never doubted and certainly have never regretted since.
From the first tryout I knew it was always going to be an uphill battle to convince my teammates, coaches, and myself that I belonged in the sport. I've worked twice as hard as anyone around and I know that I am only a sliver of the player that I can be. I've been competing with, and beating out athletes who have been playing soccer over a decade longer than me. On my short path rejection is something that has grown common, but something I've never accepted, it's only made more and more driven. I know that I lack the experience of players similar to me, but I also know that I have, and will continue to work harder than anyone around me to achieve my goal of playing soccer in college, and being the absolute best player that I can be.
