Personal Statement
For as long as I can remember soccer has been my greatest passion. Since the age of seven years old I discovered my talent as a soccer athlete. I have learned how to work as a team and how to communicate well with others. Other than enhancing my people skills and my ability to work well with others, soccer has brought out a sense of leadership to my persona that has helped me excel in my school environment. I use the competitiveness I gained from soccer in my class room environments. The more I practice, the better I will become, and all the hard work pays off in a victorious game. I implement the "practice makes perfect" philosophy to my school assignments and presentations. I have taken soccer trips to foreign countries and learned that it is easy to fall into the trap of soccer being a 3-days-a-week-practice, game-on-the-weekend type of event. But traveling to countries like Costa Rica helped me to see how soccer is more than just a pathway in life or a hobby. But beyond soccer, my lifestyle after returning from these trips have had a drastic change on my view points. It has given me more of a purpose and drives and fuels my passion for soccer more than ever before. Traveling helped me understand how to connect with people that are different from me both linguistically and culturally, it helped open my own mind, and allowed me to become more flexible to new ideas, and more efficient in executing them. Another lesson I learned from traveling is that you should always value your constraints: Even if you don’t have a ball, goal posts, or a field you can still find a way to play the game, a tin can or a wrapped-up sock can be a ball. Use what you have, can find, or imagine in life and work. This is something that I noticed through the culture of Costa Rica. The club coach we trained with there told me “sometimes the more you are given, the less you try, and the less you try the weaker you become.” This is something that will always stick to me and motivate me to always push myself beyond my boundaries in order to strive for excellence.I feel like that is what makes me different from other students athletes my passion, drive and cultural background.
