Victor Sayde '20 Recruiting Profile

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       "Dreams are the things you see when you sleep. Dreams are things you don't actualize while sleeping.” Living in Tampa, Florida, with my dad and stepmom, was a difficult time in my life. However, no matter how difficult it was, my purpose and goal in this new country was clear, and nothing was going to stop me. Having someone to support me was important.

       After my tough freshman year in Florida, I received a call from my mom in NJ, which changed my entire life. Honestly, we never lived together. I always lived with my grandma since my mom worked really hard to maintain the family. However,  we still had a good connection. She understood and always supported me, and that helped me stay strong. Sports, is something that also helped me tremendously.

   I started playing soccer in my home country of Cuba at the age of five years old and ended at 12. When I moved to NJ I tried out for US Juventus Academy, a great academy which, apart from soccer, taught many other important things. The same year, 2017, I played on my high school team and got hurt, a really bad injury that had me sitting out for five months. Nevertheless, that setback didn't stop me. I recovered and started playing again. It was hard, really hard to come back, even harder when it happened again and I had to sit out for four additional  months. I had zero motivation or mental strength to follow any of my dreams.

However, I don't know why, I engaged in a new sport after ten years of playing soccer. Track and Field was my solution to bring that needed motivation, mental strength, and confidence. Call it luck, or hard work, I prefer to call it hard work, hungry for success, with great motivation, my first season in track came out close to perfect. In fact, I made it to the state sectionals, led the 4th place relay team in the 800 meter dash in Bergen county 2019, and ending my first season in the sport with 10 medals. 

These accomplishments drove me. A hunger to be a top athlete in my high school wasn't enough, so I tried to be a top student, and I think I met that goal too. I finished every class with As, obtaining as many as five different awards out of eight classes, and also receiving first honor roll for three marking periods in a row.

“Dreams are things you don’t actualize in your sleep.” It didn’t matter, setbacks or difficult times, I never slept on my dreams. In fact, I met most of them and I’m  still working to meet the ones I haven’t met yet.