Joaquin Ferrer-Almodovar '21 Recruiting Profile

I am a junior highschool student-athlete from Puerto Rico who currently excels in both track and academics. My academic goal is to become a Physical Therapist specialized in sports. My sports dream goal is to one day be able to represent my country, Puerto Rico, in an international championship. I aspire to be a great runner.

     After exploring several sports (basketball, voleyball, taekwondo, and soccer) in primary school, I was encouraged by my Physical Education teacher to try running. I started running in middle school at the age of eleven and, at that moment I knew that track and field was my sport. In that first season I represented my school as part of the cross country team with only 3 months in the sport. I ended 53 out of 105 in the school leage, and that made me pushed myself in the upcomming Track season in which I ran the 800m, and the 1500m. In the track season of seven grade it went the same way as in cross country; I did not clasified to the finals but I was excited about become an great runner. At the end of that first year in the sport, I enrolled myself in the best track club in San Juan called Cupey Track. In the next 2 years I continued developing in the mid-distance and long distance events, and began to stand out in these events winning national medals at the 800m and 1500m. It was at ninth grade that I began running the steeplechase, as recommended by my coach in preparation to the ESPN 2019 Club Championships. I started training for the steeplechase and I like it more than any other event. Eventually it has become my primary track event, together with the 3000 meters. However, I consider myself a diverse athlete as I can still run a good 800m and 1500m.  In cross country, I achieved 2nd place in 2018 Puerto Rico National Championships and I am looking forward to 2019 season.

         My goals with the sport is compeating in a collegial level and get to represent my country doing what I love.

     Besides running I am an outstanding student. I have been in my high school honor roll in my freshman and sophomore years. And I am compromised to maintain this through my senior year, which is a big challenge as a student athlete who attends a Specialized Laboratory School. I must highlight that for the past 4 years I have been able to maintain a high GPA while running in 4 different leagues.  I have also been a member of my school Student Council and I have completed volunteering and shadowing hours in the San Juan VA Medical Center.

I pursue a sports scholarship to become a Physiscal Therapist specialized in sports to help Young athletes that are like me right now. I plan doing this by studying sports physiology or sports science and after that attending Graduate School to become a Physical Therapist.