Macey Soares '19 Recruiting Profile

Soccer has played a huge role in my life, from my childhood to my high school career. Since even before I could start playing I would be at the field watching and cheering for my older brother as he played HYSA and high school ball. As I grew older and it began becoming increasingly more competitive, I fell deeper in love with it.  Moving up in age division to U14, being chosen as the only girl on an all boys team, named "Armadillos," we went to Kirk Banks on Oahu, and won the Volcano Tournament hosted in Hilo, playing against all boys teams. Being the only girl, the boys refused to accept me as part of the team. For them to accept me I had to prove to them a girl could match their level of play with aggression and intelligence by predicting plays because they're faster and stronger. At the same time as playing for "Armadillos" I began playing for the Surf Soccer Club in Hilo, they were just starting out as a club on the Big Island, one of the coaches saw me playing and asked if I wanted to tryout. Just as the boys were in the beginning, the girls on this team were the same, but almost worst because they were girls who played together since they were young. I almost quit the team because of how miserable being there with them made me feel, I wasn't playing as my old self anymore and I wasn't enjoying the game or the competition. So I took their comments with a grain of salt and decided I should push through and really let myself play the game as I used to. As I did this the more they started to accept me into their tight circle. 

Then high school came around, freshman year we went to states, two of the games we played our coach put me in for the last two minutes each and both times I got a break away. My third year of high school came around and our coach decided he was going to pass the torch to his assistant. About 5 of the starters and their parents decided because she wasn't giving them as much playing time as before, they had her removed a quarter way into the season. Senior year came along and we got another coach. With a new coach neutral to our team, I began starting as an attacking midfielder from our very first game in preseason to our very last in the semifinals of the league. 

I am different from other players, I honestly admit I don't have "natural" talent. Everything I have accomplished is from my own hard work and motivation to improve. I have the mental toughness to pull myself forward during times when things aren't going my way. I know what it is to be rejected by the team and to then prove myself worthy, not always to the team, but at the very least to myself and the coaches that put me on the field.