Isabella Clayton '28 Recruiting Profile

As I get closer to college, I have began to focus on what my purpose is on earth. My whole life I have eaten, slept, and breathed soccer and cheer. Athletics brings me joy, has taught me discipline, and continues to teach me life lessons on and off of the field. I have learned to play many different positions on the field, and do, which has helped me to become versatile and coachable. Cheer, I am a backspot, which has trained me to hold my own weight in another person. It has taught me strength and responsibility for others and myself. Soccer has allowed me to work with our local Special Needs Olympics and alongside players from other areas. Soccer has pushed me in ways that I didn’t know were possible. November 2022, I found out I had a rare tumor in my bladder and became a patient at St. Jude. Being that this was the end of select soccer season and the beginning of high school soccer season, I was motivated to recover quicker and work harder to get back on the field. While I was recovering, I was drawn to helping other children that were sick and this led me to the decision that I want to work in the medical field. As I was getting back stronger than ever, I had AVM resection on my occipital lobe of my brain. This changed the way I could see and the way I walk. I had to fight to get back to my dreams of being ab athlete. I want to be that support and motivation for someone else when they are scared or feel overwhelmed. My love for the game, competition, and determination has fueled me to be whatever I need to be for my team, and I hope I can experience this at a college level.