Shellsea Vasquez '21 Recruiting Profile

“Dale tu todo”, I hear my mom’s voice in my mind as the game has started. The first half was intense, my team and I made the first goal 20 minutes in, and the crowd screamed, then 10 minutes after, the other team scores. It's half time, the teams are tied and our coach is saying “This is your house, not theirs; this is the reason why we would run for hours. Do not let them take this from you!” I could feel my sweat dripping down from my neck. The cold wind passes by and you can see the smoke coming out of me. The buzzer goes off. My team and I are back on the field and the whistle blows. There are at least 5 minutes on the clock. Dribbling with the ball as fast as I can, and that’s when I saw my teammate wide open to the goal I passed it to her and boom! GOAL! My teammates surrounded me cheering and screaming. It felt like a movie, everything was in slow motion. I never felt this good. Now, before you applaud. I think you should know that I did not have the same opportunities as some other players. I did not play in traveling soccer clubs with the elite coaching staff. Many soccer players in my county have the opportunity to be in clubs where they would receive exceptional training and develop their soccer skills. My skills were always good enough to be on a premier team but the costs involved were too prohibitive for my family. Money was a constant struggle in my household. My parents had trouble paying rent and I didn’t want to stress them more by paying soccer clubs. Rather than complaining about not being able to be in traveling clubs. I started to practice on my own. I stayed up for hours just to practice one simple move. Every day I would usually set a schedule for myself. It was a struggle because I didn’t know if I was doing anything right. My frustration would lead to tears and doubt upon myself that I would never be as good as the elite players. Yet, I did not let that stop me and throughout the years, I trained myself. Any free moment you would find me down in my basement practicing my dribbling and working on the basics until I perfected them. I'm from a household where we fight for what we want until we get it. Knowing that I wasn't in a professional soccer team club. Knowing that I didn't have nice expensive cleats. I used what I had. From realizing at the age of 5 that my mom was being abused by my father. I thought a father was supposed to protect his family not scare them. But what was I supposed to know I was just a kid. As a kid, it was hard to see my mom struggle, especially when she was hurt physically and mentally. I wanted to help but didn't know how, I was just 5. During this moment, I was confused at a young age, I wanted everything to end. But that's when soccer came along. I remember watching my first ever soccer game, it was early in the morning me and my parents going to my brother's soccer game. That was one of my favorite memories, especially getting to see older women play. Imagining myself being them scoring. Soccer has been my passion, I just can’t and won’t stop now. By constantly working on improving my soccer skills, I learned the definition of hard work. This sport has opened my eyes and made me view things differently. Even if I’m not privileged to be on an elite soccer team, it does not mean that I should stop myself from working any less than anyone else. Dedication and determination can overcome wealth and privilege. If you are not given the opportunities you have to make them for yourself. Soccer was a lifesaver for me and from that, I’ve always had that mindset of “be better tomorrow than you were today”.