Amaya Tupacyupanqui '23 Recruiting Profile

Growing up I traveled between Texas and New York as a result of my parents divorce. When you spend so little time in one place it’s hard to build personal connections with people and it wasn’t until I started playing sports that I finally found a solution to my problem. My fathers side of the family would gather every Sunday to play soccer at the park and having no choice but to attend that’s where my love for soccer began to grow. Soccer became more then just a sport to me, it became the key to building that relationship I so desperately wanted to have with my family. Soccer also made me feel closer to my parents who were both soccer players as well. They constantly encouraged me as I grew up and sought to play on my schools team. When I entered high school my team had enough defenders and they were looking for a goalie and at first I was nervous to become a goalie. I had never trained as one before and the idea of being a goalie frightened me. But my love for the sport was greater then my worries and I took on the responsibility of being my teams new goalie. Becoming a goalie became the best decision of my life because it not only impacted my impression on my team but it impacted my everyday life. I had to learn to be confident in my abilities and I had to learn to deal with the pressure of being a leader.