Valeria Castillo '23 Recruiting Profile

Hello there :)

My name is Valeria M. Castillo and I am a 17 year old junior who loves sports, but my main passion is soccer. My parents and family are Latino, and they have influenced me very much, especially in my passion and dedication for soccer. I have played soccer since I was about 4 years old and have loved every second of it. Now, I am looking forward to the next chapter in my soccer career, and I am very excited to take the first steps towards playing in college and I hope to play at a high level. I think I would make a great asset to any team because of my ability to lead and the hard work and effort I am willing to put in to bettering myself and my team. After being captain of my travel team for a while, I have learned to advocate for my teammates and myself, as well as play through tough situations and help  bring out the best in our team under any circumstances. Basketball has also helped  me grow as a person as well as a leader and has helped me develop my leadership skills and my physical abilities. Since I started playing in 3rd grade, basketball has been something that I have done simultaneously with soccer and has helped me gain different perspectives along with new skills that I have learned to implement into my style of play in soccer. I have used basketball as an opportunity to not only stay in shape during the off seasons, but as a tool that can teach me new things that I may not have learned otherwise. I think this gives me a slight advantage as I am gaining experience and learning from both sports and using them to improve my soccer techniques and playing styles. 

I also am very proud of my ability to have a somewhat decent balance between school and sports. I have a 3.9 gpa average and I have always been on the honor roll. Sports, especially soccer, has always been a major part of my life, however I have never neglected my studies and try my best on the soccer field as well as in the classroom. I am also bilingual (Spanish and English), and have dabbled in a few other languages such as Mandarin Chinese, French, and Sign Language. I sincerely hope that you will consider me for your college soccer team and, if you have made it this far, thank you for reading and getting to know me a little better. 

Thanks again and hope to hear from you soon, 

Valeria