Soccer in my life;
I spend my life moving forward, reaching further, and dreaming bigger. When I stop to think about what has been this driving force in my life, really decode each chapter, it comes down to pure and simple PASSION. At an early age, I found soccer. There wasn’t a day that passed that I didn’t touch a ball. Soccer became such a major part of my life that my existence was defined by it. Soccer became my identity. My goals started small. Get two assists in today’s game. Score a goal perhaps. They eventually grew larger. Make the high school varsity team. Become a starter. Eventually, I dreamed of playing competitively as an NCAA DI athlete. My dreams did come true and it was through persistence, hard work and most importantly, passion. It wasn't just a game to me anymore. Soccer meant more to me than that. I understand looking back on my soccer career that so much of who I am today, I owe to the game of soccer. Soccer provided me with structure. It taught me the importance of hard work, trust, and dedication. I learned what it meant to be a part of a team and understood the value of the support a team can provide. Soccer also taught me the importance of ADAPTABILITY. It made me vulnerable. It put me often times somewhere I had never been before and that was unnerving and unsettling. The greatness in this though is that it allowed for adjustments, adaptations. It stretched my mind and body to perform and act in ways more fitting, that challenged, and that created growth. When my college soccer career ended, I felt a sense of uneasiness. I felt that I suddenly had lost everything I had once identified myself with. However, I realized quickly that though my time as a competitive athlete was over, it didn’t mean I was going to lose my passion for game. What is rooted in the game and thus in myself will never leave me. Today, I continue to look for ways I can share my passion and love for the game with others. This is a passion for the “essence” of soccer. The idea that though a game on the surface, its roots extend much deeper and can and do provide the nutrients necessary to support LIFE.
Soccer took me to Zambia.
For 12 months, I worked as a volunteer intern for Grassroot Soccer (GRS) in Lusaka, Zambia. I wanted to share in GRS’s mission because soccer bettered me, and I believed it could better others too. GRS is a recognized 501(c)3 whose mission is to “Use the power of soccer to educate, inspire, and mobilize communities to stop the spread of HIV.” Their vision; “A world mobilized through soccer to create an AIDS free generation.” Since its inception, Grassroot Soccer has continuously worked on developing and refining an innovative HIV prevention and life-skills curriculum that is now coined “Skillz.” It focuses on ways youth can live healthier and risk free. It reaches at-risk youth through a sport for development approach, with soccer as the platform, and is delivered by well-respected and trained community role models including soccer players, teachers, and coaches. The implementation of this program has sparked the creation of numerous others. Today, GRS is successfully running nine different programs that target audiences through various interventions related to age, gender, psychological, physical, and emotional stresses. Nearly 631, 121 youth have graduated from their programs with a greater awareness and sensitivity towards health and HIV. Grassroot Soccer's goal: an AIDS free generation. The emphasis of these programs lies in the recognition that life and sport are interconnected, that goals can be achieved no matter how big or small, and ways to live healthier and stay protected do exist.