Ohio Soccer Moms and Dads Scholarship

Dear Mom and Dad, Thank you for helping me reach my goals, because of you and your sacrifices I can say I am a college athlete. I love looking back on the memories and pictures and seeing the love and support you both have provided me for the last 13 years while I have played youth soccer. Thank you for finding me the best teams and leagues for me, traveling around the country every weekend to watch me play, and sacrificing much of your free time and time with your other kids just so I could do what I love every day and strive for my goals. Your support means so much to me and I will never forget it. Thank you for allowing me to be on the best club teams even if that meant we couldn’t afford a family vacation that year or we didn’t get to do fun family things, our whole family made so many sacrifices for me to play club soccer. You guys never told me my dreams were too big, instead you helped me find a way to reach them. Mom, thank you for getting kicked out of games even if it was Dad who was yelling at the ref. Thank you for driving me 6 hours just to play one game and filling me with support when I didn’t play to the best of my abilities and was upset with the game. Thank you for juggling going back to school, being a nurse, having another kid, and taking me to soccer every day. Some of my favorite soccer memories have you in them, but my favorite soccer memory with you was when we went to the US women's national team game in Columbus just because I wanted to meet Alex Morgan. You made sure I got there and even waited in the big crowd after the game just to get me an autograph from my favorite player. Thank you for always posting my achievements on your Facebook page even if I thought they were embarrassing now I realize you were just capturing my soccer career and I love looking back on all those years. Dad, Thank you for being the athletic parent who understood the struggles I face every day while on the field. Thank you for learning soccer so you could help me train on my own to get better. I love opening my phone to see what new supportive Facebook videos you send me and your “ good luck play good” text exactly an hour before the game starts if you can’t be there in person to tell me. Thank you for always buying me the cleats I wanted even if they were expensive because “ look good, feel good, play good” right? Thank you both for supporting me through the tough times of club and high school soccer, me quitting soccer just to come back a few weeks later, through injuries and bad coaches, and being my biggest fans. Thank you for always having my back. Thank you for having faith in me that I could stand up to the bad coaches and show them that I was better and needed on the field more than they thought. I know I might not say it but your guy's support has truly made me into the athlete I am today and without you guys, I don’t think I would’ve achieved my goals. Love, Hannah

Dear Mom and Dad, I am a college athlete because of the lessons you taught me, the support you’ve given, and your unwavering love. When I first started soccer playing for Our Lady’s Kindergarten-4 league you both were always there. The year I played on the same team as Lyla (my little sister) you both coached us. I love looking at that year’s team picture because I can see the immense support you have for me and my siblings. Thank you for letting me play travel soccer for Our Lady when I got into 4th grade, after being asked to play up with the 5th graders. I know growing up we financially struggled but you never let us kids know the battle you two were fighting. I appreciate all you must have sacrificed to let me play travel soccer. You both worked while going back to school juggling three little girls and a teenager; I don’t know how you guys did it all. Dad, you continued to coach me when I started travel soccer and you gave all your energy to my team. You would send out BeastMode YouTube videos on foot skills to the team; I would go to the basement on days we didn’t have practice and work through the list of foot skills over and over. I still to this day, a sophomore in college, will revert to those basic fundamental foot skill drills to do on my own. Thank you for instilling in me the knowledge that your dreams take hard work and that every day is a day to get better whether you spend 15 minutes doing toe touches in the basement or go to a field and spend hours working on your long balls. Mama, I didn't realize the hardships that dad being my coach could have put on you until I got into college. You are so strong, and an amazing mom. I understand more every day how much you truly love and wanted your babies to have the best at any cost. So, thank you mom for letting dad be my coach, and thanks dad for being my coach. You both have helped me grow as a soccer player throughout the years by spending hours in the backyard with me and a ball or measuring out sprints in the front of the house. Thank you for coming to all my games. My favorite memory I have of us 3 and soccer is my senior year of high school when I would start, and they’d announce my name we would find each other and hold up the “I love you” sign. Thank you both for being so supportive when I got into college. When I tore my ACL a month into freshman year during a game. You both did nothing but help me. You guys would stand behind me and help move my leg when I wasn’t strong enough. I was so scared during this time that I was never going to be the athlete that I was before but you both pushed me to be greater than I was before and cheered me on throughout the whole process. Thank you for having faith in and supporting me this past season. I appreciate you guys coming to games knowing I might not get in. I love all the support and strength you guys give me to not quit on my dreams and to just work as hard as I can to get those minutes, I want next season. Thank you for being my biggest supporters and my heros. I love you, Ava Quinn