0 - 10 vs 10 - 0. Both scorelines invoke emotion, but for some reason winning 10-0 wasn’t the best feeling, and losing 0-10 wasn’t the worst. However, those moments were humbling and allowed me to learn. The best time wasn’t a moment instead the best time was being on the field doing what I love, with the people I love. The worst feeling was realizing that I was done doing what I love. I’ve played soccer since 10 years old recreationally and 12 competitively. In my competitive years, I played for 3 teams. My middle school, high school, and club teams. In each of those teams, I felt as if I was in a brotherhood. Especially since I grew up an only boy I felt like my team was the one place I could go where I had real brothers. Especially my high school team which I was honored to captain my junior and senior years. However, in all relationships, there are highs and lows. One of the lows was us losing 0-10. The whole season we were losing, we didn't win a single game, but this one was different. After each goal they scored I grew angrier and angrier until I was consumed by anger. Being here I didn’t want to listen to anyone, but I finally gave my teammates a chance to speak to me during halftime. They helped me realize being angry won’t hurt anyone but me and if we even wanted a chance to score let alone win I as captain needed to keep a level head. At the end of the game, we lost 1-10. My teammates and I laughed about how badly we lost, yet still won the second half. Seeing all of them happy even after a horrible loss reminded me of my love of the game and why I played in the first place. To have a brotherhood of people with me doing what we all love. Even though a humbling experience turned great, what should’ve been great became one of the worst. In our season opener senior year we faced a team who was not up to our level which is something that you have to accept on both sides of the scoreline. We got the score to 9-0 before our coach told us to stop scoring. So we listened, we would get right in front of the goal then turn around. But our coach was even more displeased with that. He wanted us to miss shots and look like we were trying. He said we’ve been on the 0-10 scoreline and wouldn’t want to do that to someone else. The next game we went to their home field and it looked like their school didn’t even care, it was run down, they were on grass, we were on turf, and their posts were slanted. Going to their home field made me think were we better than them or did we just have better resources? Like in real life, students aren’t dumb, they just have less access to resources. This realization dampened the mood, but what was worse is I was reminded that we were going into my last district season, and wouldn’t be able to play with my brothers anymore. After graduating every day I miss the sport and my brothers. Being with my brothers made me realize there’s more to life than the superficial. Whether it be the superficial goals you are looking at that prevents you from doing your best. Or the superficial benefits you have that block you from seeing your privilege.

While I was in 8th grade my sister claims the worst day of her life occurred. She slipped outside and dislocated her knee; after this unfortunate event, her whole life was put on a different track. She missed a lot of senior end-of-the-year events, such as senior skip day, senior awards, and even prom. However, even though her friends were out enjoying senior year, she was in therapy. She told me she was very grateful to her physical therapist during this time because they were there for her during her lowest. This inspired me to want to become a physical therapist myself. Ever since this event I’ve had my mind set on becoming a physical therapist. However, I never thought about the specifics of it, I just knew that it was my end goal. It wasn’t until my upperclassmen years I realized what I need to do. To become a physical therapist I need to receive a Doctorate of Physical Therapy and to earn that I need to get my bachelor's. So I’ve decided to major in exercise science because it will best prepare me for PT school. To get in I need to do is try to learn from people with experience through internships and keep my grades up, which I am no stranger to. When I become a PT, I hope to gain experience and then become a travel PT. I believe once I’ve reached that level I have accomplished my dreams. However my one roadblock is the cost, so I am going to do my best to earn scholarships to make my dreams as affordable as possible. Removing this roadblock will allow me to make an impact in someone's life the same way someone impacted my sister’s.

Someone who has made a significant impact on my life is my 6th-grade math teacher Mrs. Parker. During that time I was struggling with my identity heavily. I was always a smart student and I wanted to embrace it, but I was always scared of being too smart to be cool; or too smart to hang out with black kids. However, Mrs. Parker changed that for me; by having a black teacher she showed me I can still be cool and have black friends while valuing my education. At the end of 6th grade, she had me take a test to advance myself in math in middle school, and I passed! This led me to take algebra 1 as a 7th grader, and my whole life has been a snowball effect from that. By taking accelerated math I forced myself to excel in school at an early age, and now that I want to apply to college and for scholarships, I’m reaping the benefits of those decisions. If I chose to ignore Mrs. Parker and stayed on level, I probably would have never cared about my grades as much as I do now, because I would have never been pressured to. Because not only did Mrs. Parker teach me to apply myself, but she also taught me to break stereotypes. As a black woman Mrs. Parker understood the struggles I would go through more than I did at the time. She never wanted to let people assume that I was the black kid cruising through school, so I always applied myself attempting to be as smart as possible. She also taught me to value my identity and race and not to conform to anyone else’s beliefs to try to fit in. Through her lessons, she gave me the tools I needed to be able to sculpt my own identity, not what people think I should be or what people wanted me to be. Mrs. Parker allowed me to grow into the intelligent and proud African American man I am today. Through Mrs. Parker's teaching's I hope to replicate the impact she had on my life within others, In the future I hope to be a physical therapist who not only rehabilitates their patients, but is also an ear to talk to. I especially hope to work with young athletes because as one myself I believe I'd see myself in them. Through that I can work with them not only to get back on to their sport, but also help them with any mental health or identity issues like Mrs. Parker did for me.

My name is David Adepoju, I'm from Texas, my family is low income, and I love soccer; let me explain why this is important. As I grew up, I always wanted to pursue a career in soccer, but it was always $2000 or more for any team I tried out for and my family just didn't have that money. It wasn't until my freshmen year of high school till I was able to play because a team put me on scholarship. When I finally joined the team I was so excited because the quality of players was something I never even came close to, but there was one thing all these players had in common; and that thing was injuries. Even at a young age these players were suffering from chronic injuries, and with that came comparisons to their former self, and that is what I hate. I want to see everyone kid be the best version of themselves that they can be, and injuries prevent that. I know I can't stop all injuries from happening but by becoming a physical therapist I hope to keep kids from re-injuring themselves. By becoming a physical therapist I would help the athletes of tomorrow, so there would be less what could have been stories. I'd also use it as a chance to interact with kids and help form the young minds of tomorrow, and use being there physical therapist also as a chance to be someone to talk to if they needed it. Through physical therapy I'd help the mental states of children and their athletic ability. And I don't just wish to stop there. I would also work towards reforming the way competitive youth soccer is in America. A large reason why these kids were steps ahead of me in playing level is because I never had the money to play before. I'd work towards building a system where families aren't paying thousands of dollars for their kid to do something they love. By doing so more talented soccer players would come from America and build a better soccer culture throughout the United States, and by increasing the talent pool, you increase the quality of the game, which increases response and happiness from viewers worldwide. I know I may not be able to affect the sport on a large scale such as that but who's to say I shouldn't try. It all starts with one kid, who comes from a low income family, that loves soccer, but instead of waiting most his life to play, gets to do what he loves from young. And they go on to inspire others and then it translates worldwide.