I believe my life’s purpose is to use my experience and passion for soccer to reach children with the love of Christ. At 13, my family went to Sri Lanka to visit and serve with missionary friends. I felt God wanted me to plan and lead soccer camps for children there. While teaching soccer, we told them about Jesus. We successfully ran camps in 3 different villages reaching hundreds of kids. This trip really opened my eyes to other cultures and impoverished communities. I discovered I only needed to show up, smile, and engage people personally to make an impact. Soccer and love transcended language, religious, and cultural barriers. The value felt and joy they expressed was priceless. My goal is to continue this outreach. I’ll be playing collegiate soccer in Texas, pursuing a Children’s Ministry degree with minors in Coaching and Sports Management. Although I have a small athletic scholarship, in order to achieve my goals of graduating debt free, I need more scholarships to cover remaining costs. I don’t want debt to hinder my purpose. Soccer has done so much for my life and has been a key element in shaping me into the person I am today. It teaches perseverance through hard situations and emotions to reach goals (and that’s where the fun happens!). Early on, I learned discipline, technical awareness, and practical skills. Over time, I discovered firsthand that extra work makes you better, and even though drills may hurt, pain was temporary while growth continued. Sports teaches that things don’t always go as planned. At times I was frustrated by losing or my own performance. Those feelings are normal, so experiencing them helped me learn to cope with setbacks and look for positives in the midst of them. You need humility in victory and also graciousness in defeat. Disappointment can crush or motivate you; I choose the latter. So now, playing on the Men’s Tallahassee Soccer Club, my ability to persevere through physical discomfort and emotional disappointments has made me stronger mentally and physically – earning me playing time at 16yo. Through soccer, I’ve learned teamwork and communication. Winning requires effective communication and willingness to work together. While employed at Chick-Fil-A these lessons stood out. My job was in the food prep/cooking areas. Large volumes of food and short turn-around times required us to work fast, hard, and together to meet goals. My success depended on someone else just as theirs depended on me. Many people I worked with struggled because they didn’t have prior experience in these situations. Due to my years playing and leading soccer teams I thrived, adapting easily to the pace and changes required, catching the attention of supervisors. I began to see the value of the life lessons from the pitch, and am blessed to have had the opportunity to learn them. Yet, one of the biggest lessons is that a team should be a family. That’s what it meant to Gio. I had the honor of playing with him on the Leon Varsity team. Though I was the youngest player, Gio was the first person to make me feel welcome, making me feel like part of the Leon Soccer family right away. He brought joy to the sidelines, emphasizing relationships along with competition. After graduating, he came around frequently because he loved our team like extended family. He taught me to always see my teammates like this, too. These lessons I’ve learned in soccer will assist me every day in college and with my life purpose; I will use them to grow in my relationships, outreach, and career.