My name is Francisca Valenzuela. I am a transfer student from Cowley College to Salem University. I come from a family with few resources but very hardworking, I have a twin sister who gave me a beautiful niece, my mother, my grandmother, and all my family are in my country (chile), at the moment I am alone in the united states for my American dream. Before I was 8 years old, my grandmother had financial problems and we had to leave what was our home at that time, all my life we have struggled to improve our quality of life, my mother and my grandmother inspired me to work for my dreams. When I turned 15 years old, I started playing in my city's women's soccer team. When I turned 16, I became one of the best on the youth team. When I turned 17, I knew that playing soccer was what I wanted for my life, at that time the US national soccer team was the country with the best soccer in the world and currently remains one of the best. I have worked to help myself grow, mentally, in my physical performance, and to help my family financially. I am in the United States to play soccer and study exercise science, with this career I want to become a professional soccer player or coach in the best leagues, I would love to train athletes and create a new generation of female athletes for the world. the world is constantly changing and I want to be part of the future. I want to be an inspiration for future generations, to help more girls achieve their dreams.

My name is Francisca Valenzuela. I am a transfer student from Cowley College to Salem University. I come from a family with few resources but very hardworking, I have a twin sister who gave me a beautiful niece, my mother, my grandmother, and all my family are in my country (chile), at the moment I am alone in the united states for my American dream. Before I was 8 years old, my grandmother had financial problems and we had to leave what was our home at that time, all my life we have struggled to improve our quality of life, my mother and my grandmother inspired me to work for my dreams. When I turned 15 years old, I started playing in my city's women's soccer team. When I turned 16, I became one of the best on the youth team. When I turned 17, I knew that playing soccer was what I wanted for my life, at that time the US national soccer team was the country with the best soccer in the world and currently remains one of the best. I have worked to help myself grow, mentally, in my physical performance, and to help my family financially. I am in the United States to play soccer and study exercise science, with this career I want to become a professional soccer player or coach in the best leagues, I would love to train athletes and create a new generation of female athletes for the world. the world is constantly changing and I want to be part of the future. I want to be an inspiration for future generations, to help more girls achieve their dreams.

sport has always been part of my life, since I was about 7 years old, soccer and physical education classes at my school, were my favorite moments, as a woman I felt discriminated at all times, many people even teachers told me that sports like soccer were for men, when I grew up the discrimination continued, the men world was always present in my life, my country is chile and I am starting my career in the united states studying physiology and exercise science. the sport as women's soccer always suffered a huge inequality, which affected many athletes, the love for this sport pushed them to move forward in the face of every adversity, poor training conditions, and often not having a suitable place to play league matches, in short I was part for many years of these injustices, inequality , It is for this and for many other reasons that I want to start my career in sports, and to leave univercity opened the doors to build my knowledge in physiology and exercise science, I have great expectations for me in this area, to be a coach, help future athletes to achieve a better level of sport, I want to be a recruiter of new talents and give the opportunity to the new generations to have the experience of playing college or professional soccer, I want to be a great mentor for athletes, work alongside them professionally, make my athletes feel that they have an important support in their careers, with perseverance and discipline you can get great results, I want to acquire the best of this career and give my life to the new generations of women's soccer to feel that there is a world of possibilities to achieve their dreams, before I wanted to be a professional soccer player, but now I want to help the players of my country and the world to build new opportunities, and improve the quality of life of many athletes, I want to focus on women's sports, I want to be part of a movement that drives the new performance of women in sport. It is proven that we as women can do the same as men and many times we do it better than them.

3 years ago, before starting my American dream, in search of becoming a high-level athlete, I was with depression, I was lost, I thought many times about killing myself, I felt that I was not living the life I wanted, I did not find meaning in my life, my life began to be very routine, I wanted something different, I asked myself the same question every day, Francisca what do you want for your life, , what gives meaning to your life? the answers were two, my mother, single mother, who with little, was always an image that with hard work and effort everything is possible, she is the reason for not ending my life, I did not want to give her that pain, she has given me everything, why take away what with so much effort she always wanted to give me the best, In one of those coincidences of life an unfortunate event happened for my town, I lived in front of a sports club, a dirt field was my favorite place day by day, that time in front of my house in the area of that soccer field where I learned to play soccer, the husband of the president of the women's club where I belonged, killed himself, I saw everything, I saw her crying for her husband, I heard the screams and from the window of my house I did not want that for my mother, that scene was very strong for me, and I did not want that pain for my mother, my second answer was soccer, to look for the way that soccer would give me the opportunity of a new life, I come from a family of limited resources, I am the first in my family to go to university and study in the exterior, for them I am their proudest, soccer is the sport that fills me with life, the ball and enjoy making a good game, to make a goal, and help my team to win, that passion that you feel when you are doing things right is something that gives meaning to my life, in 2019 the dream began for me, I arrived in a cowley country without knowing English, I did not know the world outside my town, many scares, and I had many insecurities, accompanied by many bad decisions in the course of 2019 to the present, but if something is very clear to me, from all this process, I will never forget my dream, I want to focus on my dream of being a high level athlete, to achieve the growth I need, I got it these years in Cowley, there were dark days, where I did not see the light, but here I am, I'm still fighting for everything, I identify with reading books on self-help, going to the gym every day, improving my physical and mental condition, I love books by Tony Robbins, Robin Sharma, and other mentors of successful personal development books, I am in search of my best version and more opportunities for my growth, my talent is to play a beautiful style of soccer a unique style, that with my hard work to achieve the physique and mentality that I need I know I will achieve my dreams, creativity, motivation, growth, resilience, determination, are some words that define me, never give up, follow your dreams, and believe in yourself when no one else does. after the storm, the sun comes out, and when that happens may the preparation find me. we continue on the road to my dreams.