I have always been an outsider. The only child. The immigrant mother. The kid whose third home was practically family court. The gay kid on the soccer team. When I was ten years old, my father told me that I would never be as successful as him. Coming from the man who blew all his money on beer, never bothered to pay child support, and was homeless more often than not in my early childhood. My father was not willing to pay a single penny to give me a good childhood, but he would gladly rip apart any shred of self-confidence that was left in me after the two years I spent living with him after the divorce. I felt unlovable and stupid and that life was pointless. I did not plan on graduating high school, let alone making it to college. I found heavy metal in ninth grade. My parents were in court as usual, and my mental health was rapidly deteriorating as my mentally unstable father threatened my mother and I nonstop. Heavy metal brings me deep peace. Heavy metal made my unusual upbringing feel more normal, helped me feel understood when I felt completely unseen and unheard. I am now in college, and both my mother and I live far away from my father. I have found a lot of peace in my life, peace that was not afforded to me in childhood. Although I no longer feel misunderstood or alone, heavy metal still brings me peace. I enjoy listening while studying or performing tasks, as it provides me with the perfect mix of adrenaline and peacefulness for getting things done with a clear mind. Having this clear mind is essential as a collegiate athlete. My father did not contribute a penny to raising me, meaning my mother could barely put food on the table let alone set up a college fund. I must now juggle school, work, and soccer. I work 2-3 jobs at all times. I have worked extremely hard to make sure the sacrifices my mother made for me were worth it. I have worked at 4am every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for a whole semester. I have studied until 2:30 in the morning and then got up for 6am soccer practice less than three hours later. Although I will inevitably be in debt after college, this scholarship would relieve some of the financial stress placed on me during the school year. I could worry less about how my spring tuition will be paid, and when I am going to have time to sleep during my soccer season. This scholarship would allow me to be the best captain I can to my team and achieve my goal of a 3.8 GPA by graduation this May (currently a 3.78 GPA). Additionally, I will remain healthier and less prone to injury as I will be able to get the rest and recovery my body desperately needs. Staying healthy will be very important as I am majoring in exercise science pre-physical therapy. My ultimate goal is to own a sports training facility with private soccer training sessions and group strength and conditioning programs. I am currently in my senior year, and I plan on earning my master’s in exercise science the following year and eventually returning to study physical therapy. I hope that by training and rehabilitating injured athletes I will be able to help young kids feel less alone, in the same way the heavy metal helped me as a young kid.

In my senior year of high school, my family sacrificed nearly a month and a half's rent to allow me to play for an elite club team. This sacrifice ultimately led me to be recruited for college soccer. Although this club team did not necessarily provide me with the skill needed to be recruited, it gave me the exposure needed to be a collegiate athlete. Soccer has been one of the greatest joys of my life. However, I did not have the opportunity to participate in athletics until high school. My parent's divorce left me in the care of my father, who, due to mental health issues, never gave me a proper childhood. When I eventually moved in with my immigrant mother, she was a full-time employee and student. Money was extremely tight, and my mother did not understand how sports worked in the United States, so I could not play until my freshman year of high school. Although I struggled with my parent's divorce for years, the structure and support soccer provided me in high school allowed me to begin to flourish. Along with life skills and friendships, I learned the importance of exercise for mental and physical health. This encouraged me to study exercise science and learn how to properly train the body. Thankfully, I have had the privilege to play collegiate soccer; however, I still mourn for my childhood without access to sport. For this reason, I hope to create an impact in my community related to youth athletics. Sports play an essential part in many children's development. Sports allow children to stay healthy and build friendships and self-confidence. Female sports have grown tremendously in my lifetime. However, many sports, including soccer, have tremendous fees associated with playing at high levels. Playing at these highly competitive levels allows athletes to develop more rapidly and increases the likelihood of being recruited to play at the collegiate level. These fees significantly limit the number of low-income athletes participating. Furthermore, many club athletes have access to private trainers and one-on-one coaching, which increases their development even more than the low-income athlete. Due to the lack of development, the low-income athlete may be overlooked for leadership roles, such as captain, or athletic scholarships. To overcome this issue, I will start my own business for one-on-one private soccer lessons and group strength and conditioning programs. I will provide significant financial assistance for athletes that could not otherwise participate. This financial assistance will allow low-income athletes to fully develop their skills, creating an equal opportunity for all athletes to earn athletic scholarships. I am currently earning my Bachelor's in exercise science and coaching certificate. I am a captain of my college's women's soccer team and can apply my classroom knowledge and experiences as an athlete and leader to create effective training plans. I plan to earn my Master's degree in exercise science and play my fifth year of collegiate soccer the following year, which will further expand my knowledge and leadership abilities. I will be the director of a youth sports performance camp this summer as part of my internship and am excited to learn how I can partner with local rec centers or gyms to continue making these programs accessible for athletes until I have my own training facility. Soccer has impacted nearly every aspect of my life, and I hope that I can begin to help make sports accessible for more children. I believe that having accessible athletic training for all athletes will help improve the health of the local children and create well-rounded, confident future leaders in their communities.