Juan David Arias '27 Recruiting Profile

Since I was 4 years old, I started playing golf and other sports. When I first started playing football, I liked it because we worked together as a team, all as one towards the same objective. We had to work together to accomplish one common goal. It taught me how to lead by example working hard during practice, at the gym and on the field. Everyone had to do their best to play on gamedays. Due to my performance, leadership, effort, dedication, and commitment to the team during the season, I have been selected team captain in several finals.

On the other hand, golf is different since it is an individual sport, and that is what I like about it. It is you against yourself every time you are at the course. That is what motivates me to keep practicing more since it challenges me to be better every time. This sport has taught me many lessons, but one sure thing that I have learned from golf is that, like life, without the correct mindset of having goals but not working hard for them, you are not going to reach them. I am an extremely competitive person; I give my best every time I go out to practice or on the course. It does not matter who you are this sport will challenge you every time. Every failure you must get up by yourself with no one there to help you. This has taught me that no matter who you are playing against its going to be you against yourself always battling with your mind when you don’t like the results or handling pressure, but to play good golf and be successful, you have to accept the bad breaks or mistakes, learn from them quick, stay focused in the present and move on fast.

My dedication as a person has always been important in my life. I try my best in everything I do. My grades have always been important to me also. I try to organize my weeks to have time for everything balancing my studies, gym, friends, family and for practicing golf. Outside of school, I like to help my family every year in an activity where we give away 2,000 meals to people in extreme poverty from the town of Anton, which is 2.5 hours from Panama City. Being able to help those most in need is a blessing and the fact that my family has instilled these values in me since an early age it’s something I appreciate and will practice the rest of my life.

I would like to attend a college that offers me a balance between an extremely good education and a good golf program that helps me continue developing in both aspects that are particularly important in my life. At this moment I am open to all options since I know that I can improve my game even more than where it is at the moment, and in terms of my education, I have not yet decided what I want to study since I am just about to enter my junior year in high school, but in order of interest Marketing, Business and Robotic Engineering really catches my attention.