- March 2016
Personal Statement
I am a student-athlete. I play all the sports I can, but love football (soccer) the most. I have played competitively since I was 4 years old. I have played for clubs such as PDA in New jersey and TBU in Tampa. Now I play in Central Africa where my mother works, for both my High School team and my club, Olympique de Kinshasa. I played striker when I was younger but have evolved into a mid-fielder. I feel my two greatest strengths as a player are my accurate passing and my ability to see where the ball needs to go 2 or 3 passes ahead in the game. As a midfielder I can help adjust the pace and direction of the ball and the game.
I also work very hard on academics. I take as many math and science classes as are offered at my school and work hard in all of them, including my independent study Precalculus course. I just completed an Engineering Fair project on fractional distillation, and a Physiology research project on the impact of training on aerobic capacity.
I also try to do as much community service as I can find time for. I work with the elementary students as a peer counselor. I help them with math and English and, of course, I also help coach them in soccer! I also help with environmental activities: educating visiting students about primates, habitat destruction and the bushmeat trade here in Central Africa. We also work on building drinking water filters and educating local people about hygiene.
I think I am a good candidate because I have played football all around the world and relate well to different styles of play. I am deeply competitive, but my coaches have always noted how unselfish I am. I think it's more important to pass the ball and get the goal than to get the goal myself. Playing in Africa for the past 5 years, I have been able to play year-round on a daily basis. I have seen kids with no ball, no boots, no goals, strive to develop their skills and I have learned from them. I know I can combine my passion for soccer with my academic drive to be a great NCAA student athlete.
