Personal Statement
My soccer journey started at 10 years old. From what started as a hobby, instantly turned to passion. From playing with friends, to training every day and competing in the local youth league. Since then, it has been my dream to compete at a professional level and play on the big screen. When I turned 11 I joined Elite Sports Academy, where I played for the U14 team. This was a challenging jump as playing with friends and playing with players who are just as passionate as me is a drastic change. However, Playing with an older team challenged me and ensured that I gave nothing less than 100% every time I stepped on a pitch. Eventually, with the help of the coaches and effort I put in outside of training, I was able to overcome difficulties I faced as a younger athlete and was assigned the captaincy role. This helped me develop my communication skills and leadership skills from a very young age. That summer my team had organized a trip to Manchester where we would compete against local teams to learn new playstyles and identify our playing level. During that trip I was the top goal scorer with 11 goals in 8 games. Competing against teams in another country helped me learn new skills and strategies which I could implement in my own game to be as effective as possible. After this experience, I wanted to further challenge myself so I decided to join a team which competed against more difficult teams in the UAE. At 15 I joined Gulf United FC and was part of their U16 team. At first, my confidence isn't where it used to be and I would shy away from asking for the ball. However, after training day in and day out I started to make an impact on the pitch. Currently, I am the captain of the U19 team at my school and play for the U18 EDS at Gulf United FC. Since the beginning, I have been a center midfielder as I would enjoy creating chances and scoring goals. However, This season I've been given a more defensive role at Right back due to an increase of physicality. 3 months ago, I accepted an offer as an assistant coach for a team called It's Just Football, and another offer to help coaches at Gulf United. It was something I really enjoyed straight away and thought that it would help me further develop my knowledge and game sense when I play. As a result of this, the coaches have signed me up for the FA level 1 coaching course. To overcome the difficulties and changes I would experience when playing in Division 3 I have constructed a weekly plan where I use my time more effectively on and off the pitch to match my physicality with my technical ability. I believe that playing soccer at the collegiate level in America would be a great opportunity and would be the most suitable pathway for my ambition to play professionally.
