Antonio Lopez '20 Recruiting Profile

When people see my community, they see highschool dropouts, drug addicts, and poverty at times.True enough, I saw that too for a long period of time. For years I lived within the four walls that society put me in. In aditition to my narrow mindset, my parents being immigrants did not make it any easier. I felt hopeless and dreamless at times.This all changed once I started playing the game of soccer.This sport gave me hope. Playing this game throughout my youthful years allowed me see beyond those four constricted walls.This sport allowed me to travel and soon realize that the world is much bigger and full extraordinary individuals.Individuals who proved that it is possible as long as you believe and execute. So I made a commitment to stick to this sport as long as I could.

Unfortunately though, I injured my A.C.L towards the end of my Freshman year.I became very mad and pessimistic. I am going to be honest with you, I almost quit. Nobody realized it because I was able to override my feelings and function but deep down in side I wanted to quit. I was tired, not the tried you get when one is sleepy, but more so like waking up tired, going to sleep tired, and going to work tired.Rather than to correct it, I walked away and tried something else. What I chose to put my identity in was gone in a blink of an eye.It did not take long for me to realize that I needed to play soccer.In addtion, I also soon realized that I was not living life, I was just existing. I took this obstacle one day at a time and when I got to the end of the day I said,"im not finished yet, but I did everything that I was supposed to do for that day".I soon started seeing the broader perspective. The thing that people did not understand, the reason why I chose to keep playing soccer did not have to do with Antonio Lopez. Every time I went to sleep I had 2 younger sisters and imigrant parents that slept on the same floor as me.It was more about overcoming an injury; it was about staying true to myself and my loved ones. I have to carry my last name with pride. I have to give homage to the woman and man who raised me. That is why no matter how big or small the task is, I give it my all and strive for more due to the fact that I am representing my family. After this obstacle throughout my highschool career everything kind of just started falling in line.

I am unbreakable now,because of that, I often get mistaken for being cocky or ignorant. I am not though, I am just a small boy with big dreams that does not let anything get in my way. I would just hate to look back and realize that my goals were to easy or wonder what would have happened if I gave one hundred percent in everything I did. I would rather aim for the stars and miss, and end up on the moon than to aim for the sky and end up on the ground. So I am going to keep grinding to stay true to myself. Most importantly though, I am going to make my family proud by fighting for my last name.

It is easier to settle on the basic things in life, but I do not thanks to this injury. This obstacle that occured during my highschool career mad me a goal driven, ambitous person.If did not alter my mindset during this obstacle, I would have been a different individual. An individual who conforms with the basic things in life, including the materialistic ones and an indivdual who conforms with the four walls in which society tends to put minorities in.