Armanii Tafoya '21 Recruiting Profile

My name is Armanii Tafoya, class of 2021. I carry a 4.9 GPA and I am currently ranked 7th in my class.

 I began my soccer career at the age of ten. As a child, I never saw myself as a soccer player and knew very little about the sport. When I was ten, my uncle coached his daughters’ soccer team, after watching a game I thought I should give it a try. As I continued playing soccer, I felt a newfound passion towards this sport, not because of the cool tricks or the goals, but the team aspect itself. Prior to playing soccer, I had only competed in individual sports including ballet, martial arts, and running. I quickly picked up on the fact that a soccer team needs each and every player to be successful. This mindset is what led me to fall in love with the defensive position. As a central defender, I thrive in the knowledge and responsibility that I am the last resort in preventing shots on goal. My personal strengths as a defender include my speed, recovery time, stamina, the ability to see the whole field and most of all, my intensity. I play both for my high school soccer team at John Adams Academy, and for the Roseville Premiere 03G Fire club team. Throughout my high school career, my hard work has been recognized as I've received Honorable Mention my freshman year while playing on the high school BOYS soccer team (the school had yet to establish a girls team) and First Team All League as a sophomore on the high school girls soccer team. I was also named player of the year for the 2019 season, where we placed second in our conference, and made it to the semi-finals in the playoffs. Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus our high school season this year was canceled after two pre-season games and one league game. I was named player of the match for the only league game we played in the 2020 season.

All of this experience has taught me how to be a leader, both on and off the field. In 2019, I was nominated by my coach as co-captain on my high school team my sophomore year. I was also nominated as captain by my teammates for three consecutive years on my club team for my ability to empower my teammates with a passionate perspective of the game while demonstrating persistence throughout each and every match. Leadership is one of the most important aspects as a soccer player, every player on the team should possess a certain level of leadership and self confidence in order to gain the trust of their teammates. As a captain on the field, I believe a leader should encourage their teammates after every play, and push them to play to their fullest potential. A leader's job on the field is to know every player and keep their spirit and intensity high, so that their team can end every game knowing they gave everything they had on the field. You will often hear me say “WE CAN DO THIS”, or “THIS IS OUR GAME”, positive thinking enables a player to perform at a certain level they may have never thought possible. I owe many of my ideals and morals to my parents who have fully supported me on my athletic and academic journey. My mom and dad have always instilled in me to give 110% at everything you do and never give up even when times get hard. Not only have I been able to apply this to my athletic career, but I have also been able to use these words of wisdom in my academic study. 

Academically, I have set high expectations and will continue to do so in college. I attend John Adams Academy, a classic leadership school with the mission of Restoring Americas' Heritage by Developing Servant Leaders, in Roseville California. I started attending John Adams Academy in 7th grade and love the academic challenge it provides me. My school is a classical education school which uses core documents and socratic discussions rather than textbooks. The enrichment that I have received from this type of education has molded me into the scholar I am today. Throughout my entire middle school and high school career, I have never had less than an A- in any of one class, and I have taken every honors class available to me. 

My long range passion is to eventually become an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. To prepare, I intend to get a degree in Forensic science and be able to use my education in the pursuit of justice.  I have been involved in Scholar Government (a parallel to student council) in each of my high school years. I was elected into the following positions by the 7th-12th grade scholar body. Freshman year, I served as Senator, Sophomore year as Treasurer, and Junior year as Vice President. I intend to run for scholar body President next year. I love being involved not only in my school, but in my community. This is my second year as a member of the National Honors Society (NHS) which is an organization that elevates a school’s commitment to the values of scholarship, service, leadership, and character.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I have been serving my community by painting encouragement rocks to spread on public trails, to brighten the day of whoever comes across them. I have volunteered each year with Feed My Starving Children, packing meals for malnourished children. I’ve also served as a camp leader at the Roseville Police Activities League summer camps. The Roseville Police Activities League's mission is to enrich the lives of Roseville youth by building positive relationships between youth, police officers, and the community through a broad range of accessible and affordable activities. As a former camper, I was allowed the opportunity to be around law enforcement officers everyday. Recently, I have started giving back to my RPAL community by becoming a member of the teen anti-drug coalition and volunteering as leader in a girls empowerment camp that was sponsored by the organization. I soon realized that I too wanted a job that protects and serves the people.

In summary, I can’t think of anything more rewarding than being given the opportunity to play the sport that I love at the school of my dreams. I cannot wait to see what is yet to come and will continue to work hard to achieve my aspiration of soccer and success.  I look forward to meeting you and carrying my recruiting forward.