Amanda Hood '21 Recruiting Profile

I’m currently a junior at Jupiter Christian School in Jupiter, Florida. My goal is to earn my Bachelors in the Science degree in the field of Marine Biology. I have always dreamed to take care of animals. I live on a small farm up in Stuart Florida where we raise registered purebred Angus cattle. I have always been around and shown animals my entire life. Although I’ve been raised around cattle, I found my true passion for marine life when I was able to assist Dr Guy Harvey at this past summer’s annual stingray survey in Grand Cayman. While having the opportunity to speak with Dr. Harvey and his daughter, who is also a marine biologist, I was inspired by their line of work. Living on a coastal community, I have a passion for the sun, sand and sea; but I also have always had a passion for soccer. My mom would tell me the stories of how when I was only five years old, my coach would put me as goalie and even then, I’d still find ways to score. As I got older, my past coaches acknowledged my passion and abilities. They would rely on me to play every position on the field.  I also joined the travel league so I could challenge myself more. While playing travel soccer, I learned that in order to have more playing time, it is important to be flexible. What I mean by that is being able to play defense, mid-field, and forward. I was able to fill the roles that were lacking on each of my teams every year. There was a year when I played goalie, another year I played in defense and now I play forward for my current travel team. This gives me the ability to understand each role on the playing field. My soccer club recognized my strength and moved me up to the 2019 girls travel team so I could practice with more mature and experienced players when I was 16 years old. This has been a huge advantage to play with older players. All of my club training has overflowed and benefited my High School soccer team. Playing on a Christian school team is quite different than on the club field. I have learned that it is not all about me and I get the opportunity to play with a group of girls who don’t always have to win a game for it to still be a victory. Being on two soccer teams and having school work on top of all the games and practices has taught me how to balance out my life so that I do not slack in neither the feild or academically. Fortunately the COVID-19 virus didn’t interfere with my high school season, but it has drastically affected my club season. Between hurricanes, tropical storms and this virus we have not been able to finish out our season this year. I am using this time to stay in shape by running and weight lifting. It’s not the same to video conference and record drills, but at this current time I will use this opportunity to better myself.