Hello, I am Alejandro Alonso, a senior at Gadsden County high school. I have attended Gadsden County and played on the Varsity Soccer team there for all 4 years of high school. I was also part of the Florida Elite Tallahassee soccer club for some years. I have always loved soccer and still continue to play it at my local Sunday league (Level Up Futbol) in Havana, FL. My plan after high school is to major in Criminology at Florida State University. I have been accepted and will begin this summer 2022 attending the CARE Summer Bridge program. I will soon be the second in my family to graduate high school and the first to go to college. I am only able to further my education at this prestigious college because my hard work in the classroom, my grades, and my test scores were the ones that led to my acceptance but soccer was the work behind the hard work if that makes any sense. This sport has shaped me into the young man I am today, it has been doing it ever since I was 11 years old. Soccer. It is not just a 90-minute game, you do not just practice or play, it is more than that. Soccer is a sport where you are challenged physically and mentally, where you learn skills that help you on and off the field, and where you meet lifelong friends. I have played soccer since the age of 11, yes that is pretty late because most start off far younger but it does not matter. I have played at a high level before with many players who have been playing for longer than I have. Soccer is for anyone. Before I even kicked a ball, I learned a life lesson “how to make friends”. I moved to a neighborhood where everyone played soccer with all the adults and kids; I have always struggled to make friends, and one day kids were playing around with a soccer ball, they invited me and my brothers to join them and the rest is history. That day I made lifelong friends and fell in love with soccer or should I say me and my brothers did. Soccer brought me and my brothers closer together than we already were, I am lucky to have gotten to play in the same club, middle school, high school, and even local Sunday league soccer with both of them; now that it is coming to an end I see how far we have come and how great it has been. My bond with my brothers and family has grown stronger with soccer, when we had games all of us would be together enjoying the game and catching up on life. This sport can teach you how to value the people you have in life, seeing your siblings on the same team, your family supporting you on the sidelines those memories stay with you forever. Even the difficult moments on the field where you argue with an opponent or teammate, and conflicts where you cannot lose your temper all teach you how to be able to handle issues on your own. Soccer has taught me all of this in about 8 years of playing it and it still continues to teach me every day. If you have played this beautiful game you know what I am talking about, if you have not I recommend you do, it can change your life just as it changed mine.