I saw yall building those gingerbread houses, that’s crazy. How’d you come up with that?

It’s just for our leadership class. We pick a theme, and we picked spongebob as a theme. 

I didn’t know you did leadership too. That’s wild.

Yeah, on top of soccer I’ve been in leadership all 4 years. It’s pretty fun. Homecoming and miracle week are the 2 most stressful weeks of the year.

Do you like cats or dogs?

Personally, I’m a dog person.

What kinda dogs?

I have 2 miniature schnauzers, but if I could go out and buy a dog right now I’d get an Australian shepard. I think they’re really cool, my uncle used to have one. Really active, well trained too. 

What are your dogs’ names?

Lulu and Belle.

Lulu like Lujan?

My brother picked it, just happened like that.

What does having still hands mean to you?

Obviously it’s about keeping your hands still. But also it’s about keeping calm. Under pressure you always have to stay calm. For surgeons they have to go into surgery and keep their hands still without shaking. That applies to life in general. You have to go out and be calm and take a breath amidst challenge. Make it perfect.

How would you say you balance your school and athletics?

Honestly, it’s really difficult. I’m in a lot of advanced classes, obviously leadership as well. A lot of different things are on my plate, but during soccer season, you kind of push everything aside for soccer, while still getting everything done. Bit of a weird balance I found, where I go to soccer, 2 hour practices, once I’m done I’m immediately home doing homework. I’m eating while doing homework. Figuring out how to manage time perfectly so I can commit to soccer during the season.

What’s the biggest struggle you’ve had with that balancing act?

Things come up. Tests, maybe you get an unwanted project at a weird time. You have to really quickly figure out how to implement that into an already jam packed schedule so you can get everything done on time.

What’s your favorite part about soccer?

The community I’ve built in the last 4 years. My freshman year I was on JV, it was a really close team, and we all kinda moved up to varsity the next year. I swung up, so I was the bridge between the people that were returning and the bridge between the people that were new to varsity, I was able to do that. Every year you have to add new people to the varsity team. Being a part of that group where you can reach out to those who are new to a team, they don’t necessarily fit in perfectly since they’re new, builds the community. Honestly my favorite part about soccer, especially high school soccer.

In a lot of aspects of your life it sounds like you play a crucial or important role. Have you always felt like you’ve had that position?

Not always. When I was little I was really quiet. In 5th or 6th grade I began to find my voice, as I got more into competitive soccer. I was able to use my voice more. I was captain of  my 8th grade club soccer team. In 7th grade, I had knee surgery which took me out of the spring season. I was captain coming off of that. Which was really cool. Building from there, I’ve slowly found my voice. Now I’m able to voice my concerns and talk and speak up.

Did you mirror your ability to speak up after anyone?

A lot of the different leaders I’ve had, especially soccer where there’s different captains every year, every single one is different. Last year Ben Beckman was loud, he wanted everything, he wanted to win. He wanted to win so badly he was willing to tell others that they were doing things wrong, or that he was in the right cause he was doing this, so they should be playing up to his level. 

What position in your sport do you feel you fill?

My actual position is a center-back, I definitely fulfill. I was the only center-back, I was the 1, normally you play with 2. Which made me have to step up to be a leader, and that’s my other position as captain. I’m captain so I have to have that voice that can push the team forward, but I can’t drag them down. It’s all about lifting [the team] up, staying positive when you can. But also making sure they want it just as bad. That leadership role is a position I grew into because of my actual position on the field.

Aside from the field, what other hobbies do you have?

Besides soccer, the other things I do relate to school. I’m in leadership, I’m in FBLA. At the same time I like to relax, I read, hangout with family and friends, I go hammocking and hiking a lot. Stuff like that to keep me busy. 

What’s your favorite Call of Duty?

MW2, but the original one. That was the first one we ever got, me and my brother, we had Halo before. We had to write an essay [to our parents] on why we wanted to get that. Finally 2 years later they let us have that. It’s the first call of duty and first game like call of duty I had. On the 360. 

You ever play Fifa?

Fifa is hard to talk about, it’s very angry. You start to play, ultimate team and stuff like that, you sit there and lose 7 straight, but you gotta end on a win. Then when you win you’re like “I gotta win again”, then you lose 7 straight, then you have to win again. It’s like an infinite cycle.