Do well both on the field and just as a person as well , but also putting in extra hours when people aren't watching and just simple things like recovery , stretching , taking care of your body , because at the end of the day , we can only play our sport for so long , and at some point we're gonna wish we could play it longer and Uh trying to lengthen our longevity in our sport and in my sport as long as I can because it is a very exhausting and physically taxing sport . Some challenges I faced , I think there's a lot of adversity in collegiate soccer , but also in youth soccer . Youth soccer is a very tough thing where Sometimes you're going to get coaches you don't necessarily agree with 100% of the time , and I was very fortunate to play on a really good club team growing up and had a lot of like national attention .
Some challenges I faced , I think there's a lot of adversity in collegiate soccer , but also in youth soccer . Youth soccer is a very tough thing where Sometimes you're going to get coaches you don't necessarily agree with 100% of the time , and I was very fortunate to play on a really good club team growing up and had a lot of like national attention . And I was very fortunate also to play with some youth national teams .
Um , with like NIL and stuff , and I think that's a huge spot where I'd like to go into more because I think again , I love inspiring the next generation and doing that more with is something that I aspire to do . My advice for younger athletes is to not , it's a very hard thing to do is not compare yourself to other people . Everyone's story is so uniquely different .
Go out to dinner today , cause I really have this exam that I need to study for in 2 days' time and really realizing your priorities in the given moment and sometimes your priorities will shift . Sometimes you're like , I have practice at 6:30 , next morning , I can't go to a movie tonight or something like that , and sometimes I think we , I committed knowing that this was the life I wanted and the College experience I wanted to have , just going back to why I committed and realizing this is this is my reason why , and this is why I wanted to play a Division One sport and in a big conference as well , because it's , it's never easy and the balance act is never easy , and I still struggle with it to this day , but realizing sometimes you need to Relax a little bit and not always be like this ball of stress because that's also not a very healthy thing either . You need to be able to talk with your friends , talk with your family , and keep those strong connections from home as well .
Like I'm from San Diego , so coming here and Having the winter , they're like , are you sure you can handle that ? And I was like , yes , and I saw it as an opportunity , not necessarily as a challenge , like there's challenges everywhere you go , and this was a different one , but I wanted to help be a part of something and I wanted other schools I was talking to , I could have gone and just been Just another , it would have been stereotypical and it would have been normal for me to go there and it would have been expected , and I didn't want to do the expectation . I wanted to do something else .
