My first sports role model growing up had to be Eddie Johnson. Johnson was a professional soccer player who played striker in the late 2000’s-about mid 2010’s. He had experience playing in Europe with Fulham, now my favorite European club. But, Eddie also played for the Seattle Sounders who are the club dearest to my heart. He was a hard worker who created chances seemingly out of nothing just be the pressure he would put on the defense. I believe that Eddie’s ability to portray what hard work could earn you was a real light on my mindset growing up, especially as an athlete. I came from an area that wasn’t known for producing top talent for soccer and maybe 2 or 3 kids each graduating class in my county would go on to play college soccer. However, the hard work that I learned from Eddie pushed me over the top. I was a part of a group of kids from my high school that all went to play soccer in college, three of us in my graduating class at just my high school ended up playing college soccer and two kids in the class below me. I know that Eddie’s persona as a hard working, grinding, superstar striker led me to where I am today.
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