One CHS student that has done well in their soccer career is senior Kevyn Lopez. Lopez currently plays for West Coast FC, located in Laguna Hills, CA which is ranked number two among all soccer clubs in the entire nation. Lopez started playing soccer at the age of four and started playing for his current team in 2017. Besides that, Lopez also contributes greatly to the CHS Boys’ Varsity Soccer team. In order for Lopez to get into his current team, it required time, hard work, and practice.
Lopez first gained interest in playing soccer after seeing it being played on television at the age of four. While being signed up for many sports by his parents, Lopez was able to gain valuable experience in certain sports, but ultimately decided to stick with soccer. When he first started to play soccer, the team he played for was Freedom FC, which was not very competitive or high level performance team. He often was not allowed to play since his teammates were two years older than him. Due to this, Lopez decided to try out for other soccer teams that were top ranking, had more players closer to his age, and were more competitive and challenging. Lopez continued to play for Freedom FC until the age of 11, where he then tried out for a top ranking team, Blue which is ranked top 15 in the nation, and finally got in. Lopez’s journey as a soccer player was filled with bumps in the road, but with hard work and determination, he moved passed it.
“When I was younger, I didn’t think I was good and I wanted to quit at times,” Lopez said. “I was very discouraged because I never played as much and was told that I was not good enough, but with patience, and perseverance I started to get to where I wanted to be.”
Currently, Lopez is on the second-best soccer club in the nation, but that all came time and hard work. Before actually playing for West Coast FC in 2017, he played for another top ranking team-AC Brea-which was ranked top nine in the country, where he was able to obtain the skills necessary in order to get into his current team. Lopez still practices two hours by himself each day on top of attending three hour practices as well. Even though a ton of practice and devotion to soccer helped contribute to Lopez’s success, hard work and certain character traits also played a huge role in that as well.
“One of the most important qualities to have as a soccer player is to be humble and to never lose focus,” Lopez said. “Working hard when others are not, and never giving up no matter how hard something gets is what makes someone a good soccer player.”
After high school, he hopes to continue playing soccer and be on a D1 team. Furthering his soccer career has always been a dream of Lopez’s. Not only does he want to play D1 in college, but he hopes to one day play professionally as well. Lopez’s experiences as a soccer player in the past few years helped him obtain the skills necessary in order for him to continue thriving as a soccer player. Now that Lopez has set his goals farther and higher, he continues to improve and work on himself in order to achieve those goals.