“Soccer is what defines me. I’ve always loved the sport.
I also love being on a team and always knowing that there’s someone supporting me without me even realizing it. I play defensive center midfielder. I really like playing my position because I like getting to connect with everyone on the field.
I started when I was around 6 years old in one of those recreational ‘dad coaches’ leagues. Since then, I played at Albion Soccer Club for a few years and then continued through high school soccer for all four years.
During my sophomore year, I made it onto varsity, but I didn’t feel like I earned my role on varsity. It was a challenge playing with older seniors and players that were really good and intimidating to me. Every day I would go to practice, and I would feel, ‘I’m not good enough. I needed to step it up.’ But I also didn’t do enough to really push myself.
Eventually, I realized that spot really was my spot on the team. I did play enough of a role, and that’s what soccer is about. It’s a team sport — everyone does what they need to do, and soccer is never about one single individual.
All my teammates were very supportive, probably not knowing I was struggling with my confidence. But by my senior year, I felt a lot more confident and willing to step up, lead and take control on and off the field. That’s something I’m really proud of. I’ve found my voice through soccer.
I also like how soccer brings out a different side of me — a more aggressive, go-getter type of person. It’s also definitely taught me a lot of things, like being disciplined, learning how to really stick to what you’ve committed to and how to be determined. I think those are such good qualities that I’ve gotten out of the sport. Most importantly, soccer was something that I could always look forward to, and it’s really nice having something like that.
The most memorable moment from playing soccer was this year. My sister, Autumn Lam, and I were both on varsity, and my sister’s a freshman. This was the one year that we’ve ever gotten to play together. It was just really special because most of the time, our age difference is too large for us to play together. It’s also special because my parents were able to attend all of our games and events. It really did bring us together as a family.
When I go to the University of Toronto, I’ll probably play club or intramural soccer. It’s really hard to think about not having soccer in my life, so I definitely want to keep doing it since it’s something I’ve been doing for so long. It’s all I’ve ever known.”
