By Laura Daniela Cortés V. (5th semester undergraduate FIGRI
student, English Skills Through Multimedia student)

At the age of eight, Gafu started to play soccer because his parents
wanted him to improve his skills. Everyday he had to go to Alejandro Brand
Soccer Academy and that’s where the challenges began.
“I had to quit because I was ten. I had to train with older boys so I
felt like I didn’t fit at all.”

As he was telling me about his experiences in Argentina, Gafu seemed
happy about all the memories that came to mind. In that country he learnt true
life lessons.
“Being a young soccer player in Argentina is really hard. There, soccer
seems to be a religion. Everyone plays this sport, and there are many
professional soccer players so trying to be successful was difficult as Argentinians
think foreigners want to steal their opportunities.”
Missing his family and friends was the main reason to come back to
Colombia. He decided to focus more on studying since he’d lost a year at school
due to the absences he had. However, he had to balance school and soccer as he
started to play in Millonarios.
“When you play soccer here in Colombia, you get to know people from
different parts of the country, and also people with different lifestyles. For
some of them, soccer is the only way to have a bright future, to be able to
give their families a house or food.”

“Going to parties is not good for a soccer player. A soccer player needs
to be a hard-working person, disciplined and efficient. That wasn’t healthy for
me because I got injured so I couldn’t play for 6 months.”
At that time, he realized that he wouldn’t become a professional soccer
player, despite the progress he had made. After he graduated, he started at the
Externado University and now he’s studying Finance and International Relations.
Due to his academic responsibilities, he left the university team
because he didn’t have time to train, so now he plays with his friends in
championships organized at El Alcazar every weekend. Now, Gafu thinks of soccer as a hobby. He’s focused on studying, but he’ll never
forget all the experiences he learnt from this sport.
When I asked him about his most prized award, he laughed and said:
“I have a bunch of medals and trophies, but the most important one is
the “Best Goal scorer” one I won last semester.”
No comments:
Post a Comment