Life is not just about playing it safe. Sometimes you have to risk everything to become the person that you want to be and the person that you are right now. Every time I play soccer, I get down on my knees and pray.   After I am done with the prayers, I say to myself, "Risk Everything."

I remember when I first started playing soccer, I wanted to play as the goalkeeper. The reason why I wanted to play as goalkeeper was because when the World Cup started I went for the Mexican soccer team. When they where playing a game against Brazil, the goalkeeper was doing amazing.  I saw what position I wanted to play once I saw Memo Ochoa play so amazing. Memo Ochoa is the goalkeeper for Mexico soccer team. He was and still is my idol.  He will always be for me the best goalkeeper in the world.  He inspired me to become a goalkeeper.

Being a goalkeeper for is one of the hardest thing to be. The reason why I say that is because all of your team is counting on you to stop the ball to coming into the goal.  When I first played goalkeeper, I remember I was playing without any gloves. First I thought that it was not a big deal to not play without any gloves, but when I first stopped a shot my hands ached and burned.  It felt like the ball twisted my hands back. I knew from that first block, I had to get me some goalkeeper gloves. So I did.  I bought some gloves that were $30.  The material was so cheap, I still cant believe I bought them.  I look back and laugh because I started from scratch.

I remember my first gloves.  I remember how they just lasted like two weeks then they started ripping and had big holes where the palms are.  Through my years of being goalkeeper, I have bought like 5 pairs of gloves. I thought goalkeeper gloves would not be so expensive,but I was wrong.  I found how expensive they were when I bought the second pair of gloves.   Those were $90.   You may say, "Why pay so much money for some silly gloves?"  Right?  

Well, let me tell you something about goalkeeper gloves.   A goalkeeper is nothing without them.  Of course, you have to have goalkeeper skills to play that position, but the gloves are a big part of a goalkeeper. Most of the goalkeeper gloves are made of some latex that make you have a super grip on the ball; so, if you are trying to catch the ball, it won't slip from your hand.  That would be a mistake. That has happened to me before when I had the gloves that were cheap. Now I own some Adidas ACE 15 Pros.  Those cost me $120 and are so amazing to use.

When I first started, I was a really good goalkeeper.  People always wanted me to play goalkeeper on their team because I never let anyone score on me.  I was the best one out off all the goalkeepers where I would go to play.  Being a great goalkeeper is not always about just you playing and always being safe and nothing happens to you. I believe anyone who has played goalkeeper knows and has been in a terrible injury. The reason why I say every goalkeeper has to be in a injury is because even the best goalkeepers in the world have had them. 

I had a back injury: a really bad one that sometimes, when I got out of bed, I couldn't even get up because my lower back hurt so much.  I would cry.  I had to go to a chiropractor to see what I had, and they told me that my back discs were swollen.

The reason why I got injured is because I was practicing for a game I had later that day.  I drove to get the ball, but I did it the wrong way.  I felt the pain in my back so bad. The thing about being a goalkeeper is that you have to know how to dive and how to throw yourself to stop the ball.  But if you do it wrong, you will get hurt bad.

Till this day I always look back at the day when i got injured and how I all ways told myself "risk everything" I believe that if i never told myself that every time I play I wouldn't be where I am today.  Because after my back injured  I had to start from the bottom again and made me rebuild my skills and my power.