John Lee

Soccer, or “football” as the rest of the world bemoaned, was the defining aspect of my youth. My late night practices at the field all began with the classic cliche: friends kicking a ball around. For my peers, it was simply a sport. For me, however, it was life: both my greatest joy and a chance for meditation. With each touch of the ball I took, a new skill was acquired and in the sum of all my tragedies and triumphs in my beloved sport, I was even better prepared for my eventual twist of fate: public affairs.

Following a lengthy injury junior year, however, new interests were approached and with it identities were transitioned. Adrenaline rushes on grass fields became rushes to committee hearings; hours on the field became hours at the State Capitol; my mentoring from coaches is now from my State Senator; and my aspirations to improve, transitioned from being an athlete, to being a statesman. Although professional soccer was once even an aspiration, I still relish in acknowledging that my boyhood nostalgia can still be satisfied in conjunction with service: playing with children in subsidized housing neighborhoods and watching the World Cup with them.

Though I still struggled in playing days, my glaring regret was connecting fulfillment to my yearnings to become a professional soccer player. As important as the objective may be, my most nostalgia-filled moments were that of my relentless pursuit of a dream. In doing so, all the ambition of endless training, returning home late, and committing my final energy reserves to complete schoolwork, were not wasted. Rather, it better facilitated my transition and character to the next chapter of my life in government affairs. For it was all the life lessons I learned whilst having a ball at my feet that still keeps me kicking.