\u201cI was born in Paterson, New Jersey, and raised mostly by a single mother. Both of my parents are from Cali, Colombia, and even though I was born here, a lot of my childhood memories are from being in Colombia. That\u2019s really where my love for football comes from. The passion over there is different. People truly live the game. You see it everywhere, whether it\u2019s on grass, dirt, cement, or sand. If there\u2019s space, someone is playing. Growing up around that environment had a huge impact on me.<\/p>\n
I got into coaching when I realized my dream of going pro wasn\u2019t going to work out. But I loved the game too much to walk away from it. I didn\u2019t just want to be a fan, I wanted to stay connected and give back to something that helped shape me into the person I am today. A big influence on me was my high school coach, Marc Foti. He created a positive and winning environment that really inspired me, he taught us to work hard and respect the\u202fprocess and it\u2019s something I bring into my own coaching. He\u2019s someone I admire and still have a relationship with to this day.<\/p>\n
My biggest motivation has always been my mom and making her proud. She sacrificed a lot to keep me on the right path, and I carry that with me every day. Along the way, I\u2019ve had to challenge myself to keep growing, stay uncomfortable, and learn from others. Some moments I\u2019m really proud of are being named Employee of the Year, receiving the Player Connection Award, and doing work overseas as well as donating equipment to give opportunities to players who might not have the same exposure. Being able to give back and inspire others through the game means a lot to me.<\/p>\n
Red Bull has been a huge part of my journey. They helped me grow from a young coach into a more experienced and professional one. From planning sessions to being involved in the community, they\u2019ve shown me what it really means to do things the right way.<\/p>\n
What keeps me motivated is my mom, the sacrifices she made, and the coaches I\u2019ve met who continue to push me to be better. I\u2019m always thinking about what\u2019s next, and one of my goals in the near future is to go back to Cali, Colombia and get involved with local academy teams (hopefully America de Cali)\u202f so I can give back and inspire young players the same way I was inspired growing up.”<\/p>\n
Current Position: Hub Soccer of Denville Coach<\/p>\n
Awards: RBYP Player Connection 2023<\/p>\n
Joined Red Bulls Youth Programs: August 2016<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI was born in Paterson, New Jersey, and raised mostly by a single mother. Both of my parents…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380339,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[14548,9,11,10,13776],"class_list":["post-380338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-academy","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}