Student Spotlight: The Goals That Matter

Javier M. doesn’t waver when asked what his favorite part of playing soccer is – scoring goals. As a center midfielder, he’s used to putting the ball in the back of the net, and at only 12-years old, he’s got even more goals ahead of him.

The first time Javier put on a pair of cleats was at the age of three, the origin of his love for the game. He continued to play as he got older, training every week with the director of the Sacramento Republic Academy, Eder Quintanilla. Eder saw something special in Javier and eventually recruited him, giving him a spot on their U13 Academy team. Javier now wears bigger cleats and a maroon jersey with the number nine on the back, still as dedicated to soccer as he was at three years old.

“My best accomplishment right now has been making it to the Sac Republic team,” says Javier. “My dream is to become a professional soccer player.”

To compete at such an elite level, Javier knows he has to stay on top of skills. Between his schoolwork, he sprinkles in short training sessions in the mornings and afternoons in addition to his regular practices.

“We have to get to training at 4:30 p.m. with a 5:00 p.m. start,” explains Javier. “We do a quick warm up and do some passing drills. Then we will do some possession drills, which is when we have two teams and one team tries to keep the ball and the other team presses. We then do some finishing drills, or one versus one and drills to goal. Then we finish it off with a scrimmage at the end.”

Between practices and additional training sessions, Javier is excelling in our Online Middle School Program. A Visions student since the fourth grade, he initially enrolled in our Home School Academy after returning to traditional public school post-pandemic.

“I felt like I wasn’t doing anything productive at [traditional] school, so we started looking into home school and we found this great program and decided to pull me out and go here,” says Javier.

After two successful years of homeschooling, Javier’s credentialed teacher Jennifer Tam presented the option to transfer into our Online Middle School program, where 7th and 8th grade students are taught by Visions teachers online from the safety and comfort of home. Now, Javier is working independently and at his own pace while also learning time management, something his mom Maribel continues to remind him the importance of.

“A typical day in Online Middle school is usually when I start school at 8:30 a.m. I usually start with Science and complete my lesson for the day, sometimes two if I want to get ahead. Then I go to history, then…English. I finish it up with math and art. But on Tuesdays and Thursdays I have 9:00 a.m.-10:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. meetings, then I go train for soccer for 30 minutes and have lunch. Then I sit down and continue my work. I usually finish my day around 2:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m.”

After school, Javier hits the field with his teammates, even working in extra trainings as his schedule allows.

“Extra soccer trainings are very important for my development and to stay sharp,” explains Javier. “[Visions] has…allowed my schedule to be more flexible, so I can attend strength and conditioning and go to private soccer sessions.”