Senior Destiny Delgado has been a center back on the Arcadia High School (AHS) Girls Varsity Soccer team since she was a freshman. We sat down and talked about her history with the sport and what it means to her. 

Delgado started athletics in elementary school, playing both softball and soccer. When middle school came around, it was time to pick one sport to pursue.

 “Soccer was the clear answer. I fell in love with the sport and playing it,” said Delgado.

Delgado then joined a local club soccer team at the age of 14-years-old, and now travels across the state to compete. “My club team and I train three times a week for an hour and a half. [On] the high school team, we train every single day for 2 hours, besides weekends.” 

Delgado believes that only training with her team and club is not going to make her exceptionally better, so in addition to her team practices, she visits a personal trainer and strength trains three days a week. Additionally, she does 1v1 training twice a week. “It’s a lot, but I have to put in as much work as I can to reach my goals,” said Delgado.

Something that pushed Delgado back in her soccer journey was her knee injury last year. During practice, she injured her knee after getting pushed down by a girl while trying to score a goal.

 “It’s been hard coming back from my injury because my knee is still in pain, but every mistake is a learning lesson and it has not only made me a better player, but a better overall person,” said Delgado.

Delgado’s biggest achievement with soccer is getting called to ID Camps, which are recruitment events which feature different sports. A dream of hers is to commit to a college for the sport.

“My dream school is UC Santa Barbara, and I was invited to their ID Camp in December, which was very exciting,” said Delgado.  

I talked to Delgado about her hopes for this season, as last year was an amazing year for the Girls Varsity Soccer team and they made it to the semi finals of CIF Southern Section. 

“I have very high expectations for this team, we are such a young talented team and I believe we will win CIF this year. Last year was a fantastic year for us, we made it all the way to the semi finals, but unfortunately lost against Sierra Canyon. It was a heartbreaking loss for us, but we have grown and have a lot of excitement for this season,” stated Delgado. Overall, Delgado is looking forward to a prosperous year, and we cannot wait to see what she will accomplish.

Photo Courtesy of Skye Escobedo