Carli Lloyd Role Model

Who would have thought a girl from the small state of New Jersey would become a role model for soccer players worldwide? Carli Lloyd was born on July 16, 1982, and lived her childhood in Delran, New Jersey. She started soccer at age five with support from her dad, mom, brother and sister. Carli always found ways she could practice her soccer skills on her own time. As she once said, “My family lives in a modest neighborhood in a Colonies that it’s on the corner of Black Baron Drive and Parry Road. There’s a side yard that is big enough to practice free kicks. There is a curb out front and two parks just down the street. I don’t need a whole lot more”(Lloyd and Coffey 1). Carli Lloyd became an amazing soccer player by never giving up and by
Since then, Carli never stopped pushing herself to be the best soccer player she can be. “I play basketball and softball too, but from the time I started kicking a soccer ball at age five, it is my favorite thing to do”(Lloyd and Coffey 2). From a young age, she always knew she liked soccer the best, and that it was her favorite sport. Her first ever team was a town team called Delran Dynamite, and it only progressed from there. Carli Lloyd is known for always doing the right thing, and practicing when no one is watching. “I have no idea that being a professional soccer player will ever be a career option- I think it would be cool to be an FBI agent- but even as a little girl, I take soccer seriously. Nobody ever has to tell me to practice, because it is all I want to do” (Lloyd and Coffey 2). She even wanted to quit the game once, but instead figured that she had to prove the “disbelievers” wrong. “I hated him in that moment, hated how he squashed my dream. Now? Now when I run into Chris Petruelli, I tell him he’s the guy who helped save my career” (Lloyd and Coffey ix). She used the coaches that cut her from teams and didn’t believe in her as motivation for her to improve her skills. Carli Lloyd’s soccer career wasn’t perfect; she went through ups and downs, but always remembered the feeling when she first kicked a soccer
“When she was benched for poor play, she did not blame others. Instead, she cheered on her teammate, then she worked even harder on her skills. Finally, a spot opened up on the under-21 team. This time, she made the roster”(Kaminsky). This quote shows how Carli took ownership of her mistakes, and always strived to be better. As shown in the quote, Carli loves competition. Not only competition with the opposing team, but competition with her own teammates. If Carli thinks she can be better, and earn more playing time than her other teammates, she will push herself to do exactly that. As Carli Lloyd once said, “Those are the moments that I live for, you know-the blood, the sweat, the tears. Everything that goes into my training, it’s for those big moments”(Kaminsky). In everything she does, Carli takes pride in it. Lloyd’s persistent attitude and hard work pays off in the big