CREATIVITY

This break, I have been mainly focusing on activity. However, in some aspects of my break, I have had to use my creative skills. As I mentioned in the previous journal entry I am trying to make sure that the girls’ soccer team receives more support. Therefore I came up with some ideas to find sponsors and also to make people even more excited to come to watch us play. The truth is that we are a team of 12 young girls and 95% of us belong to the scholarship program, and most of the time we don´t have as much money as we need to buy soccer tools. Therefore, we need the support of the community, in order to accomplish all our goals. In order to do this, we need a sponsor and that is why I thought about writing a letter in which I tell my story at La Paz and how soccer has changed my life for good. The purpose of this is to make the community aware of the impact that sports have on teenagers and how it helps us grow as a person. I really want to find a sponsor because in my entire soccer career at La Paz women haven´t had as much support from the school as we would have liked, and it is becuase girls weren´t motivated to join until now. I am also graduating from high school this year and I want my girls to have someone looking out for them and supporting them when I am gone. Now, this doesn’t mean we will be asking the sponsor for money all the time, we will just need their support in some cases, for example when we were fundraising to buy the new uniforms that we finally purchased with the donation of businesses around San Jose. For the future, we will be needing socks for the uniform and we also want to make presentation uniforms. Now, the support of a sponsor will help us in future games to pay for transportation and hydration. Now, to receive even more support form the community I came up with some ideas and played with my creativity. I downloaded some photoshop and collage apps on my phone. The idea for this is to make a sort of collage photo that we will share on social media whenever we have a game so that people are aware of when we have games and so they can come to support us. The photos would be professional-looking, just like the ones the big teams’ post. So in order to make the photos professional, we will need a professional camera. I was thinking about asking my friend Dylan to help me with this. He has a very good quality camera and I know he will be willing to help me. If not then I will be asking my friend who is a photographer and will also be willing to help. I am still working on the design but as soon as I have it I will be posting it. The following is the letter I will be sending out to businesses in our La Paz Community.

Dear Parents of the Community,
I am Melanie Ureña Duarte a 12-grade student, I have been in this school for 13 years now. Since the school was founded back in 2007. The reason I am sending you this email is becuase La Paz Girls soccer team is looking for a sponsor. We are a group of 12 young women that love soccer so much and for each and every one of us soccer means so much becuase it has changed our lives for the better. Back when I was in 1st grade, I discovered my passion for soccer. There wasn´t a girls soccer team then so I started playing with the boys. I loved it, I played harder, tried my best and it made me stronger. As I grew up and I faced many changes in my life I would always find comfort and joy in this beautiful sport. There were many times when I felt sad or down but I´d start kicking a ball and suddenly all the problems disappeared. As I became a teenager, I kept on encountering problems and often found myself having to make choices. As a teenage girl I now worried more about my appearance, I had low self-esteem and was struggling with depression after my parents got divorced. However, playing soccer helped me develop self-confidence and understand that appearance isn´t all that matters in life. I found happiness in this sport, a happiness that is very hard to put in words. Soccer has kept me from making many mistakes. It has shined a light on what I imagine my future like. I am graduating this year, and I can´t leave without knowing my girls will have the community´s support. The sponsorship will go to buying soccer supplies for us to keep getting better and to pay for transportation and hydration whenever we have a game. As well as for new projects we have for the team and hopefully participating in Juegos Nacionales! But we can´t do this alone. Help us continue to dream big and be a part of this project, to empower these young women that are our future generations.
If you are interested in donating or in more information please email me: [email protected]
Thank you,
Melanie Ureña