On June 8, the World Languages department hosted its sixth annual soccer tournament, in which six teams played. This year’s teams were Borrosia Dormot, Blue Eagles, La Mano de Dios, Legendary, Dream Team, and the Juventus. Each team had 10 players, consisting of both boys and girls. There were 20 minute halves with 10 minute breaks in between. In the end, Borrosia Dormot was victorious, but all the participants celebrated with pizza.

The soccer tournament is open to all students that pay the $5 fee. The fee goes towards buying equipment and food. Brittany White, the Spanish Language teacher, emphasizes the importance of letting everyone participate.

“It is an opportunity for students of different cultural backgrounds to come together and enjoy an activity they all love, which is soccer,” White said.

Since the creation of the event, teams from the ESOL department have dominated every year. Katherine Lodge, an ESOL teacher, comments on how this event is important to the ESOL students.

“This is an event that the ESOL kids look forward to every year. These kids have been playing since they were little babies,” Lodge said.

Sophomore Carlos Troches has been playing soccer ever since he was 6 years old.

“I played everyday. In America, I play one or two times per week. I go to Bryant High School to play with other people,” Troches said.

Junior Kevin Aviles has only been playing soccer for two years, but whenever has free time he goes to the field to play.

“[Playing soccer] gives me the best feeling in the world. It is very important to me,” Aviles said.

Many of the players also watch soccer and look up the superstars like Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi. Freshman Marvin Benavides admires the way he plays.

“My favorite player is Messi because he is not greedy and shares the ball with his team,” Benavides explained.

Sophomore Jake Alley looks up to retired player Eric Abidal of FC Barcelona. Abidal had played right back, the same position Alley plays. It wasn’t just Abidal’s play that impressed Alley.

“[Abidal’s] whole story was an inspiration for me. He had cancer twice. He beat it once, came back to soccer, and then got it again. So he used to wear the number 22 to represent the number of the times he had cancer and the number of times he beat it,” Alley said.