Path to Improvement

By Calvin Tang

What do you think drives you to improve yourself? Or maybe what motivates you to get up and make yourself better in a way?

Some try to improve themselves physically,try a new cleaner diet, or even maybe just try new things that you enjoy.

For Alexander Andres Mendoza, he tries to constantly improve himself by maintaining his physical health by going to the gym more often, formerly playing in a soccer club outside of school, while also being a fan of professional soccer himself. He plays the guitar as he enjoys listening and playing music.

Alexander first started his journey towards finding his passion for soccer when he was 13 years old, with his interest for the sport originating from watching professional soccer.

Mendoza: “I was 13 years old when I started playing soccer, what got me into it was watching professional soccer.”

Furthermore, his interests furthered for the sport as he decided to join a soccer club that was outside of school, to try to improve his soccer skills and play the sport that he genuinely enjoyed.

Mendoza: “I have played in a club outside of school, and the club name was MIlan.”

The club he played for was Milan, an amateur soccer club that was based in California.Watching professional soccer was a big part of why he even began to play the sport in the first place, as he was able to watch his favorite players on the pitch, which really inspired him to try the sport out and see what his talent for it was.

Mendoza: “A professional club I support is Real Madrid. The reason why I support it is the players, and how well they perform”.

So far, playing soccer has impacted how he specifically exercises, as playing soccer is a physically demanding sport, so training correctly is important for him.

Mendoza:” It’s impacted me by how I like, move my body, and how I exercise.”

Furthermore, Mendoza wanted to improve his health for soccer by starting to go to the gym more often,which not only would help him with staying healthy, but also allowed him to stay consistent with his gym routine and stay committed with going to the gym compared to before, which also helps his mental health.

Mendoza: “The reason why I’ve been more serious is because I wanted to commit to something,And I’ve been going more than I usually did.

Along with this, his diet has also changed from before along with his new, more consistent gym routine.As maintaining a clean and healthy diet most of the time is important for him to make sure that he doesn't feel heavy and slow from eating unhealthy foods. Ensuring that he feels light, Mendoza’s diet change has been successful for him.

Mendoza: “It’s slightly changed, as I’m eating more fruit, and not eating as much junk food, I only went once a week, and now it's four times a week.”

Mendoza has other interests as well, which he also enjoys beside’s soccer. He has an interest for music, which he pursued by learning guitar, which helped him enjoy his need for music, and further his passion in this field, to the point that he decided to take some lessons to learn more.

Mendoza: “I learned how to play it at classes outside of school. I took it because it looked fun, and I enjoy music.”

Along with this, Mendoza had some pretty good memories of playing and learning guitar, with some memorable moments over the span of him playing guitar.

Mendoza: “My favorite memory of me playing the guitar is learning my first song.”

Mendoza has also had some of his fair share of experiences academically in Yerba Buena, with some up and down along the way with the various teachers he had, with him having some better learning experiences being better than others.

Mendoza: “Academically, everything has been fine, one struggle I’m having is math.”

Mendoza is doing well academically, with only some challenges with his math classes, which is justified because every teacher has different teaching styles and some students just prefer different teaching styles over others, Mendoza elaborated why math  currently wasn't working out for him.

Mendoza:”Its math because it's a lot numbers and it’s a lot of solving and equations”

Overall, Mendoza has tried out many different interests and hobbies, ultimately continuing his passion for soccer and trying to improve himself, and trying to stay motivated and keep moving forward.