Long Beach Poly soccer captain Rachel Perry leads on and off the field
LONG BEACH, Calif. — “When you try your best, you do your best.” This advice from her parents rings in her head as Rachel Perry works hard on and off the soccer field. The 17-year-old senior at Long Beach Poly captains the Girls Varsity Soccer team.
Rachel has played soccer for 13 years and hopes to win the National Championship next year at Emory University, Atlanta. “For the majority of my soccer career, I have focused on playing the best soccer I could,” says Rachel.
With the added responsibility of being captain, she developed new skills. “I learned to lead our team to make sure we were performing as one unit.” She learned to listen to her teammates, to “serve as a liaison between Coach and teammates,” and to be a leader both on and off the field.
Rachel is a leader and a teammate outside of soccer too. As a Girl Scout Ambassador, Rachel and her troop have partaken in countless community service projects. Rachel founded Bixby Knolls Food Pantry, where every week she “collects food to donate to students at Cal State Long Beach who are experiencing food insecurity.” At school, she tutors her peers as well as middle school students, volunteers in Link Crew to guide freshmen through their transition to high school, and is a member of the Black Student Union “where we promote political and cultural awareness.”
Rachel believes positivity and motivation come from hard work. “A coach once told me, ‘There may be people that are taller than you or stronger than you, but never let anyone outwork you,’” says Rachel. “While I can’t control my height, how hard I work is within my control.”
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