Four-sport athlete, senior Valery Cruz is diving into her second-to-last sports season here at West. Valery has been playing sports since a very young age and wants to continue as long as she possibly can. 

“I hope to never lose sight of what I love to do the most,” said Cruz. “I feel that sports comforts me and makes me who I am.”

Valery is a four-sport athlete, who is involved in tennis, soccer, swim, and cross country. One of the challenges she faced is not always getting to go to every practice due to the lack of time and schoolwork. With her classes at BCC and on West’s campus, she has made a significant improvement in matters of time management skills. 

“Being an athlete and juggling sports and schoolwork has always been a challenge for me,” said Cruz. “But with perseverance and the time management skills, I have learned to manage and get things done.”

The main thing that has influenced her to do so many sports has been her family. As a little girl, her parents encouraged her to do some sort of hobby. She instantly fell in love with hip hop, tap, and ballet and felt that she found her calling in life. 

“I have never stopped practicing any of the sports to this very day,” said Cruz. “There is not one person in my family who doesn’t do some sort of activity.”

Over the past four years she felt that she had learned enough to make her head explode. Her knowledge has expanded through all kinds of different things with some of them being her teammates, coaches, family, and overall supporters. As a young freshman, Valery recalls being shy and afraid of life, but with time she started to come out of her shell and take leadership in things that matter to her. 

“I’ve spent years improving my leadership and teamwork skills,” said Cruz. “I feel as if I have had a significant glow up on my leadership skills overall. These sports have changed the way I think, speak, and work, giving me more positive thoughts, and they have given me more power.”