Kicking it into high gear Captain multitasks while being on the team

Sometimes the best teachers in life are not in a classroom.

For team captain Diana Salonga, the lesson plan is hours of game film and the classroom is the soccer field.

It is not a leisure activity for Salonga. She translates the way she prepares herself for games into how she goes about life.

“For soccer, I’m doing all the work, all the preparation and all the practice to succeed in the game. Then I’m doing all the work, preparation and practice so I can succeed in life,” Salonga said. “The end result, when you get the win and when you achieve your goals, it’s all worth it.”

Salonga started playing soccer at the age of six. She played four years at Chatsworth High School while serving as the class president and graduating as a valedictorian in 2016.

Despite playing for Pierce the last two years, her soccer career almost came to an end in her senior year of high school when she fell ill.

“My senior year was not my best,” Salonga said. “I got sick and I didn’t really know. By the time I got to the hospital, I had pneumonia and bronchitis.”

After she graduated high school, Salonga decided she did not want to play soccer anymore and did not join the Pierce soccer program in her first semester.

Salonga was having a difficult time paying attention in class and was unmotivated to do better in school. Salonga was then diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder in the fall of 2016.

In her spring semester of 2017, Salonga’s mindset changed when she decided to join the soccer conditioning class. From there, she was offered a spot on the soccer team.

Salonga said that playing soccer at Pierce and finding out that she has ADD was a turning point in her life and it brought out her competitive drive.

“I finally started trying harder in school and studying and I was getting A’s,” Salonga said. “It was the first time in a while I felt like I have my life under control.”

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