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11/18/2020 11:00 PMManny Romero was born into a soccer family, and his passion for the sport quickly accelerated from the moment that he started playing in 4th grade. Manny’s love for soccer continued to flourish as he competed for the Morgan boys’ soccer team.
Manny recently finished his senior season as a defensive midfielder for Morgan, helping the Huskies achieve a record of 8-2 on the campaign. While he’s disappointed that the Huskies didn’t get to play in the Shoreline Conference Tournament after Morgan canceled its fall sports competitions due to COVID-19, Manny still feels proud that he completed his high school career by contributing to another great season for the team.
“It’s kind of a numb feeling almost knowing there was no one that would have beat us, especially in the form we were in, winning seven games in a row,” Manny says. “It was my year, but I expected worse to be honest. I feel blessed that we even had a season in the first place, and I’m happy I can say that I won’t be left without any what-if thoughts, because I had no doubt we would have won.”
This year marked Manny’s first season as a starter for Morgan’s varsity squad. Manny was on a mission was to continually improve throughout his tenure with the Huskies. The fact that he played his way into a starting role this fall showed Manny that all of his efforts had paid off.
“I feel like I’ve done a great job of savoring my last season, which has been the best season I’ve had so far,” says Manny. “My biggest goal since the season started was to not let myself regress from last year, and I felt like I’ve done that.”
Head Coach Ross Demay believes that much of the Huskies’ defensive success stemmed from Manny’s performance in the middle of the pitch. Demay refers to Manny as the spine of his team.
“He plays a true center defensive midfield and sits back when Sean Cafferty and Sebby Kadlof move forward. He can slow or shut down the attack within the middle of the pitch. When he is on, he can stop the best of players in the conference,” Demay says. “Manny is also quite vocal within the team. You can tell when he is talking and really barking out direction that the team runs much smoother. He has come a long way in the past four years.”
Manny’s competitive nature drove him to obtain a spot in Morgan’s starting lineup as a senior. Manny also enjoyed being challenged by the Huskies’ coaches during games and used their words as an additional source of motivation.
“Coaches push me as hard as possible whenever I play, and I admire that they tell me things without sugarcoating it. I value that so much because that is what I need, in my opinion,” Manny says. “I benefit from the hard, rigid truth, and I trust the coaches’ judgment fully. People on the outside may not understand the relationship between the coaches and players, but the end goal is always to win. We do whatever we can to win.”
Coach Demay credits Manny for constantly wanting to learn more about soccer in order to get better. Manny proved a playmaker on both offense and defense and wound up finishing the year with four assists for Demay’s club.
“Stepping into a full starting roll this year, he definitely deserves some recognition to the team’s success,” says Demay of Manny. “He also always wants to learn. Although sometimes direct, he always wants to know why something works and doesn’t to help his game, so that he can play to the best of his abilities.”
Above all, Manny feels grateful that he got to play his final season at Morgan and help the Huskies enjoy continued success in 2020. Manny took advantage of every opportunity to improve his game and, as a result, he became the best version of himself by his senior year.
“We are a winning team and, ever since I’ve been at Morgan, we’ve been winning,” says Manny. “I take that to heart.”