By Charlyne Nguyen
When a person gets to know senior soccer player Malachi Wright, they get to know the sweet and goofy guy who’s always belting out “Sí” whenever he or anyone around him does something worth celebrating.
And if it’s just one of those days, you might even catch him randomly going on the floor and start doing pushups for no apparent reason.
So if anyone is ever looking to improve their pushups, just ask Wright, and he’ll probably do ten quick ones just for the fun of it.
Under the fun-loving exterior, Wright is also a very focused and driven person outside of the soccer field, with aspirations that only a small amount of people can ever dream of.
It’s one thing to say that you want to be a professional soccer player, but it’s another to actually set that goal into motion.
With his eyes on soccer as being a profession in his future, Wright made the decision to come back to Fountain Valley High School’s soccer team after taking some time off to focus on club soccer. Wright has already committed to California State University San Marcos with his goal in mind.
“I’m trying to go pro through college,” Wright said. “There’s sometimes [Major League Soccer] coaches that come out to watch the games, and I hope that happens one day.”
Given Wright’s athletic abilities, being that kid who dominated everyone in middle school P.E. and being able to run six-minute miles like they were nothing, Wright has utilized his skills in order to aggressively keep the ball moving on the field and away from enemy territory.
In a world where he’s the naturally talented athlete much like Lionel Messi, Wright prefers to be the hard-working Cristiano Ronaldo, with a good work ethic and admirable characteristic traits.
“On a regular practice day, [I] finish school, and then after school, [go] [on] a four or five-mile run, lift some weights [and] play with the ball a little bit,” Wright said. “I have practice at 7:30 p.m. [I] go to practice [and] stay after [to] practice my shooting, so I’m [in] my bed by 11.”
It isn’t just the honed skills of Ronaldo that Wright admires so much, it’s also being able to find common ground in not only sharing the same jersey number but also being able to see another person succeed despite their hardships.
“My role model for soccer is Cristiano Ronaldo because he grew up with a single mom. He worked his way up, and he just worked hard and now he’s the best player in the world,” Wright said. “He takes care of his mom so that’s why I look up to him too.”
Benjamin Franklin said it best: out of adversity comes opportunity.
This doesn’t just mean the opportunity to play pro ball. In a way, his soccer journey beyond high school is more about learning and just seeing what kind of person he really is and how he’ll come out of it all.
“It’s not all about skill. It’s not all about how many goals you can make. It’s about how you can control yourself when things aren’t going your way,” Wright said.
This means not letting other people’s words get in the way of your dreams and always appreciating your haters.
“I would say to always, always follow your dreams no matter what because there are going to be people in life who are going to tell you what you can’t do, and they’re going to tell people that ‘Oh, you’re not going to be a soccer player,” Wright said. “I would say to always work hard and to always appreciate your haters because haters mean that you’re a good player—not just a good player but a great player. In my opinion, I think a lot of people will hate the best players in the world because they’re great.
So when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
And in an attempt of a soccer analogy, if life kicks soccer balls at you, speed through the other players and score a goal. And if you end up scoring in the wrong goal, not saying this from personal experience or anything, just get back up and try doing it right next time.
