Hernandez has ‘creative’ bond with soccer
Some children quickly find hobbies that interest them. For others, the process takes longer.
Jackelyn Hernandez, a senior midfielder for the Lake Oconee Academy Lady Titans soccer team, is no exception. She was nearly 7 years old before she gravitated to playing soccer.
Her path to soccer was quite interesting, too, because soccer didn’t interest her at first.
Fabiola Canales, Hernandez’s mother, put her daughter in the recreation soccer league at 3 years old in hopes to help channel Hernandez’s energetic personality. It didn’t pan out for Fabiola Canales, thus causing further action to be taken to help Hernandez.
“She was so active,” Fabiola Canales said. “We didn’t know what to do with her. We put her in to play soccer and that didn’t work. She never concentrated. It looked like she was in la-la land. So, we tried karate and ballet. We tried everything we could, and it just didn’t work.”
After four years, Fabiola Canales found herself back in square one. She tried soccer again, though, but something was different.
Instead of re-enrolling Hernandez in a recreational league, Fabiola Canales signed her daughter up to play in her grandfather’s Sunday league.
The familial connection made all the difference for Hernandez.
“I was older and being raised around soccer which made me become more interested,” Hernandez said. “Playing in my grandpa’s league inspired me to take it more seriously, too. I’ve had uncles who’ve played in semi-leagues before and I knew I could learn a lot.”
Though it was a chore to find a hobby that interested Hernandez, she has not strayed from soccer since she joined that league.
Her stepfather, Ramon Canales, has recognized the determination and motivation that Hernandez had since she was 7 years old.
“After that, it has always been soccer,” Ramon Canales said. “It has become everything for her.”
Hernandez’s involvement with her grandpa’s league shaped her future in soccer as more than just a hobby. She was granted a unique opportunity that surprised her.
Scott Redding, a coach in the Madison Area Youth Soccer Association (MAYSA), approached Hernandez and her parents following a soccer match. He went to make a unique offer.
“He told us that he really liked how Jackie played,” Fabiola Canales said. “I said, ‘If you say so,’ because she wasn’t officially trained or anything at the time.”
Redding continued to extend the invitation for Hernandez to join MAYSA, which her parents gladly accepted.
For Ramon and Fabiola Canales, enrolling their daughter into this league provided structure while she also enjoyed playing.
Hernandez began her involvement with MAYSA at 13 years old and started to take soccer even more seriously. She received more playing time and experienced playing in different positions on the field.
She began playing on the defensive end where she had always played before. Then, she was moved to midfield and from there, offensive wing. Quickly, Hernandez went from no experience to plenty of experience all over the field. The only position she’s never attempted is the goalkeeper.
Without her participation in MAYSA, Hernandez doesn’t know the type of soccer player she’d be today.
“Coach Scott really pushed me out of my comfort zone,” Hernandez said. “He even started playing me more which motivated me to be even better. He saw potential that I never saw in myself before.”
Be that as it may, MAYSA wasn’t sufficient on its own to keep Hernandez hooked to soccer. She had to explore the sport herself to find the motivation to continue playing. And she did.
Keeping up with a rigorous class schedule can be difficult for any high school student. It’s even worse when you add practicing and playing soccer from February to April. Such a busy schedule can cause a stress build-up and one needs to be able to release that stress.
Soccer is Hernandez’s stress reliever but in an unusual fashion.
“I love to be creative,” Hernandez said. “Knowing I can go out there, create plays in my head and make nice plays drives me so much.”
As the attacking, center midfielder for the Lady Titans this season, she has the ability to really tap into the creative aspect of soccer.
In this position, she can pass the ball forward to the strikers or push the ball down the sideline to the offensive wing players. Basically, Hernandez is the quarterback of the offense.
Furthermore, Hernandez has the freedom to shoot the ball and takes the majority of LOA’s corner kicks.
The Lady Titans’ head coach, Chris Ingle, continuously sees the creativity bursting out of Hernandez, which is why he’s granted her so much freedom on the field.
“She has a knack for stealing the ball in the midfield, spinning and making a long pass to one of our wings,” Ingle said. “I have heard many players and coaches say that she must have eyes in the back of her head. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t turn to our assistant coach, Jacob Baxley and say, ‘Wow, did you see what Jackie just did?’”
Ingle summarized Hernandez’s skill as that of a “playmaker.” He’s observed that, whenever she’s out on the field, great things happen for the Lady Titans.
Those great things are the reason Hernandez still wakes up every day still motivated to play soccer. It may have taken four years for the sport to interest her, but, since she was 7, nothing has been more important for her.
Except for now.
Hernandez is on track to graduate high school on May 21 and plans to attend the University of North Georgia in Watkinsville, Georgia.
Even though she doesn’t immediately plan to play soccer at the collegiate level, she plans to meet another milestone in her life: She’ll be the first person in her family to attend college.
Achieving that goal is the top priority for Hernandez, but it doesn’t mean she’s breaking her bond with soccer.
“I’m not going to quit playing soccer because that would be bad,” Hernandez said. “For now, I’m going to attend UNG for two years, earn my Associate’s Degree and make my parents proud. I’ll see what the future holds from there.”