By Misha Lawrence

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Whether she’s scoring goals for the girls soccer team or keeping up with the busy life of a teenager, Senior Kayla Braunthal shoots for her dreams each and every day.

“I’ve always liked (soccer), and I guess that’s what drives me, just my love for it. If you care about something, you know you want to do your best,” said Braunthal.

Friends and family of Braunthal get to see her at a deeper level than most. “She influences and encourages people to do their best because she knows that people can do a lot better than they think they could do,” said Senior Marc Matas. “She has a love and appreciation for all and sees a lot of positive things where others may not,” said Braunthal’s mother, Sheri Braunthal. “If it’s related to soccer, I feel she’s always had an innate ability to have a deep vision and understanding of the game itself and her calm, skilled approach is supported by both physical and mental strength and confidence.”

The men in her family regularly inspire Braunthal and have influenced her passion for her sport. “My grandpa played (soccer) professionally in Chile. He’s always hard on me when I can do better and stuff. So I would always want to be as successful as him and I always want to play well for him,” said Kayla Braunthal. “My dad used to coach me for a long time, I think until I was like 14. My grandpa again, he would always make sure, like, I would be doing what I was supposed to do to get better. I would always go through these things where I’d want to quit but they would make sure that I didn’t mean it.”

Kayla Braunthal plans to continue her soccer career into college. “I’m going to play soccer in college at Concordia University in Portland and doing that, I think is an accomplishment,” said Kayla Braunthal. “It’ll be somewhat of a transition for all of us when Kayla leaves for Concordia in the fall because she’s such an integral part of our family. There will be a noticeable gap without her.  Luckily, Oregon is not too hard to get to so we’re hoping that we’ll be able to fly up to see at least one or two of her games in person,” said Sheri Braunthal.

With the support of her family and friends, Kayla Braunthal will continue chasing her dream into college.