Adriana Montes Cervantes hopes that she is more than a teacher and a coach to her students at Capital High School. She also wants to be a role model.
Montes Cervantes is certainly an example of ambition, hard work, skill and solid time management. She recently accepted a position playing for a new, local, semi-pro soccer team - Nido Aguila. The team is connected to Club América, a popular professional club in the Mexican League.
Montes Cervantes thought she had retired from soccer about seven years ago when she was injured while playing for the women’s Seattle Sounders. “I wanted to continue playing but I didn’t want to put my body through a lot of rigorous work,” she said. So she found herself investing her energy and enthusiasm for the game into coaching the girls soccer team at Capital.
When she was approached and asked to join Nido Aguila, Montes Cervantes was slightly hesitant. She wasn’t sure at first that she could build the strength and endurance to compete with much younger players. She began training six days a week and found she was quickly able to get back into shape. Her knowledge and experience also make her a huge asset to the team.
Her new role with Nido Aguila is one of both a player and a mentor, Montes Cervantes said. She has experience playing for the women’s Seattle Sounders, Portland Rains and the University of Oregon.
“Coaching is my love now, so it’s been a lot of fun to be able to play and mentor these athletes and give them my wisdom,” Montes Cervantes said.
Playing semi-professional soccer helps Montes Cervantes be a better teacher and coach at Capital, she said. “I sometimes find myself in my classrooms in my Spanish classes also bringing my coaching skills in. Both of them combined have helped me become not only a better coach but a better teacher.”
As a coach, Montes Cervantes helps players find their unique strengths and she does the same thing in her classroom with students, she said. She also teaches physical education at Capital, and she’s found that when she participates in the workouts alongside her students, they put forth more effort.
Montes Cervantes hopes that she is a role model for high school athletes who may be struggling with time management. “One of the reasons I also decided to play is so that I can motivate some of my athletes that are on the verge of deciding maybe they don’t want to play anymore or they don’t know if they can.”
Montes Cervantes is a testament to how much one can achieve with solid time management. She works full time as a teacher, also coaches after school, has two young children, is planning a wedding and now also plays semi-pro soccer.
“There’s a lot of stuff that I juggle,” she said. “You’re very much capable of balancing a lot of work and still reaching the highest level in soccer that you’re capable.”