ANTOINE GASHEMA

Hello... my name is Antoine GASHEMA. I’m 19 years old. I recently moved to the United States five years ago from Africa. My parents moved from D.R of Congo to Rwanda due to racial abuse, wars, and conflicts, because there was peace in Rwanda. I’d like to dedicate this moment to my amazing coach Rose Shoen. As an Immigrant, coming to this country wasn’t easy, because it was like a dreams coming through but then when we arrived, I had to face so many and different challenges in my entire life. Coming to the US, I wasn’t fluent in English, because it is my 4th language but I had to overcome all the barriers when I started attending High School.  I remember the day I met her on the first time, I couldn’t believe how can a woman coach the big group of boys/men, because I’ve never seen or had that experience before. Seeing coach Rose coach those men, you could see the way she was passionate, with all the excitement you could only imagine. I had many coaches in my life since I was 5 years old but coach Rose is totally different, because she pushes you harder and harder, because she’s a champion. The other thing about her is that she isn’t just our coach, she’s our friend at the same time. She brought so many different cultures together because that’s who she is. She gives each and everyone an opportunity who wants to overcome something big. She’s the type of person you can rely on. For example myself, she helped me so many ways, in understanding the value of soccer, and prepared my to play in junior college at American River College in the fall before I even started to attend the community college, so when I went there in my first training they couldn’t believe the way I play soccer, because It wasn’t my level but with her pushing me harder and harder every day, I made it to the starting 11 team in Junior College. I had a lot of difficulties choosing the best college to go to next because a lot of people kept choosing where to go for me, but when I turned to coach Rose she explained to me, went in every detail of which is the best college and which has the best programs and which happened to be very close to me in my hometown. Coach Rose helps everybody who turns to her for help, because she loves us, and she wants what’s best for us. It’s not just my story if you’d ask the player or parents they’d tell you the same. She gave us hope, our team isn’t just the team is more like a family because everybody in the team is friendly and comfortable being around because she brought us together. And if we win or lose we go through it together and keep pushing to change it so we don’t lose any of our next games and we can’t do that without her, she’s our inspiration, we all look up to her in many different ways. So, I want to thank you, coach Rose, for an amazing person you are, and the way you changed me into the player I became today, and you know that I can't thank you enough. I don't think you know this but you have greatness in you, we’ll do our best, and we will never let you down.

Thank you...

Sincerely,

Antoine GASHEMA