Humans of NGU: Kicking his way into the future
Michaela Gleed, Contributing Writer
Kike in his element on the soccer field
“I am afraid of becoming the person that my dad is,” said Louis Enrique Molina, also known as “Kike”, a sophomore sports management major and men’s soccer playerat North Greenville University.
Molina grew up in Manizales, Colombia with his mother, sister and father. His father struggles with an addiction to alcohol. “Sometimes he just goes away,” said Molina. “He goes away for two, three weeks without a call so we don’t know if he is alive or not. I know that I can be better,” said Molina.
With the future of his family in mind, Molina moved to Greenville, S.C. in 2015. He moved here on his own with very little money to live on so he bounces from home to home living with friends, his aunt and relatives of people he has met along the way.
Molina works hard at finding jobs in Greenville to make money. While attending NGU he plans to get a degree in sport management, but he said he has no desire to work in that field. His passion is soccer and that is the field from which he desires to earn a living.
Molina trained over the summerat NGU with strength and conditioning coach, Andre Bernardi. “I’m proud of his unmatched dedication and work ethic to accomplish his long-term goals,” said Bernardi.
In addition to training with Bernardi most mornings during the summer, Molina said he spent an average of six hours a day either running, scrimmaging, shooting or practicing his technical skills. Molina trains with such vigor in pursuit of his dream to play professional soccer in Europe and to bring his family out of poverty.
Molina is a kid who was forced to grow up quick and was lucky enough to grow up with a ball at his feet. He says he continues to pursue excellence in what he does because “I want to be better for my mom, I’ve saw her suffer a lot and my sister, us in general. I want to be a great father, everything starts now. Everything I do is for the future,” he said.
