Stadium lights shining down, grass covering her shins, junior Ava Grosso keeps her eye on the net as she prepares to score.
Grosso began playing soccer as a child, when her parents placed her on a recreational team.
“I worked through all the levels and just kept going,” Gross said. “It was a very long process, but so much fun and so fulfilling.”
Now, Grosso plays for the Bowie varsity soccer team as a striker, as well as plays on club teams at FC Westlake and Classics Elite.
“I love playing with my best friends. It’s really, really fun,” Grosso said. “I also love just the competitiveness of school soccer. It’s different than club because you’re playing against other schools. So, you know a lot of the people on the other teams, because it’s all in your area.”
According to soccer coach Carrie Hoffman-Howell, Grosso’s success can be attributed to her work ethic and mentality on and off the field.
“As a coach, I love the fact that she just gets out there and works hard. She brings it every single practice and she’s coachable,” Hoffman-Howell said. “She’s probably worked harder than anybody else out there at every practice, at every game, and she always has a positive attitude. She’s encouraging everybody around her to step it up and work just as hard.”
Not only has Grosso’s diligence led to her own success, she has become a vital member of the Bowie soccer team and has contributed to their success this season.
“She’s a great leader with her positive attitude and kind nature towards her teammates,” senior Julia Mutschler said. “She helps rally the team together with the pep talks right before the start of the game. She never fails to keep supporting her teammates on and off the field.”
According to Grosso, the biggest challenge throughout her soccer career has been switching between club teams and coaches. However, throughout any obstacles she faced, she attributes her progress to two people.
“The biggest motivator was definitely my parents,” Grosso said. “They always pushed me to email coaches and keep working, even though my recruitment process was a longer one. My dad helped me significantly with emailing coaches and they both just supported me so much and gave me all these opportunities that I wouldn’t have had without them.”
After years of training, Grosso has verbally committed to play soccer at the Division I level, with the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), starting in 2025.
“I was really excited because it’s always been my dream to go to a Division 1 school,” Grosso said. “It was so exciting that it actually happened because it was looking not as possible for a while. But once I found my groove and got more exposure it definitely opened up that opportunity and I’m super excited.”
According to Grosso, one of the key reasons why she chose UTEP was the atmosphere among the team.
“I just love how the coach really creates an environment where everyone is friends, everyone is family, and everyone works for each other,” Grosso said. “I feel like it’s hard to find that, where everyone is going to give it their all because the other person wants that too. I also just love the whole entire aspect of just being on a team together and just loving where you’re at.”
