Cocoy Marcelino

     Fifteen years of experience, an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, a chemistry and materials science major, and one of the best defenders to play the sport soccer.

     Cocoy Marcelino is an all-around athlete. He was a varsity player for multiple sports during his high school days, but the sport that he enjoys most is soccer.It has always been his passion. According to him he believes that anyone is entitled to enjoy the game of his life. It doesn't matter where you're from, how you were raised or which family you come from, as long as you share that passion for the sport you love. "It breaks language barriers, shows racial equality and definitely changes lives." He is certainly someone who doesn't just seek the benefit for himself, but he thinks of the wellfare of others as well.

     Being in the course that majors in chemistry and materials science alone is already an eduring task for an Ateneo student, but he did not let this hinder him from representing his school by playing the sport he loves most. As a soccer vasity, he is required to train at 5:45am almost every morning, which definitely drains him for the rest of the day, but somehow he finds a way to balance it out. Cocoy said that "Being a student-athlete, is one of the most of grueling yet most rewarding journeys one can go through college". He may sound like a superhero, but just like other superheroes, Cocoy also has his support group, which for him is his family, friends, and teammates, who are there to remind him of the things he needs to accomplish. According to him, his everyday schedule is really fixed and there are only a few windows for random stuff, but despite this, he his happy with that he is doing.

     His road to success has never been easy. During his first year of playing for Ateneo he unfortunately got injured, which was a blow on the whole team. Cocoy felt devastatd when he fell on the ground. " It happened so fast that I wasn’t able to react anymore. It was the first perfect game of the team of that year, and I really felt that everything was smooth sailing until that happened. I really thought that it was going to be close to the end of my playing days. " said cocoy. When the diagnosis came out, he was speechless and he really lost hope. Despite this, his support group continued to be optomistic and adviced him to stay positive because they believed that everything will be just fine. During this awful time of his life, he had his support group and God to lean on, which surely helped him a lot. True enough, this was not the end of his journey as a soccer player. In fact, it was the beginning of a new start, a new start for him to strive to become even better than he already was.

     Cocoy's story is inspiring indeed, it serves as an example for those people who get injured and lose hope. Hope should never be lost, it's the most important factor in striving to be the best you can be.