Gareth Frank Bale

Growing up as a young kid with wild and adventurous dreams, I always have pictured myself becoming something great, which I think is something most of us would do considering that we would always like to see ourselves thrive to keep our minds at ease. My personal career hero, Gareth Frank Bale, is currently ranked as one of the highest paid professional soccer players in the world. This was a hard-won achievement. Bale once said that as a kid he would obviously dream about becoming a professional athlete, but never really thought about becoming the best in the world. This means that at a young age Gareth Bale was influenced by others to become great and didn't strive for the top right away, but saw the next step along his journey and went one step at a time; not two or three. This is what makes Gareth Bale so incredible to me he: was more focused on the journey rather than the destination. There are a lot of people out there young and old who are so focused on their end goal and forget to enjoy the journey. I want to have the same ideals as Gareth Bale in the sense that I will see my success in the future as a pathway I am fortunate enough to take rather than trying to find shortcuts along the way. Right now I am in high school and have a burning passion for soccer and hope that one day to be as good of a player on the field and person off the field as Gareth Bale.

Gareth Bale in Action (http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02769/ (telegraph.com))

Although it may seem like a fun job, being a successful professional soccer player takes dedication and a good work ethic just as in any other profession. To become a professional soccer athlete, it takes little to no education to get onto a very low ranked team, but to be on a nationally recognized club you must be highly educated to get this high coveted job. Many of the teams and coaches looking for new recruits though aren't looking for unschooled athletes and have tougher requirements to pass before you are legible for the team. Athletes are more exclusively educated, rather than the typical scholars go through. For professional soccer athletes it takes much more than being a well-rounded and educated person to make it to the big leagues. To actually have a shot you must have a high level of specialized physical education that takes years to gain the abilities and skills that scouts look for. Athletes specialize usually in one area more than others this prepares them to have the extreme level of athleticism and networking to have a chance to make it to the big leagues. Data from the online website, the Occupational Outlook Handbook, states in order to enter a career like this you need "no formal educational credential" in order to obtain one of these highly sought after positions, but you just have to play amazingly well against the stiffest competition. The OOH also states that there were 13,700 jobs for professional athletes in 2014 with an average expectancy to last for five years. According to MyMajors.com if you go to college with the plan to become an athlete later on you should major in "Health and Physical Education/Fitness, General", which makes sense considering you must know how to prepare your body for the physical and mental demands of the sport. Most likely you will be put through extensive training on a weekly basis and will need to make time so that you do not miss any of the practices. Another one of the job-related tasks would be being able to communicate effectively to coaches and teammates about what you need on and off the field to ensure the team can function at its best at all times. With all of these duties you must be thinking how much am I getting paid for this! And the answer is around $44,680 annually, but it all depends on what team you're on and what level of skill you can provide to your team, meaning the better you are the more money you can earn.

Gareth Bale was born 1989 and grew up in the humble town of Cardiff, Wales. He grew up with two loving parents who supported his hopes and dreams. Gareth Bale first started to really excel at soccer when he attended his local high school. According to his website Bale, Gareth could run a 100 meters in 11.4 seconds", which made him the fastest at school and being fast is a great asset for playing soccer. In fact, Bale was so good at soccer his physical education teacher had to set obstacles made especially for him, like only use one leg to shoot with or running with his hands tide, but even with the setbacks Bale continued to dominate the field. Bale's drive and passion for soccer along with his extreme speed and soccer skills made him the ultimate playing machine. With the end of the season arriving his P.E. coach presented Bale with the P.E. department's most prestigious awards. This is what the P.E. teacher had to say about Bale the day "Gareth has a fierce determination to succeed and has the character and qualities to achieve his personal goals. He is one of the most unselfish individuals that I have had the pleasure to help educate." Wanting to further his auspicious beginning Bale attended the South Hampton Soccer Academy, which had direct connections to the large European soccer leagues. In 2009 Bale first took the field and played in his first professional soccer match for Tottenham and they ended up winning the game. Bale played many more after that and continued to impress. After being transferred back and forth between many clubs Bale finally landed a contract with the team every soccer star dreams of being on, Real Madrid. Bale continues to amaze his fans and shows off his speed to everyone who watches him. Bale's story can teach us that if we put our talents to work and work hard, we can make it to the top.

Portrait Photo of Gareth Bale (http://img.thesun.co.uk/aidemitlum/archive/01804/F (thesun.co.uk))

Many celebrities use their influence and connections to support and raise money for noble foundations that help many people in need. The Daily Mail, an online news service, reported on January 29th, 2010 Bale along with other celebrities contributed to the "for Luca" campaign, which was raising money for a young boy who lost both of his legs due to meningitis. At the time Bale had just signed his 86 million euro contract with Real Madrid so he was not in a tight spot for money so he donated five-hundred thousand euros, which is one third of the money the charity hoped to raise. Bale is very generous. He comes from humble origins, not the upper class. His parents never enjoyed the opportunities to follow their own dreams like their golden child of a son. According to Mirror online newspaper, Gareth Bale invested twelve million euros into his family's business, a private law firm, which made them overnight millionaires. Even though Bale is the highest paid soccer player in the world, he never forgets where he came from. Needless to mention Bales' parents are very proud of who their son has grown up to be and respect what he has done to support them and others in need, even stating that "I'm a proud Welshman".

When we are young we develop ideas and concepts of what we personally think makes a job or person great and Gareth Bale is a perfect role model for me. Growing up surrounded by soccer, I quickly developed my own ideas of the future and of becoming a famous soccer player and being on one of the best teams in the world. I am a freshman at Capistrano Valley High School and I made the freshman/sophomore team. Although this sounds typical, it's not. The Frosh/Soph team this year consisted of almost everyone on my club team, the Strikers, that has been together for seven years and which is an almost unstoppable team. We went undefeated for the season and won playoffs. In the next few years of high school I plan to stick with the same team and hopefully make varsity next year. After high school I am hoping to go to Duke University, which has one of the best soccer academies in the nation. Hopefully with all the work I put in I can reach the pro level and live out my dream. The success rate for this particular career path is slim, but with a little bit of luck and some skill hopefully I will be able to make it. Gareth Bale was just like me once, so why can't I grow up and be just like him?