Michelle Carazas has displayed the passion for the sport throughout her entire childhood. It’s one thing to love the game of soccer. It’s another for the game to have an effect on your life.

Carazas first became exposed to soccer at an early age while playing in the backyard with her father. Juan Carlos Carazas played professional soccer for four years in Bolivia before an injury ended his career. Now his daughter displays a similar passion.

“Michelle’s passion for soccer comes from a real love for the support as well as her diligence to do whatever it takes to achieve her goals,” Juan Carlos Carazas said. “Since she began playing soccer, she learned discipline, and how to inspire a group to create a shared vision and an implementation plan to make it happen.”

Michelle Carazas was born in Bolivia to a mother who was a native of Chicago and a father who was from Bolivia. Now a junior at Syracuse, Carazas has brought her commitment to the game as a player-coach for the women’s club soccer team.

She lived in Ghana and the United States for most of her young life and returned to Bolivia at age 13 to attend middle school. She was instrumental in the development of the women’s soccer team for her school, which only had an organized men’s soccer team at the time.

She stayed in Bolivia until her parents made the decision to have her attend high school in Boston.

“It was a difficult one for me to grasp at first,” she said. “In Ghana, people made the best of the little things they had. I felt that people (in the U.S) were trying to make me change.”

While Carazas faced her fair share of new obstacles, soccer always brought the best out of her.

“The one thing that always stayed with me is soccer,” she said. “No matter where I went.”

Her ability to be mentally strong and embrace the unexpected has brought the best out of her as she develops into a young adult. Her parents raised her with good values and in an environment that prepared her for the real world. Juan Carlos Carazas acknowledges the importance of soccer in his daughter’s life.
“We know that soccer has been critical in molding the confident, disciplined young lady she is,” he said.

Her mother Diane Carazas sold their house in Boston after Carazas finished high school and left the country when she began college. A whole new experience was about to occur for a woman who has lived in two continents and learned so much about people along the way.

Carazas began getting involved at Syracuse by joining club soccer her freshman year. Now in her third year on the team, she is one of the three player-coaches on the roster.

Her passion for the game has driven her to become a leader for the other girls on the team.

“I try to lift the spirits of everyone here and motivate the girls to keep working forward. All of these girls have the drive and motivation to be here,” Carazas said.

Sophomore Alex Sangiuliano is one of the newer additions to women’s club soccer this season. After playing on the varsity team last year, she is buying into Carazas’ style as a coach.

“It’s generally a good thing. Michelle tries her hardest and does a good job at (coaching). I think she really enjoys it,” she said. “I definitely wouldn’t enjoy it. It’s not meant for everyone.”

Carazas’ soccer career began as a young girl playing on the streets of Ghana and Bolivia. Now, she finds herself building a new, tight-knit community in America with girls who display the same emotion for the game.

“It brings a different perspective,” she said. “They come to respect you.”

Published on October 2, 2013 at 12:46 am