Riverview Junior Puts His Best Foot Forward

RIVERVIEW - Although he has been playing soccer since he was 9, Osvaldo Ayra-Soto feels like he's just now hitting his stride.

"I really haven't played my best until these last three or four years," Ayra-Soto said.

Darik Olson, his coach on the Riverview High School boys' soccer team for the past three years, agreed.

"Right now, his body's at the age where he's strong and quick," Olson said. "He's a very gifted player with lots of skills, and he's gotten better over time."

Olson considers Ayra-Soto, a junior, one of the leaders on his relatively inexperienced team, which lost eight starters from last year's squad to graduation and got off to a 1-8 start this year.

Ayra-Soto, 16, has been a member of the Riverview team - where he is a center midfielder - for three years.

In addition to running around the Sharks' soccer field, he also is a forward on the Temple Terrace Spirit 90/91, a Hillsborough County-based 17 and under club team.

It was during a club game at the Tampa Bay Sun Bowl last year where Ayra-Soto's play caught the attention of scouts from the University of South Carolina.

"They sent me a letter not too long ago," Ayra-Soto said. "It was very exciting because I would definitely like to take my game to the college level."

The Cocoa Beach native - he moved to Riverview when he was 7 - said his ideal choice would be to attend the University of South Florida.

"No matter where I end up going, it's not going to be easy because the players at that level are ridiculously good," said Ayra-Soto, who is undecided about what he wants to study but is leaning toward engineering.

As for the immediate future, Ayra-Soto plans to try out for Riverview's track and field team in the spring once the soccer season is over.

"When I first started high school, it was harder to do everything with school and sports as well as I wanted to," he said. "That was in the past though - especially ninth grade.

"I've got the hang of it now."

GET TO KNOW

WHO: Osvaldo Ayra-Soto

AGE: 16

SCHOOL: Riverview High School

GRADE: 11th

SPORTS: Soccer and track and field

FUTURE PLANS: Hopes to attend the University of South Florida and study engineering