by By Dan Ninham (Oneida)
“I play soccer for Seymour High School,” said Keven Sosa-Lassila. “I have also played soccer in Mexico.”
“My name is Keven Sosa-Lassila and I am a descendant of the Oneida Nation. I’m also from Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco Mexico and currently reside in Green Bay, WI with my mother Nicole Lassila, enrolled Oneida Nation member. My dad is Agustin Sosa, Mexican National, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco Mexico,” said Keven.
“Being the new kid is never easy,” said Kevin. “New home, new school, new country, new language, new everything. I’ve never been faced with this much “newness” in my life before. I didn’t really know what to expect. I visited my grandparents and family before in Wisconsin and even lived in Las Vegas for a bit, but Mexico was my comfort zone. Soccer was the bridge that would join both of my lives, my life in Mexico and my life in the States.”
Keven shared: “Even though soccer is an international sport, the style of play is drastically different around the world. In Mexico, soccer is fast and fancy. In the ‘states’, soccer is more controlled and fundamental. I brought a taste of Mexican soccer to Seymour High School. That’s where my strengths really came into play. I encouraged my teammates to try new moves, even taught most of them how to do them. My work ethic even rubbed off on some of my teammates. My father began training me when I was 2 years old. I’m not talking about just a couple hours/week of workouts, but I’m talking about 2-4 hours/day of rigorous workouts. If I wasn’t on the field doing soccer drills, I was either running, weight training, swimming, jumping rope, and working on my foot speed. My work ethic defined my style of play. One thing is for certain is that no matter how many times the opponent tries to isolate me, taunt me, or even hurt me, I will not stop. I’ve been training my whole life for this.”
“On the field, my teammates are my family,” said Keven. “Off the field, my family is my biggest supporter. Both families support and encourage me.”
Last year Keven traveled to Pachuca, Mexico to try out for an international professional team. After trying out, He realized that graduating high school was far more important than playing for a professional team at such a young age. If awarded a spot on the team, he would have had to withdraw from high school and move to Pachuca, Mexico.
“I want to go to college and play soccer,” said Keven. “Hopefully soccer will help with the financial portion of my college dreams. This is what I’ve been working for since I could walk.”
“My father, Agustin, has been training me to be a professional soccer player since I could walk. Coach Mark Baumbach, FC Wisconsin Club Coach, recruited me and encouraged me to play club soccer. My high school coach is Todd Messner,” added Keven.
Coach Todd Messner said: “Keven’s combination of foot eye coordination, quickness, vision and ability to read other players is better than any high school player I have seen. He continues to amaze me with his skill level on a daily basis. He has phenomenal touch on the ball. There are many times in practice that he makes other players look silly by making the ball do whatever he wants. He makes difficult things look easy like trapping a ball out of the air and having a perfect touch to set up a pass to a teammate. Pace Jefferson, one of his freshman teammates learned a lot from Keven. More important is how Keven was the first guy to welcome him to varsity and make him feel comfortable with the team. Pace said: ‘When you do something wrong, Keven will tell you how to fix it. He makes everyone around him better. Off the field, Keven is also a great friend. If you see him in the hallway he will always stop and do a handshake with you.’ I am fortunate to have the opportunity to coach such a wonderful person that loves the game so much and also just happens to be an amazing player. His enthusiasm is contagious and I absolutely love coaching him.”
Keven’s soccer accomplishments are very well known and continuing to the next level: State Semi-Finalist, 2016; First Team All Bay Conference: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019; and Most Valuable Offensive Player of the year at Seymour High School: 2017, 2018, and 2019.
Photographs provided by D.King of Images and Ashton Rasmussen.
