May 8, 2025 – Soccer is life for Aldo Carrasco. He first picked up a soccer ball in kindergarten. Fast-forward to middle school, where he took a break from soccer to play basketball. By eighth grade, overlapping seasons of basketball and soccer presented Aldo with an opportunity: continue playing basketball or return to his original passion, soccer. Amarillo ISD offers one of the area’s only middle school soccer programs.
“Middle school soccer was a very fun experience, because you get to play with all your friends against other schools, and you get to know a lot of people that you end up playing with at high school,” he said.
Aldo chose soccer and is now a two-time District Offensive MVP, District MVP, and a 2024-25 Texas Association of Soccer Coaches All-State selection. He also refs soccer on the weekends. Aldo’s next turf is West Texas A&M University, where he hopes to make the soccer roster as a walk-on.
“My goal is to be able to play with WT. They have a good program and it’s close to home, which is a big part of it for me,” Aldo says.
For Aldo, soccer is indeed life, but make no mistake, he is busy kicking goals off the field, too.
Ranked fifth in his class at Caprock High School, Aldo is a seven-semester Superintendent’s scholar, thanks to that one semester when he was one class short of the requirements, and will graduate in May with around 35 hours of college credit. He’ll major in electrical engineering. But with all those college-level classes already behind him, Aldo doesn’t worry about the rigor of an engineering program.
“I feel like those higher-level classes in high school give you more motivation going into college, because you already have something that you’ve started and experienced and you know you can do it,” says Aldo.
For the students coming up after him, facing choices that may end up determining their path in college and career, Aldo’s advice is simple. Don’t overthink things. “Don't be scared. It's all worth it in the end. Just have fun, and don't think about it too much.”
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