Kira Ybarra is a student-athlete at Long Beach Poly High School. She is the goalie on the girl’s varsity soccer team. She shows great potential and is seen as a strong leader of the team.
Ybarra has been playing soccer since she was five years old. Her parents were both athletes in their day so it was an easy decision for them to make to have Ybarra play a sport. She then grew to love and appreciate the sport of soccer. Ybarra began playing for club at the age of seven. They “threw [her] in the goal” and she hated it because she got scored on fourteen times in her first game.
With proper training, she eventually became good at it and loved it. Now Ybarra currently plays for SoCal Blues ECNL club team, in addition to Poly’s team. Ybarra is able to juggle school work and training, but does not have much free time to herself. When she does find time, she enjoys writing “fictional stories about previous dreams [she’s] had before.”
Ybarra has made an impact on her teammates and coach this school year. Her coach describes her as a “block wall” for the team and that she is very encouraging to her teammates. She always gives one hundred percent and has a great work ethic. Kelsey Adams is a teammate of Ybarra’s on the Poly team. Adams has been playing soccer with Ybarra for a long time and claims that Ybarra works really well with everyone.
Ybarra is very “energetic, hardworking, and competitive” in her everyday life outside of practice. She acts like a leader of the team in the eyes of Adams and the other players. Ybarra’s main concern this season would be not getting hurt because after the season at school, she has her regular season with her club, so she’s trying her best to stay fit and healthy. 