(February 10, 2000) — “Eddie! Eddie! Eddie!” The crowd cheers as junior Eddy Toapanta rushes to make a goal for the Hoover Tornadoes soccer team. His team calls him the prince of the soccer field and his goal record proves it. Just recently, Toapanta scored a goal to put his team into the championships of the La Canada Tournament, second bracket, and if that wasn’t enough, he averages about two goals per game with another team he plays on, the Santa Monica United. Toapanta, who used to watch his cousins play, found soccer fascinating and first played on a team when he was four years old. He has played for the Hoover Tornadoes for two years and says that every year gets better because “everybody knows me and I get more respect on the team.” Some of Toapanta’s achievements include being one of the highest scorers on the team and being accepted onto the all-star team from Los Angeles. One thing that is very important to Toapanta is not letting all the adulation get to his head. “Some people who come new into the team come with a ‘I’m the best’ mentality, but I think you need to always be humble regardless of how great you may be,” he advises. “The key to my success is to innovate, not intimidate.” Former teammate, Clark sophomore Alex Medina, comments, “Toapanta was a good team player with a lot of skill, speed, stamina and dedication to the game.” Although sports take up a significant amount of an athlete’s time, Toapanta always manages his homework and realizes that school comes first. However, since the athletes from other schools leave Clark at tutorial to get to their practices, leaving early “is a disadvantage because I would like to stay for tutorial so I could get help in some classes I might need help in.” Even so, he says he enjoys being able to “rest for about half an hour [on the bus], and then I go to practice ready to bring the roof down.” Also a very talented rapper, Toapanta often writes poetry and hip-hop music during his spare time, and is hoping for a record deal someday. “I write about deep concepts that most people don’t often explore in everyday life,” Toapanta says about his music. He also tries to read as much as he can and tries to live life to its fullest. As for goals for this year, Toapanta says he doesn’t have any serious ones, but he is “going for highest scorer.” In his lifetime, Toapanta hopes “to also educate the people on civil injustices going on in different parts of the world, such as the abuse of indigenous tribes in Mexico, which led to a rebellion by a group called the Zapatista.” As a final word, Toapanta combines both soccer and rap: “My name is Eddy but the ladies call me ‘dear, the rhyme engineer’. Try to play me in soccer and I will end your career.” As everyone can see, his career is still going strong.