长途跋涉终有收获

Enrique Cortina ’13, came to 皇冠体育 from his hometown of Valencia, Spain, to follow his passion for playing soccer while working toward earning an education he and his family could be proud of.

The experiences and relationships Cortina formed during his four years at Mount Mercy revised his future from what he imagined to a life he hadn’t dreamed of.

“Life puts you in different places for a reason.”

“Life puts you in different places for a reason,” Cortina said. “When I started to look into colleges and sent my highlights video out, Amir Hadzic [Mount Mercy men’s head soccer coach] contacted me and was very helpful during the entire process. 我觉得我可以信任他。 He drew me to Mount Mercy.”

Cortina’s coach wasn’t the only person he found guidance and inspiration in. 他在仁慈山的旅程中，有许多人影响并塑造了他，使他成为今天的他。

从他在体育部的实习到与朋友共度的时光，科尔蒂纳说，他在公共关系方面的教育对他的成功起到了重要作用。 学院的乔·谢勒和大卫·克洛普博士都是传播学副教授，他们为科尔蒂纳提供了他所依赖的技能和深入的知识。

随后，科蒂纳被介绍给了迈阿密的何塞·雷加达斯（Jose Reygadas），后者现在是他的老板。 两人开始合作，他进入美国职业足球世界的冒险开始了。

“我创建了一个团队，”科尔蒂纳说。 “我把球队带进了联盟。 说实话，这是我和室友一起开始做的一个项目，因为我们都是足球爱好者。”

"It’s funny that my senior project was something similar. 我得把它变成现实。 I presented this project to my boss, he liked it and gave me the green light and I went for it.”

Cortina’s responsibilities didn’t stop when planning Storm FC was finished. Because of the skills learned at Mount Mercy, he supervises the public relations department and all of the team’s communications. 他还帮助球队建立阵容，处理合同和球员的需求，并且是球队在联盟中的公众形象。

But soccer isn’t confined to his day job. During his senior year at Mount Mercy, Cortina was head coach for Marion High School’s varsity soccer team. 就在那时，他把教练加入了自己的爱好清单。

“In my free time I coach a team of teen girls,” Cortina said. “When I don’t have to work on the club, I’m coaching soccer. My life is soccer, and I’m kind of lucky my wife likes soccer too.”

科尔蒂纳承认，如果没有他在Mount Mercy的时光，他的生活将与现在大不相同。 他上大学的决定最终改变了他的计划。 他期待着未来，并且知道足球将永远是未来的一部分。

“They were excellent professors and I was lucky to have them because they were always very easy to talk to," said Cortina. "The professors and I could spend hours talking about public relations and careers, and they’d give me a lot of tips and advice. 有他们在真是太好了。”

As much as Cortina valued his professors, he made many long-lasting friendships, including a friendship with Dia (Brown) Cortina ’12, that turned into a marriage. 科尔蒂纳说，与迪亚的会面最终改变了他获得学位后搬回西班牙的原计划。

“I met my wife and being with her now is one of the things that will always make Mount Mercy a good experience,” Cortina said. “At home we put both of our diplomas next to each other, and that way we will always have Mount Mercy. It’s a part of us.”

Because of the support he received from Mount Mercy’s tight-knit campus community, Cortina was prepared for what would be next in his journey: becoming general manager of Storm FC, a men’s semiprofessional soccer club in Florida—a program Cortina built from the ground up.

“The future of U.S. soccer is huge,” Cortina said. “Back in Spain, a friend who was working for a soccer club wanted to expand to the U.S. He shared his vision with me and told me I should look into it if I wanted to be the person in charge of the company here.”