Student Athlete of the Week – Malia Falk

Malia Falk is a natural-born athlete.

"My dad is a gym owner here in the Valley, and growing up, even before, as a trainer, he would train me off and on the field. So it kind of helped to get me on the right track with diets and to get me on the right track through soccer," she said. "My parents… they're just athletes."

She played multiple sports growing up, but fell in love with soccer.

"It's a way for me to get my energy out on the field and be my full self on the field," Falk said.

Falk's athletic ability, hard work, and determination primed her to succeed in multiple positions on the soccer field.

"In her fourth year on Varsity she's changed her game each of the years, each season to fit what the team needed best," said her coach Chris Keuilian. "Her freshman year, she needed to be a goal scorer for us, sophomore year we needed her to provide service so her goals dropped but her assists tripled, then junior year, she needed to start doing everything, and now senior year she's getting back into her goal scoring role,

so it really shows unselfishness as well as the drive for success with the team not only personal gain."

Always going the extra mile, literally.

"On and off the field I really try to push myself and so by going to the gym in like doing an extra run like everyday like it just helps me feel like myself in the game," Falk said.

"Then as she blends in with her teammates, trying to help those around her, trying to push people and stay positive while doing it," Keuilian said. "You know, that's always the tough thing, it's when you're pushing somebody to live up to your own example to stay positive while motivating them."

Now in her final season, Falk is in the process of committing to a DII or DIII program to play college soccer, while pursuing a career in nutrition, with the support of her family and her coach.

"You know she's quiet and relatively subdued but she has this drive inside of her that she's going to push through and have success in whatever she does," he said.