John Bayron Sosa

Classroom

John Bayron Sosa has been an exceptional student-athlete for the University of Missouri, Kansas City. Last year he was the recipient of UMKC’s Jack Gant Award, which is presented annually to the best overall student-athlete. Sosa was also selected as a UMKC Scholar-Athlete the past two years, he’s been on the All-Summit League Academic team three times and he’s a two-time Commissioner’s List of Academic Excellence honoree. Sosa maintains a 3.43 GPA in spanish and hopes to play professional soccer before getting into a career in coaching or law enforcement.

Character

Coming to UMKC as an ESL student, coaches worried about Sosa’s ability to adapt to the college lifestyle. Those concerns are long gone, though, as Sosa has taken underclassmen, especially ones that came in from similar upbringings (i.e. Miami, Colombia), under his wing and helped them adjust to life both in the community and the classroom. One of his roommates refers to Sosa as “Grandma” because he takes care of everything in their house. That extends to the field, too, where Sosa is the vocal leader despite accepting a more defensive, complimentary role for the betterment of the team. Sosa also works regularly at the student recreation center and does one-on-one coaching in order to support himself while also sending a portion of his earnings back to his family in Florida.

Community

Sosa has volunteered with the Kansas City Parks & Recreation at Swope Park in an eight-week spring program, which included two-hour practices during the week. Sosa has also entered teams into the Brookside League (AYSO), where he has coached kids ages 5-16.  He teaches the kids the value of fair play, while emphasizing education and stressing the importance of setting goals to continue their education by attending college. In addition, Sosa volunteered with his team at Spectrum Station, where they hosted soccer clinics for the local youth, and he also served as a mentor and referee at Brookside Soccer League games on campus.

Competition

In 2009 Sosa garnered first-team All-Summit League honors after dishing out a conference-leading eight assists, which was also the second-highest single-season total in UMKC history. His 18 career assists also rank second in Kangaroo history and he’s been named on one of the all-league teams each season. Sosa begins his senior season on the Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy Watch List.