This feature originally appeared in the 2022 Summer edition of the Cal Sports Quarterly. The Cal Athletics flagship magazine features long-form sports journalism at its finest and provides in-depth coverage of the scholar-athlete experience in Berkeley. Printed copies are mailed four times a year to Bear Backers who give annually at the Bear Club level (currently $600 or more). For more information on how you can receive a printed version of the Cal Sports Quarterly at home, send an email to CalAthleticsFund@berkeley.edu or call (510) 642-2427.
Fernando Andrade doesn’t let negative energy keep him from making an impact on the world.
A midfielder on the California men’s soccer team, the rising sophomore was chosen as one of Cal’s Walter A. Haas Jr. Community Service Award winners for the 2021-22 school year. The award was created to honor the late Walter A. Haas Jr. for his commitment and service to the University and larger community, and it is given annually to a student-athlete for his or her outstanding contribution to community service.
“It was an honor to be recognized,” Andrade said. “I’m extremely grateful for the award.”
Some major obstacles led to two of Andrade’s biggest service projects, and he credits a book for inspiring him.
“‘The Obstacle is the Way’ by Ryan Holiday has changed my life,” he said. “It’s all aligned with Marcus Aurelius’ quote, ‘The impediment to action advances the action. Whatever stands in the way, becomes the way.'”
The quote from the philosophical Roman Emperor basically means that an obstacle to whatever you’re trying to accomplish can motivate you to overcome adversity and thus provide you with a way to achieve your goal.
Andrade continued, “That sums up my time at Cal right now. I’m in love with soccer, and I want to become the best soccer player that I can be. Wherever that takes me, so be it. At the same time, these obstacles have allowed me to holistically grow as a person and allowed me to do things.”
One way the Chula Vista product assists his community is through Ecumenic, the non-profit that he co-founded. With the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down the men’s soccer season in 2020, Andrade used his time to help people. Specifically, he sought to assist those he saw try but fail to immigrate from Mexico and other Latin American nations into the United States. He co-created Ecumenic to help, using video and social media to inspire donations to purchase blankets and socks for immigrants,…
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