Gerardo Vasquez Herrera.

Gerardo Vasquez Herrera is a physical education teacher who was born in the
Alajuelas San Rafael hospital in 1981. While he was a child, the people who influenced
him the most were his parents, based on their love and the excellent example. They
always were teaching him that with hard work everything that he wanted could be possible.
At the same time, as most kids, his biggest fear was the darkness.
When he started the school, his favorite subject was physical education because of the
freedom that this subject provided him as being taken in outdoors, release the stress of the
routine and monotony of a daily life. At school he never had any kind of affection with a
specific teacher. However, at high school he had a certain feeling of contempt to his
history professor due to she was very strict. He said that he was too young and immature
so he didnt realize that his professor really was trying to cause a positive effect on him.
Nevertheless, when he was in 10th grade everything changed drastically on the way he
looked at her. One day she helped him out with a grade, so he could take a test in order to
pass the school year; then, in the last year of high school everything with her was better
because of the respect that she earned with her decisions and advises. Also, the physical
education teacher was an important person to him because of the knowledge and effort
that he showed in his work.
--I was a regular student, I didnt get the highest grades of the class; actually, I only
got the minimum grades because on my thought getting a 70 or a 100 was the same.
Those grades didnt show the knowledge that I learnedhe said. However, socializing
was easy for him. He always got along with his classmates. At the age of 6, he had his first
steps in soccer with the team Liga Deportiva Alajuelense. Since he was a kid his favorite
position was as a goalkeeper, but he also enjoyed playing as a central defense.
After high school, he started to study at the UACA( Universidad Autonoma de Centro
America). He had to choose this university because he did not pass the UNAs
admission test, and the UACA was one of the Universities that offered the career he was
looking for. Besides, at UACA the studying period was shorter than others, so he would be
able to work faster. He got his bachelors degree at UACA, and the license degree at
Florencio del Castillo. Right now he is getting his masters degree at Universidad de la
Salle in Sports Managing.
As a soccer player he has had many experiences. For example; he started playing
all the childrens category with Liga Deportiva Alajuelense, but then he played a year with
Saprissa. He had to return for a problem with the transportation. Later, he played with
Carmelita for two years, always as a goalkeeper position. His biggest accomplishment as

a goalkeeper was when he played in second division with the team El Roble for two and a
half years. The second year they were champions of the second division category with the
trainer Gustavo de Simeone. After this, he retired to focus on his major, and nowadays he
has the License B for soccer training.

In the occupational area, his first experiences were in agriculture and also as an
illegal taxi driver when he bought his first car. At the same time he started to work parttime as sport teacher a 2002 at the Academia de la Tecnologa Modena. In 2003, he was
a full time sports teacher for the academia and also as a soccer instructor in LDA.
In 2006, and later he started to work for a new institution called San John Villa Nei
together with the jobs mentioned before. He also worked for the institution Horizontes for
three years until 2008. At this year, he quitted Liga Deportiva Alajuelense and the others
two institutions with the purpose of starting to work for the MEP. In 2009, He got his actual
job at UTN (Universidad Tecnica Nacional)
For Gerardo, family means love since its something that complements any human
been through sweetness and care. He learned it from his family because everybody had a
specific role. His father always was a perfect example of hard work in order to bring
everything that his family need, working for a company called Coopesa. He started as a
janitor, but with his progress desires and in despite of his educational level he ended up as
an airplane mechanic improving the economic stability for all the family.
Similarly, his mother was guiding his life along with his siblings. She was who encouraged
him and his brother to continue studying. Although, being a mother of four children was a
heavy job, she had to find a way to do her job as a housewife too. He admires many
people in his life, but Nelson Mandela and Bruce Lee are the most important for him. The
first one because the influence that he had in politics through sports, and Bruce Lee for the
discipline that he had.
Currently, He is still working at UTN as a Sports Promoter for the Student Support Office in
the Central Campus at UTN. He had to work hard in order to get that position, and also he
had to overcome a lot of obstacles. Thats why he says All the things that I did, gave the
motivation to be who I am