Phoenix, Arizona – March 7, 2025 – Adversity. Perserverance.
 
Both those attributes are deeply woven into the fabric of our GCU Club Sports February Student-Athletes of the Month, Grand Canyon University Club Men's Soccer player Jafet Fuentes and Grand Canyon University Club Softball player Megan Reichley. Their life experiences – even back at the age of 5 – as well as their high school and college athletic experiences have shaped who they are, and given them leases on life that set the example for others to follow.
 
Jafet Fuentes – Men's Club Soccer
 
For Jafet Fuentes, perseverance isn't just a trait. It's a way of life.
 
A sophomore from Oakland, California, Fuentes' road to eventually playing soccer with the GCU Division 1 Men's Soccer program has been anything but smooth.
 
In fact, it starts one step further back from Oakland in Guatemala, where Jafet was born to a family full of fútbol fanatics (including a grandfather who played professionally in the country). When his parents decided to make the move to the United States shortly thereafter, it didn't take much to get Fuentes playing the family game.
 
"I vividly remember loving to kick the ball around when I was 5 or so," said Fuentes. "I have a really big family, and everyone loves to play, so it was a natural fit."
 
Fuentes and his soccer talents ended up fitting naturally to many high-level club teams from youth through high school, which worked for a kid who knew what he wanted once he got to college.
 
"I wanted to keep playing soccer, but honestly, as a first-generation college student, I had a lot to figure out at the time," said Fuentes. "I actually visited an uncle that lived in Phoenix, and he put the idea of GCU in my head."
 
When he arrived on campus, Fuentes was under the assumption there would be open tryouts for the GCU D1 Men's Soccer team. When he found out that wasn't the case, he turned elsewhere.
 
"I had played club soccer my whole life, so I thought, 'Why not give it a try for one more year?'," said Fuentes.
 
Fuentes was originally placed on the fourth team after GCU Club Soccer tryouts - much to his dismay.
 
"I was mad at myself and frustrated," said Fuentes. "I knew I was better than that, but all I could do moving forward was to keep working hard and prove myself to the coaches."
 
After seeing some of his teammates get moved up ahead of him, Fuentes nearly hit a breaking point.
 
"I was very close to quitting," said Fuentes. "It was frustrating to work that hard and not see results. Then [new GCU Men's Club Soccer Head Coach] Damian Tulé took over in the spring semester and we had a nice talk where I agreed to keep showing up. Damian was very encouraging."
 
And then? A breakthrough.
 
Fuentes' consistent work turned into an invite to preseason practices with the "select" GCU Men's Club team last August - something that normally only first-team players are given access to. He became a regular starter on the second team and even traveled with the first team to play in regional and national games.
 
It keeps getting better, though. Fuentes' opportunity to try out for the D1 team did arrive.
 
"I had heard about the team holding tryouts for their spring semester and went into it with the most optimistic mindset possible," said Fuentes. "I thought, 'Why not me?'. I kept surviving cuts as the days went on and eventually, they extended an invite for me to stay on."
 
From nearly giving up on his dream, to picking up a full schedule of 4-5 weekly practices, it was perseverance that got his foot in the door and on the GCU Soccer Stadium field.
 
"He always had a ton of talent, but it's his work ethic and attitude that shows up the most," said Tulé. "It's not easy to keep working when you aren't seeing what you want happen, but his persistence makes him a no-brainer for a recognition like this."
 
Expecting to graduate in the spring of 2027 with a degree in Sports Psychology with an emphasis in the Sport in Performance Psychology and a minor in Advisory, Fuentes continues to have lofty goals.
 
"I'd love to stay on with the D1 team, so I'm going to keep working," said Fuentes. "As far as academics go, I want to be ready to start my Ph.D. shortly after graduating."
 
Ph.D. for a first-generation college student? 
 
"My parents have always had high hopes for me as a student, and soccer has helped me realize that personal development can exist even off the field," said Fuentes. "It has carried me to working harder in the classroom. At the end of the day, I want to make my parents proud, and I get to repay them for all they've done in this way.
 
God gives you, at random times, blessings that you can never be prepared for, and God continues to have his way with my life, and I continue to try and be a beacon to others."
 
Megan Reichley – Club Softball
 
"I have very positive memories. Interactions with wonderful nurses. My surgeon's positive outlook made me feel secure. During treatments, I didn't remember any negative experiences with chemo. When I got to be a teen, I was like, 'Wow! I went through that.'"
 
The thought of cancer in your kidneys? Unimaginable. Having it at the age of 5? Unfathomable.
 
GCU Club Softball player Megan Reichley can not only imagine the normally fatal condition. She lived it. Survived it. So what's the term she uses to describe the experience – even as she's grown to understand the gravity of it and what it could've done?
 
Lucky.
 
"I was lucky in that I was peeing straight blood, so they found it quickly," said Reichley. "It was about to break the kidney wall and go into my bloodstream, which would've changed everything. I still do research on how it's changed my life. I go back to hospitals and see children that have all these challenges, and it makes me realize how I must keep pushing and live a life to show them they can get through it – even if they don't always have the ability to."  
 
It's affected just about everything Megan's done. Born in Reno, Nevada, five-year-old Megan and her family had to uproot to Ripon, California, to be closer to the Oakland hospital that handled Megan's cancer treatment. That saved her life. Allergies eventually took their toll on her father, though – enough to force the family to move to Issaquah, Washington, in Megan's 5^th-grade year when her mother got a great job opportunity in commercial banking. Finally in a home that wouldn't move again, Reichley matured into a teen that excelled in more ways than you could imagine. On the diamond, Reichley was an all-region 3^rd baseman for Issaquah High School's varsity softball team. In the classroom, she was president of the American Sign Language Honors Society for two years. In her job for the City of Issaquah… wait, what?!
 
"My senior year, I got on an equity board for them as a youth advisor working for diversity and inclusion to provide equal opportunities for everyone and to make sure companies follow the correct laws," said Reichley. "I'm very passionate about changing the world, which stems from when I had cancer. I was so young and didn't understand it until later in life. I had survivors' guilt, but felt God gave me a chance to make a difference, so that's why I chose to be on the board."
 
As you can figure out, Reichley may still only be a junior at GCU, but she's known what she's going to do with her life for a while.
 
"I want to be a middle school history teacher. I want to change the world, and that's a good way to do it," said Reichley. "I'm set to graduate in December 2026 with a degree in Secondary Education (with an emphasis in History), and I'm now an emergency substitute for the Glendale Elementary School District. What I can apply in the classrooms I've been in so far has me ecstatic about what I can do when I get my own classroom one day."
 
Are we leaving anything out of Megan's story? Oh, yeah, club softball, which Reichley is just as passionate about. That brings us to another shift in Reichley's journey, though, since by the time she arrived at GCU, she was done with the sport.
 
"I came to Arizona on a softball scholarship to one of the community colleges in the state," said Reichley. "I played one year as a catcher, but the coach that recruited me left before I got there, and with the new coaching staff came a lot of adversity. I had a 'What's my next step in life?' moment. I saw that GCU had a great secondary education program, and once I stepped on campus, I felt like it was my place. 
 
The community college experience made me feel like the sport didn't bring me joy anymore, but during my first semester here, I got the itch again. I reached out to (Lopes' Head Coach) Lindsey (Collins), saw a practice, and I was hooked from there. From my first practice, it just took off."
 
Reichley's only been behind the dish for a little over a year for the Lopes, but – shocker! – she's grown into a leader for a team that - despite lower numbers - has sprinted out of the gates this season, scoring a whopping 80 runs in six straight wins.
 
"The grit that this team has in overcoming adversity is amazing. We do a good job of lifting each other up when we're down," said Reichley. "The camaraderie is great. We connect on and off the field. It's something I haven't experienced with a team for a long time, and I'm just reveling in it."
 
She'll keep reveling upon her return to the campus she calls "stunning" to finish out the softball season, and keep looking for ways to move the needle.
 
"I do things that make me feel fulfilled and have a purpose," Reichley said. "Having cancer changed my career path and my perspective on life. No one gets into teaching to make a lot of money. I want to do it because I want something that satisfies me day in and day out and makes a difference with others."