This Colombian has a malformation in one of his arms. However, that did not stop him from being a soccer player 

Both in life and in sport there are moments to stop, admire and applaud examples of overcoming. One of those cases is that of Santiago Arroyave, a young man of 18 years born in Medellin. Despite suffering from phocomelia, a disease that prevented the growth of one of his arms and the malformation of another, this Colombian athlete managed to become a professional soccer player.

Leer en español: A pesar de una malformación, este colombiano es un futbolista profesional

Santiago's moment of glory came in a match between Itagüí Leones and Deportivo Pereira for the Copa Colombia. With five minutes to end the soccer match, the coach of his team called him to be part of the men on the field. At this time his disability  was relegated to the background, so he was positioned in the First Division of his country's soccer.

"I had been pursuing this dream since I was six years old. The debut was very dreamed and thank God they gave me the opportunity. Honestly, my heart seemed to stop and the blood ran very fast, I felt that so much happiness could not be real," explained Arroyave to El Tiempo.

Santiago Arroyave: "Dreams are possible"

To understand the boom that generated the debut of the Colombian as a soccer player, he said in the same interview that everything has taken a complete turn, starting with the attention he has received from the media. Also the fans of many countries have expressed their support for the athlete, especially on his Instagram account, which currently has more than 100 thousand followers. Even personalities like Carlos Tévez and Sebastián Pérez, send him videos with words of encouragement.

"You do not feel like a famous person, but now you really feel like a real soccer player, and that's very important, besides of course that having a lot of fans opens the possibility to tell my story and that many people who feel limited fix in my case and arise," Arroyave told to the same media.

According to Goal, Arroyave himself declared that everything he has achieved he owes to God and his family, because without them nothing would have been possible. So, now is when he will continue fighting to consolidate as a professional soccer player.

"I never thought that this dream would come true so quickly, but I fought it, I trained very hard, with a lot of sacrifice. And these are the fruits, which also helps me to tell everyone who reads me, that dreams are possible. Never give up, if they go wrong do not despair. God has a perfect plan for everyone. The limitations are mental and with desire and attitude everything is possible," he confessed.

Another case of overcoming in sports

The case of Arroyave is not the only one of sporting excellence that has transcended internationally. Perhaps the most memorable case of soccer is the Uruguayan Hector Castro, a name perhaps little remembered in the discipline. In the 1930 Uruguay Soccer World Cup, the first in history, the world saw how that young man with one arm became the great figure of an entire country. According to Azteca Deportes, Castro accidentally cut his right arm with a saw when he was barely 13 years old. However, this did not stop his soccer career.

"His talent led him to compete in the World Cup with the host team and become a legend, not only to score the first goal for a Uruguayan in this game, but also scoring in the final, to become the figure of the tournament and, with one arm, lift the beloved Jules Rimet Cup, a milestone that, why not, could come to emulate Santiago Arroyave with the current World Cup".

LatinAmerican Post | Freddy González

Translated from "A pesar de una malformación, este colombiano es un futbolista profesional"