Zeeland East's Levi Rodriguez shines in soccer, track despite battle with diabetes

ZEELAND - Levi Rodriguez doesn't let things get in his way.

He didn't let being a freshman get in the way of making the Zeeland East varsity soccer team, and he hasn't let having Type 1 Diabetes affect his ability to play the game, or take away his love for it.

"Soccer is everything to me. I love it and I never want to stop playing. It is really my life," Rodriguez said. "At the start, it was more of a struggle, but once I got the hang of it, it hasn't been such a big deal. It gets easier. The first year was super hard for me. I feel like I have diabetes down, but it is just hard knowing it will never go away."

Now, he is running track, too.

Rodriguez has had an insulin pump for a year which makes the process much easier. He no longer has to give himself multiple shots a day. He has a Continuous Glucose Monitor that reads his blood sugar on his phone every five minutes.

"He's able to see what his blood sugar is before practices, games, etc. He is mostly making sure that his blood sugar is not too low to start; if it is he has a granola bar or another snack and then gets to the game or practice," said his mother, Rachel Rodriguez. "He hasn't let Type 1 Diabetes hold him back at all. I am mostly the one paying attention to his CGM and if I am concerned at all he just tells me, 'It's OK mom, I'm OK,' and then just goes out and crushes it in the game."

His strength makes it tough to comprehend what Rodriguez is going through on a regular basis.

"Most people that we know don't understand Type 1, and I think some of that is because he is managing so well and doesn't let it slow him down or change the plans he has," Rachel said. "They see him running faster than anyone else on the field, being the high scorer. They don't see the challenges."

Some of those challenges can happen very quickly.

"Like when we're out of state and we've used up all of the CGMs we brought that are supposed to last 10 days, but one got torn off by an opposing player in a game and the one we replaced it with just randomly failed because the technology doesn't always work, so now he has to use a glucometer and check his finger via a needle every couple of hours. Those times are probably hardest on me because I can't see his blood sugar during a game," Rachel said. "I do worry about him being OK. He manages his blood sugar all day really well, correcting with insulin if he's too high and having a snack if he is low. But one risk of going too low is becoming unconscious or having seizures; in which case he won't be able to take care of himself, so I have to trust or hope that someone will know or remember the emergency medicine he has for those times. Thankfully that has never happened, but it does stick in the back on my mind. It's really amazing to me that he can manage all of these things."

All because of his love for soccer, which has now taken him around the world.

Rodriguez got to take a trip to Great Britain through Michigan Futbol Acadamy, his club team. He also got to compete at Disney after winning the Michigan State Cup. The Midwest finals were in St. Louis, and the conference finals were at the ESPN Wid World of Sports Disney in Florida.

Those opened up even more doors.

An upcoming trip to Spain is a specific offer from LaLiga Select to Rodriguez based on his performance at the ESPN Wide World of Sports. That is an exclusive offer to players they think would have potential to play for a club in Spain. That's where he will participate in a 10-day showcase and could potentially be offered to try out for one of the clubs in Spain after the showcase.

"He is always committing to becoming a better soccer player, always striving for more and he has this huge diagnosis of Type One Diabetes that could have very easily crushed him and his dreams of being a professional soccer player and it hasn't," Rachel said. "He is managing his Type 1 Diabetes so well and I'm just so proud of him."

Contact sports editor Dan D’Addona at Dan.D’Addona@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @DanDAddona or Facebook @HollandSentinelSports.