Alfredo Ramirez-Pinho is a mid-fielder and known to others on the Madison College men’s soccer team as being tough as nails. Yet, he has a soft side, even admitting that his favorite movie is Disney’s “Tangled.” But it’s this complexity that makes him such an exciting person both on and off the field.

“I’m confident, I’m very competitive, I like to challenge myself and challenge people on the field. It’s my passion,” he said. “I like to win, it hurts my feelings when I lose.”

Ramirez-Pinho is Paraguayan, born and raised in the town of Ybycu’i. He graduated high school in 2008 then went to an English academic school for a year. There after, he moved to Madison in hopes for a better education.

He can speak four languages including, Guaraní (his official language) Spanish, Portuguese and English.

He is taking 17 credits towards his surgical technologist degree. His courses include, anatomy, chemistry and all the science related subjects that he enjoyed during high school.

Ramirez-Pinho has been playing soccer for over two decades. He recalls first playing soccer at the age of 4. Growing up with his older brother, while simultaneously playing sports, created a path for his inspiration. A path that to this day, keeps flourishing.

In Paraguay, he played three years for the soccer team, 13 of June Club. And although it’s his first year playing for Madison College, Alfredo has previously played with many teams in Madison. He started playing with the Madison 56ers and has been part of Madison Fire, which he hopes to continue playing with in the spring. In addition, he plays with the United States open cup team.

He is originally a midfielder, but is playing forward for Madison College, which has increased his possibilities of scoring goals. In fact, he has scored six goals already in the team’s first six games.

You can pretty much say that Ramirez-Pinho is a jack of all trades. On his free time, he enjoys biking, racing, and working out. When asked if he was more of a summer kind of guy he said, “I’m actually both, I love camping, and in the winter I like to snowboard, ski and ice skate.”

Similarly, he enjoys all kinds of foods including Italian, Indian, Mexican, and Asian. “I’m not picky,” he said. Ramirez-Pinho also said, “you should drink, yerba mate (tea), it’s good. It’s a traditional drink of South America, its one of my advices, it’s a good drink, natural drink.”

And yes, his favorite movie is “Tangled.” Ramirez-Pinho admits watching it recently, approximating he has seen it 20 times. When asked if he has cried while watching it, between fidgets and giggles, he said, “ I did a little bit, I got emotional when Rapunzel returned back to see her parents and her parents gave her a hug.”

This shows he is not just that tough athletic guy, but also warm-hearted and sentimental.

When asked what would he like people to know about him, he said: “I’m a good person, I’m honest, I like what I do, I like what I’m going for, I like helping people, especially being a surgical technologist being able to help people, working with doctors.”

He loves to help people and that makes it easy to embrace his career.

With two-hour a day soccer practice and games, he admits it’s an arduous task to divide time between sports, education, and personal life. It’s a challenge that keeps him both, busy and happy.

“I like school, I like being an athlete, I like playing soccer it keeps me in great shape, it’s keeping me strong physically and mentally,” he said.