A high school soccer star from Blackfoot will soon be leaving to serve on a mission in Mexico for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Gavyn Cornell, from Blackfoot High School, has shown great success as a soccer goalie, but he said he will find an even greater purpose by serving a mission in Aguascalientes, Mexico.

“What my mission means to me is bringing others to find the happiness that I have in my everyday life,” Cornell said. “I want them to be able to share this happiness and love that I feel with others through me.”

Cornell has been saving for his mission to Mexico by working a job pouring concrete and blacktop. With all that hard work, combined with the help of his family he has saved nearly $10,000.

Cornell has won many awards and made great strides as a goalie, including being named the 2022-23 Boys Soccer Player of the Year awarded by the Idaho State Journal. He was also a two-time district champion, the first-team state goalie and the all-area goalie in 2022-23, finishing second in state his sophomore year and third in the state tournament his senior year.

Cornell said his biggest inspiration is his older brother, Bryce Cornell. Bryce has played soccer since he was young and taught Gavyn all that he could about the sport. The two played on a team together at Blackfoot High School for two years and had a type of synergy on the field that only siblings who practiced together at home all of the time could have.

“Basically he trained me and brought me up,” Gavyn said. “He’s one of the nicest kids in the world. He was someone who I really wanted to be like and that was a big reason why I decided to follow his path.”

Bryce is two years older than Gavyn and just returned from his mission and will soon go to college where he will play soccer. Gavyn said that by going on his mission, he’s sacrificing the opportunity to continue playing on a team with his brother in college.

“It’s a hard decision to make, especially because if you look at it from a logistical standpoint, I could have gone and played college with my brother somewhere and we could have been on the same team,” Gavyn said. “It’s a pretty big step to try to find the courage to go somewhere like this. You really have to have a deep love for it, and I’m very excited. And a lot of my teammates throughout various sports are also deciding to serve missions. Having my friends’ support is a big deal to me.”

Gavyn has played sports for as long as he can remember, including baseball, basketball and football, but he’s only been playing soccer since his freshman year of high school. He has been talented at every sport he has played.

“Basically, I was telling my brother I didn’t really want to play football in high school, so he invited me to go to an open field (to play soccer) and I just fell in love with the kids and their humbleness,” Gavyn said. “The love that they’ve shown me is just awesome. That kind of sparked something new in me and I really fell in love with the coaches and got the training and so that’s kind of how it all happened.”

Gavyn’s mother, Heidi Cornell, said that she is very proud of her sons and has made a hobby out of watching her children play sports.

“My hobby has been going out and just cheering them on,” Heidi said. “I think one of the most amazing things I have been able to witness is (Gavyn and Bryce) working together to build each other up because they are truly best friends. They’re as good as they are because they have helped each other, built each other up, practiced and worked with each other.”

Gavyn said that the friendships he has made with his teammates are his favorite part of playing soccer.

“Bonding with the kids is my favorite part about soccer,” Gavyn said. “A big part of it also is the feeling you get of adrenaline when you save a big shot during penalty kicks. Being able to win those is a great feeling, but the memories you make with the kids are never going to go away.”

Gavyn wanted to give a huge shout-out to his coach Liam Pope.

“He kind of took me in as a young kid,” Gavyn said. “When I was a freshman and a sophomore, I was pretty unconfident. I like to overthink a lot and he was really patient with me. He worked with me hard and he was probably the biggest reason that I’m here where I’m at today. He motivated me and just talked everything through with me, reassured me and let me know how good I was doing.”

Gavyn said that while he was given a few scholarship offers to play soccer, he isn’t interested in playing professionally. When he returns from his mission, he wants to go to school to become a radiologist.

“I did get a few scholarship offers, but nothing too serious, just colleges coming up to me at state, but I just kind of told them I wasn’t interested,” Gavyn said. “Maybe after my mission, I might walk on somewhere or just go on with my degree because I got some good offers for my grades.”