PEORIA, Ill. – Get to know more about Bradley Soccer Amari Fowlkes.

Fowlkes, originally from Carmel, Indiana, is one of Bradley's newest additions to their 2024 roster.

He started playing soccer at the age of three. He played for Carmel United from ages three to nine. After that, Fowlkes played for Indiana Fire for four years before joining Chicago Fire when he was 13. He returned to Indiana Fire between the ages of 16 and 18. Before joining the Braves, Fowlkes moved to Tampa alone to play for the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

Fowlkes enjoys watching sporting events and exploring new places with his friends during his free time.

"If there are basketball games going [on], UFC, football games, we will be inside watching, but a lot of the time, we like to be outside, just doing whatever that day has to offer, like going to the park, hanging out, going to eat, find something to do to keep ourselves busy."

Another activity Fowlkes enjoys is traveling. His favorite childhood memories are trips to Las Vegas and the Bahamas with his family.

He grew up traveling to watch his cousin Damarcus Beasley play for the U.S. National team, which ultimately drew him into soccer. He shared one of his biggest dreams.

"To play in a World Cup," Fowlkes said. "I went to the 2014 World Cup. My cousin was playing in it with the United States, so I want to play in a World Cup for the U.S."

Family is the most valuable thing for Fowlkes, who is most grateful for the support he gets from people around him.

"When I said that I lived in Tampa, I moved there by myself to go play, and that takes a lot of support from your parents for sure, and they want me [to] chase my dreams as far as I can go, so that's the biggest thing I'm grateful for,"

After a few weeks on campus, his favorite thing about Bradley is the small campus and the community feel, which ultimately helped him decide to attend school in Peoria.

"I felt like it was a place [where] I could play and get better, and that's the biggest thing for me…" Fowlkes said.  "From my visit, I felt like this is a place where I could see myself getting better and doing all those little things,"

Fowlkes shared some team goals as he will play his first season as a Brave.

"We want to be a winning program. Nobody on the team likes losing, especially Coach Regan, and he's inflicted that upon all of us. Just be better than last year, be a winning program, and start to make an impact on all of college soccer,"

He believes the team has what it takes to compete against the best and looks forward to facing Missouri Valley Conference rivals.

"I'm very excited. I feel like we have something good going here, and you can see in the training every day that we are getting better, and that's the biggest thing, and that's what the coaches are pushing, to get better every day," Fowlkes said. "I feel like we have a good environment, and a good practice environment is reflective of what happens on the field, so now it's just about putting results together,"

Watch Fowlkes on the field during the 2024 fall season at Shea Stadium.