The explanation of the Logo, Slogan and Story Behind it all

April 2014 I was living in Santiago, Chile. I was sitting in a church listening to speakers while I was reading some scripture. I was trying to find a way to put value into my life. For weeks I had been writing down words (both Spanish and English) that could incapsulate a movement I felt passionate to start. That's when I came across the word "Sojourn". This is what that means, "To dwell for a time; to dwell or live in a place as a temporary resident, or as a stranger, not considering the place as his permanent habitation" (Websters Dictionary 1828). When I read that I finally found a connection between my passion for sports and life.

Sports themselves are a form of place or temporary residency. We never play a sport forever regardless of how much we try. There will always be a time we started that sport and when it ends. Additionally, it is through the kindness of those who live there to help the travelers. In this case sport is the temporary place for which the traveler (athlete) lives. Those living there we'd classify as coaches, teammates, fans, support staff, parents, family members, etc. We as the athlete are only there for a time and it is through those living there that we enjoy the journey or endure a lot of suffering. Just as Sojourners would go from town to town we too may go from sport to sport and only stay in a town (or sport) pending that community that we find. After that breakthrough moment I knew this was the word. I was going to use SOJO as a shorter means to remember it and it was easier for everyone to identify and say. However, after a few days I realized I couldn't just sit down and explain this story to everyone about how SOJO was just short for Sojourn and Sojourn has such a deep meaning. That led to SOJO needing to become an acronym as a means to explain the purpose in a better format that could be remembered and passed along. Unfortunately, it took me quite a while to get that figured out. Between kicking rocks and running from dogs it finally came a few months later…Sports Our Journey Onward!

Sport regardless if we are playing it professionally, recreationally, or visually. I understood that sport was something that so many people can rally behind. This was especially eye opening when I began to witness soccer in Latin America (more on that later).

Our is strong because it leans on that idea of community, of those people living in that town or sport. We unite and uplift others through sport. While there are moments, we will do things on our own, it doesn’t mean we can’t find support from others. I wanted to assimilate the idea that sports are the largest community in which someone can find refuge. It also symbolizes purpose for oneself, we take ownership when we say “our” task. Which is key when taking a blind step in a journey. It is our journey and we must take that step with extreme ownership and ability.

Journey kept the aspect of sojourn. Sports are a journey as everyone knows. It takes a lot of hard work to wake up for 4am workouts, 3-Days, 1 more rep or just getting back up, especially after injury. The path isn’t straight and more times than not we will fall off our originally path and have to decide to get back on it or blaze a new one.

Onward and upward as I began to believe. In lifetime doesn’t pause, doesn’t stop; it doesn’t care what is going on. The truth is that’s hard. We will never get a single second back in this life. What makes it worse is at times we may even feel we are being robbed of precious moments and time. It becomes increasingly difficult to face your day when this is your reality. That is why Onward was the perfect exclamation point for this acronym. What lifts our broken hearts, what makes us push through rehab, what makes us face tomorrow? We may have a myriad of answers to that question, but I believe a great catalyst to that is sport. Doing something you love can help us through the hardest moments in our lives…(listen to my story). Sports unite families, communities (discussed the importance of them above), and even nations. Think about Miracle or the Olympics, think about Make-A-Wish foundation and all those kids struggling with the hardest things in life and yet meeting an athlete is all some of them want to do?!?! Personally, people in my own life have had incredible experiences because of those in sports. My cousin with autism was on the high school swim team and would finish at the wall every time with the biggest roar of applause. He can no longer speak at all, but those moments taught life long lessons to his teammates regardless if he can fully express what they meant to him, they meant something to those who understood. I also had a friend who had a serious illness that eventually took her life. She became a cheerleader and the support that came with that was incredible. You can watch her story by Googling the movie title: Love, Kennedy or read about it from her parents FB blog: Kennedys Hugs. It totally I hope that explains the reasoning behind Onward and what it means to the entire word SOJO.

Fast forward to 2023, nearly 8 years since the inception of SOJO I finally completed the logo. At the end of 2020 I found the company SOJO, LLC with the intentions of having a lasting positive with everything that happened in 2020. After that not much happened. I was working on other projects, jobs and focus but I couldn't shake the goal of doing something with SOJO. However, I couldn't do it without a logo to be seen everywhere. I love the words, but I needed a symbol. I had spent years already drawing all kinds of shapes and designs and thought I was close many times before throwing it out. Then it just clicked one day as I was looking at my second daughter. I thought about how crazy my life's journey had already been and that it was anything but what I had envisioned. That thought kind of floated in my mind as I thought about my sports numbers and thought about making 7 points or angles in my design to reflect my personal journey. Then I needed arrows to show the journey going onward. Finally, I drew it and ran into my wife’s office to show her! Originally there were 3 designs but we both pointed out the exact one you see today. Let’s get into the meaning behind it then.

• 7 Points/Angles- Represent my jersey number when I played arena football. Which came from my connection to Chile and their national team player Alexis Sánchez (el niño maravilla). It only felt right to keep Chile in the logo when that was were everything started. #VivaChile #LosPulentos
• Arrows- Point in both directions. The arrow pointing upwards symbolizes the journey ahead as we continue upward and onward. The journey pointing down symbolizes the path we have traveled and to not forget where we have come from. Remembering our culture, communities, and trials we have overcome.
• The path is indicative of ups, downs, setbacks and anything but straight. You’ll notice that after reaching the top it drops back down because we will never stay on top. We must continuously fight to find the next peak.
• Originally the entire design was closed instead of open to hide the entire word inside of the logo itself. Once I opened it up the “S” formed to show a clear path.