It was just a normal Saturday afternoon at the soccer field, and our team, The Strikers, were ready to play. It had been a nice few days in Garden Grove, but not for long. We had all arrived at 9:15 to warm up, and the game was at 9:45.
Having only one soccer club in Bend to play competitively on and having a relatively small population put me playing with almost the exact same group of girls in the club as I grew up. This also left me knowing everyone who plays soccer and consequently when I got to high school soccer, I was still with the same girls. We had been playing with each other for 7 plus years and had become an incredibly close unit on and off the field. Some of my closest friends came from playing soccer. Soccer had helped me break out of my shell socially and provided an outlet for stress relief. My life revolved around soccer.
Being a captain in soccer whether it's professional soccer or high school soccer is an honor to be. Professional players such as Andres Iniesta, Carles Puyol, Sergio Ramos, and the player that inspired me to play soccer Paolo Maldini have all shown why being a captain is such an honor to be. Now I have been given the honor to be varsity captain for My high school soccer team but I wasn't just given to me because I was a senior no, it was given to me because of my hard work and dedication to become a better soccer player and to become a leader.
I was a freshmen now. A ref once said “We play big boy football around here.”
Six years of pee wee, four years of travel, roughly 10,000 dollars of my parents hard earned money spent in payments, numerous nights of practice, countless days consumed by games and I did not make the team. An entire summer of early mornings dedicated to workouts, and I did not make the team. My freshman year I tried out for the Brentwood High School soccer team and didn’t make the cut. I will never forgot waiting anxiously for that email, opening it and not seeing my name on that roster. I was devastated, embarrassed and simply sad. I had failed.
While soccer is singled out as one of my very strong passions, I find myself playing harder and smarter during school soccer. With the help of Craig Rocastle, former professional soccer player and the current coach of Seaman High School, we are undergoing one of the best seasons Seaman High has ever had. Presently after seven games we have yet to face defeat; furthermore, Rocastle pushes our team to the limits and states, “We will fly, I am proud of our season so far but there is still another level in us.” As our team enter each game with new mentalities and expectations we are; in fact, becoming a better team while also handling the task at hand and winning the game.
When I was in eighth grade i was the star of my recreational soccer league, so going into highschool I was not only expecting great things, but I was expected by others to do great things. My coaches, my teammates, and my friends all knew me as a great player which put a lot of pressure on me walking into high school tryouts. I did not know anyone there but I quickly saw that the level of skill I was competing with was something that I had never experienced before. With that I went from being the best player in the league to not making the team my freshman year. A lot of people would have taken this one of two ways: some would have used it as a reason to quit and
After that game I went to play in a tournament for my Hoover team at 11:00am. Because I was late to the game, I missed the warm ups. My coach did not start me because I had just played in a game at 9:00 am. I sat on the bench watching our team lose so finally my coach put me back in. We started to come back and then we got a big lead. Then my coach sat me back down.
Do you ever have that moment in your life where you put everything aside a focus on one thing? The date was September 14th, the golf tournament at Yorktown Golf Course. I had been waiting for this tournament all year. This was my chance to put all that I have worked on for weeks into full effect. All I could think about was a medal and how much I really wanted it. This was my chance to have something that would really raise my confidence.
So it took about a million years, but the season finally started. I waited and waited and waited and waited and waited for it to start, and then it did. I was immediately used to going all these places with the team. I never put on a uniform, but I went everywhere. Whenever there would be a game, it was always a fun night. I would go to our backyard to watch us play another team on our home turf. I can remember the first game of the season very vividly. I was sitting on the floor in P.E. We were being lectured on good behavior in the locker room because some of the kids were being mean to the other kids. Then, we were saved by the bell. Consequently, we weren’t let out of P.E. We had to finish the lecture in order to leave. After an eternity, they finished the lecture. Then we all got ready to go back to the field. We all warmed up and the starters took the field. It was about 90 degrees out so it was a little hot,but with all the tension in the dugout, the field was heavy with nerves. That day, and for the rest of the season, I
Looking back at my childhood I realized that some of the fondest memories I have was playing baseball. Like the time I had my first homerun when I was 10 years old, or our first district championship in over 20 years. Not only is it the memories that stick with you along the way, but the friendships as well. I can truly say some of the closest friends I have made, I met playing baseball. For instance my best friend and I met playing t-ball at the age of four, we have been friends ever since and now continue to play college baseball on the same team. I love this sport because it connects so many different types of people. In the Major Leagues for instance, there is multiple different races in this sport. It doesn’t matter if you are an American,
Every long stride strained my burning muscles. I gasped for breath but received no air. Sweat seeped into my eyes, stinging them with salt. But, I felt no pain; actually, I could not feel anything. I could hear voices, but I could not articulate any words. I ignored the pull of gravity and the screaming of my body and lunged forward. All the while the only thought I could produce was, “Why am I doing this?”
The best leader I’ve worked with was my Junior High Football coach. My coach used the Path-Goal Theory. I hated football and saw no future for me in that sport. I was teased and literally quit the year before at a different school. I heard about try outs at another school and decided to go. I made the team and backed away from playing a certain position. My coach noticed my arm when he saw me throwing the football and told me I would be his quarterback. I didn't believe, but he kept working with me and made me feel confident in what i could do. My coach was true motivator and he made you want to play harder for him. I led the school to a state championship and had a lot of high school coaches calling my mom. I went on to play high school football
I have been playing soccer since before I could even walk. In fact, I joined my first soccer team at the age of five. Soccer is something I have always loved and been passionate about. When I was on the co-ed recreation league teams I was one of the only girls on my team, so I had to compete with boys who doubted me and thought I was weak. I worked hard during practice and out of practice to become better and, eventually, I became more aggressive than them. My eighth-grade year, I tried out for the school’s co-ed soccer team and was confident that I would make the team. During the three hard days of try-outs, I pushed myself to improve each day and received several compliments from the coaches. On the last day, the head coach pulled me aside to tell me
Adolescence is an important time period of development among all people. Events that occur in this stage of life influence a person in various, immense ways. The ability to analyze these events is an important skill to obtain. The purpose of this paper is to discuss and analyze not only how the events of joining the soccer team and living without my Dad for two years have affected my physical/health, social/friendship, familial, and self domains, but also the outcomes that were produced from these experiences.