Personal Narrative: My First Soccer Team

The start of my freshman year was a thrilling experience for me. To start out my freshman year I made the schools Varsity soccer team, a huge accomplishment for me. However, I was naïve to the coming situation to myself. I was on the path to continuous harassment from teammates as I was surrounded by seniors. Many of the seniors had egos, full of themselves in every aspect possible. It was a rude awakening to the reality of high school to be apart of this team as a freshman. In retrospect, I believe that my transition into high school would have been smoother if I would’ve asked to be on the Junior varsity. Although this would have hindered my growth as a player, it’s a sacrifice I realize now that would have been worth it.

This was a critical and meaningful accomplishment for me at the time and still is. I always avoided conflict because I was afraid to step on anyone’s toes, and I especially feared change. Removing competitive soccer from my life was an immense change and I wasn’t sure if I was ready for it. I’m proud of myself for accepting that I needed an adjustment in my life and being courageous enough to voice that desire. This was a turning point in my emotional self-awareness and being gentle with my stress load. I’m grateful to have had a support system of Mack and my mom during this

It was a cold brittle day on January 10,2014 at 2:00 p.m in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey. My teammates and I and I were warming up for our soccer game.Our team name was called“Rapids and we have three wins, one tie, and four losses. All of a sudden, the referees called us to the sideline to check on our equipment. I was nervous and my heart felt like it was beating a thousand beats per seconds. Our coach told the lineup after the referee checked our equipment.

“I learned about life with a ball at my feet.” What do you first think about when you hear the word soccer? Do you think about the coolest goal ever made? Or maybe the best jukes you’ve ever seen? Well there’s more to soccer than scoring goals and juking people. To some people, there’s a meaning to every goal, kick, and pass. Soccer has a meaning. To some people, soccer is just a dumb and , boring sport that is completely useless. But to others it’s a lifestyle because, it revolves around their everyday life. There’s people passionate about this sport, and I’m one of them.

When I first thought about how soccer impacted my life, nothing really came to mind. I was that kid who mostly looked forward to the end of the game snacks and bringing around the goal jar. But when I actually began thinking about more about playing soccer I realized that soccer was the first place where I was fully submerged into something completely new. I learned how to make friends, how be a leader, and how to have good sportsmanship. These are all things that have made me into the person I am today and it all began on the soccer field.

If I could go back in time I would go back to the day I signed up for school sports and switch the little check in the football box to the soccer box. It was sixth grade year and it was the first year I could play school sports and I was the happiest kid alive. In my head I thought football was going to be super fun but, in reality, I wasn 't very good at it. I stuck with it for a couple years but I just didn 't have the size or strength. Finally, as a freshman I switched over to soccer which is something i 'm extremely glad I did. Soccer is something that I didn 't play much as a kid but, my brother and my sister played so I was always around it. When I switched to soccer I didn’t know it would become as big of a passion of mine as it did. From that point i’ve played all year round from playing indoor

“Matt,y you will be starting forward now,” Mr. K. said right before I nervously stepped onto the field, sweating like a man in a sauna. The whole summer I practiced soccer with my dad for two hours a day to make the team my sixth grade year. I wasn’t looking to start, I was just looking to make the team. While my friends were at the beach or at friend’s house, I would be playing soccer.

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

Being shoved to the ground and coming up with a mouthful of turf and a bloody nose isn’t the ideal way to spend a friday night, but for me, it's something I put blood, sweat, and tears into. Soccer has been a passion of mine since my father dropped me off at the local YMCA when I was at the tender age of four. Spending all of my free days for thirteen years running after a soccer ball is arguably what made me into the person I am today. Unity, tenacity, passion and pride have all been morals that are valued within the sport and in my own philosophy. I have explored places I’d never give a second thought to because my sport took me there. Friends I had made came from the sport I played. I never ended up asking for friends to come over because to me, practice was hanging out with my friends, doing an activity with a purpose.

Nevertheless, the sport is not just about playing it, but learning from it. The game has probably taught me fundamental concepts of life. There is no denying that people consider me a decent player, but that doesn’t mean that I’m the best. There is a vast amount of better players that are even younger than me training to the maximum of their capabilities. I discovered something new, and my drive to become a better player and person came with it. The sport has taught me that not everything will always be what I initially expected, but that shouldn’t stop me from reaching my goals. For example, my team and I had won three consecutive district titles for our school. The team came in Sophomore year of college into the Junior-Varsity team thinking everything would be ours.Nothing was the same as we let our heads

Summer was at full blast, Sunday league was starting and I was playing soccer every single day. I was ready for the next season of high school soccer to come and I was training myself to the limit because I wanted to be one of the best players on the field and to possibly be captain for varsity this year. This year was also the year our new coach, coach Jay was in charge of us because Olivier had left last year to to go to Michigan with his wife. Jay had already seen how well of a player I was because I played in his soccer club and immediately placed me in the varsity roster but as a defender and not a striker. The transition was difficult but I learned fast. I remember one practice Jay told me that if I would be willing enough to play as a defender and not a striker because we had a really good offense but a really bad defense and we were in desperate need of a Center Back So I said sure I'll give it a try and ended up enjoying and I now became a defender. Every Monday, a group of my friends and I would play futsal to improve our dribbling and soccer skills but this Monday was the Monday that I fractured my ankle. We were winning 5-3 and this was all a friendly match with all my friends and our team was currently on the defense, defending our goal. I was about to claim position of the ball to put my team on the attack but when I placed my left foot next to the ball I got shoved and when I placed my right foot to

One of the most significant activities in my life would have to be soccer ever since I got a hold of the ball in 10th grade, it sparked my interest and a fire was ignited. It simply stared with a few friends asking me to join them then slowly progressed into everyday after school I would go outside to kick around the ball, I never really knew it was for me until I started getting more into it, soccer became my outlet more like an escape for me, it was somewhere I could go when I needed to be alone just the ball and I. Honestly, I never knew that it would affect me in the way it has, it started out as a just for fun kind of thing, then it escalated into actually playing games, turning more into a passion and I could actually see myself in the

Growing up, I spent most of my time playing sports and trying to stay active as much as possible. As I got older, I became more serious with field hockey, and I was determined to make the varsity team my junior year of high school. All summer I spent working on my stick skills on the field, and my endurance in the gym in order to do everything I could to make the varsity squad. When tryouts started in the end of August, I hadn’t performed the way I wanted to, and girls I thought had no chance of making the team, played so well over the three days. However, I was hopeful I still had a shot on the varsity roster. On the last day of tryouts, all fifty of us were to find out what team we had made, or for the few girls, that they were getting cut

I have played premier/select soccer for 11 years, I dreamt of being a pro soccer player when I was little. The summer of 8th grade I tried out for the high school soccer team. After the three days of trying out. I waited to see if my name was on the roster. My dad called me and I said I do not see your name on the roster, I don't think you made the team. I was shocked, tears started to fall from my face as my dreams became to crumble to floor. Never in my mind did I think this was going to happen. After that day it was hard to just go day by day knowing that my dreams were crushed right in front of my eyes.

When I was a kid I only cared about myself when I played soccer. I never thought about my teammates. I just wanted all the attention for me. I wouldn 't pass the ball. I 'd always tried getting all the goals. I also Tried taking all the freekicks and penalties. One day in a game I had the ball with only one defender on me, so I try to get passed him by running round him as fast as I could with the wind blowing on my face and my jersey flying back and I see a player open nobody on him. At first I