Personal Narrative: My Soccer Team

But on the day of the semi-finals, my soccer team had a big problem. Due to summer vacations, we were missing a third of our team which left us with only enough kids to play. We didn’t have any subs. It was going to be a tough and hot eighty minutes of running with only a quick half-time break.

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

Beep Beep! Beep Beep! The alarm bell goes off. It is 6 am on the 1st of August, 2016. First day of tryouts for my school's soccer team. I am inflated and drowning in nervousness. For the past two years of my high school life, I had missed tryouts, both times not knowing when they took place. Finally, with careful planning, the year I claimed my spot on a soccer team had finally come. Born the son of an ambitious and idealistic soccer coach, it didn't take me a long time to kick a soccer ball. From the age I learned to say "mama" and "baba," I had spent hours playing soccer outside on the streets of East Africa. Soccer became my language; I didn't have to talk to make friends. Just put the ball on the ground, and wonderful things would ensue. The creativity it supplied me, the freedom of expression it allowed me, the simplicity it taught me. Soccer was my relief of struggles hard and easy. It became more than a hobby. It became a characteristic. Often is it dangerous to be smitten to a game, a sport, to this level, but it didn't matter. Soccer also

My team was awesome. I was with Tim Clayton and Cole Morrison. Our team did very good the first game and I scored the winning shot for us to advance to the next round of the tournament. I knew that since I made that shot it would be my time to shine in the next game because coach would be watching me. Before the game started I looked into coaches eyes and he smiled and nodded his head.

The second I was on the field I knew my team had the game won. All I could see around me was a group of men ready for war. I couldn’t be more ready for my last home opener so after I did what I do when the unexplainable happens, accept it. I ran to the 45 to the 35 to the 20, hoping to find the kick returner. 8 months waiting for this moment all the sweat, pain, 100 degree sun beaming UV rays to my face.

Months later, the sting of losing still haunted us. Summer came and no one dared to speak of the game, yet you could tell it burned in the back of our minds as we pushed ourselves harder than ever before. Attitudes and efforts changed. There was a sense of urgency inside of every

but we had a motive we had an inspiration for the win. It was five o’clock and we had an hour till game time, and I was on my way to the field I was listening to music trying to get in my “zone”. I kept thinking about my dad’s words “Make this count, treat this like your last game. You will never forget

As we were heading for the goal on another break away, the opposing team kicked it out of bounds by the goal. My sister Bailey, who is also on the team, set the ball up for a corner kick. Her kick was a beautiful, high, hard drive to the front of the box. I remember thinking of my trainer’s words, “Anything is possible”. I jumped up at the right moment.

My lungs were burning, my knees stung, and my legs screamed with every step. I knew I had to keep on running. The crowd was roaring, but my breathing was loud enough to drown out the noise. Suddenly out of nowhere there was a girl at my side, I remembered her, and she played dirty. Keeping my temper in check I tried to push on, but she didn’t give up and sent me crashing to the ground. Pain blooms on the right side of my body. Truthfully I was glad for the break, the pain was manageable. Having paused for a moment, I slowly pulled myself to my feet and check my body for damage. My teammate asked if I was okay, I nodded. A shout from a familiar voice brought my head back into the game. I started jogging to where I was supposed to be even though

The first two tryouts came and I was fairly confident I would make the team, but waiting for that email was one of the most nerve-wracking times in my life. I was sitting in my bed, waiting for the email to show up. I was a river of sweat. My heart was beating while I opened the message; Congratulations on making the boys soccer team; I was ecstatic and couldn’t wait to start the season.

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.

“EVERYBODY ON THREE, 1 2 3 WARRIORS (everyone yelled). Coming off the sideline I felt that this game was going to be a devastating loss, but still had the gut feeling to play as hard as I could. FOOOH! Went the whistle as we started off passing the ball to each other. “ Pass the ball over here” I yelled with all my might.

Soccer is my life.Every weekend we travel all over Indiana and Ohio. But One Saturday morning my soccer team, my family, and I got up early for a soccer tournament in Ohio. The first game we played was a team called the Celtics at 8:30. The score was 1-0 we won. During the first five minutes of the 2nd half, we scored a goal.Also, the game was very physical people were getting shoved to the ground and kicked. But during the game the ball bounced off the side and almost was a goal for the other team but we saved it and before we saved it my team and I all screamed,” Go to the ball and get the ball out of the box” After, we played a Cincinnati United team at 3:15 at the end of the game the score was 5-1

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.

It went the whole rest of the way with that score ending up 1-1. So if we won we would win the tournament. As we were doing stretches the nerves were piling on top of each other. We all knew this was going to be an intense game. The last game of the tournament was a 6-1 win over the Roadrunners.