Scholarship Essay: How Soccer Changed My Life

In 2007, I, along with a few of my peers, founded the Little Lemon Drop Jr. Guild as a way to give back to our community. Since then, this nonprofit organization has raised thousands of dollars that has gone to support uncompensated care at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Throughout my middle school and high school years, I have been very involved with this group. When I had the opportunity to choose a service placement for this year, I immediately knew I would be doing my service through the Little Lemon Drop Jr. Guild because of my previous involvement with the guild and my passion for the cause the guild supports.

For the past two years, I have been involved in the Carmax Cares community service month. We provided assistance to the Foster Care Support Foundation in Roswell, Georgia. This organization sends out gently worn closes, shoes and other necessities to support foster care providers in the state of Georgia. We packaged items to be sent out and organized their warehouse inventory. On campus I am an active member of SABAC as well as the Georgia Club.

Last year I worked with kids who have Down syndrome and Autism. I showed them how to play football, soccer, and basketball. While it was rewarding for me, it was even more rewarding for the kids. After a few weeks of basketball, Tom, a kid with Down syndrome, was making shots more often than my basketball team was. From then on, playing basketball put a smile on his face because he knew that his skills wouldn't be looked at differently because of his disability.

For most of my childhood, the sport of baseball was the one activity I loved above anything else. Nothing could compare to the exhilarating freedom and satisfaction of bolting full speed around the bases, determined to steal 2nd, beating the "Throwdown" by a fraction of a second. The massive dust cloud kicked up by my cleats and the thunderous boom of the umpire shouting, "Safe!" made me feel empowered. It was in moments like those, when I was in control of my own fate, choosing whether to stay or to run, whether to play it safe or to risk failure, that I learned one of the most important lessons of my life.

My favorite act of service that I have ever done was through the school’s project based learning. I had heard that the NWC Men’s Basketball Team was building a house a Haitian family who’s house had collapsed with all their belongings. I then contacted the men’s basketball coach asking if my group and I could raise money to buy items for their house. We organized a traditional bake sale, as well as an online bake sale, to raise money for the family. In the midst of baking 40 dozen cookies and 38 dozen cupcakes, I was coordinating with a missionary in Haiti, Krisie Mompremier, who knew what the family needed most.

“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.

As a little boy I had big dreams of playing football. When I was walking in the halls of the intermediate and middle school and saw the high school football players with their jerseys on, they were like super stars. I looked up to them because I wanted to be like them. The high school football players were popular, they were happy, and they were important to the school. Going to the football games on Friday nights was the highlight of my week.

In Haiti I ran a kids’ club and a clinic, in which I handed out prescriptions. While being a float volunteering at the Minneapolis Children’s Hospital I spent one-on-one time with patients and siblings of all ages, which includes rocking/holding infants, taking toddlers for stroller rides, playing video/board games, which ultimately allowed the kids to play and simply be kids. At the St. Andrew Early Learning Childcare Center, I am a teacher’s aid that cares for 10 to 18 children ages 3 months to 6 years, communicates with parents about their child’s day, assists teachers with activities, prepares meals, cleans the classroom, encourages and assists children with physical, emotional, and mental

People in this magnificent, ever changing, and complexity of a world seeks to find out who they are in this life. Not all are capable of understanding what they love; their passion. There is something in this world that I would never replace and that is soccer. Without this sport, I believe I would be a nobody in this world. Soccer is my identity;I honestly feel I can connect to the world through it.

I started playing soccer when I was nine years old. This was a new hobby that I wanted to develop because I started off playing baseball in the area of Bonner Springs, Kansas. Daring the time, I had this mindset that I would like to start small and then grow myself towards joining major known soccer clubs. I wanted to work myself to achieve that goal that I was thinking about during that time. I was luckily was about to play in a couple of minor teams around the Kansas area.

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.

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

Playing baseball is something that would show up on a college application but its importance in my life can’t be overstated. Baseball has taught me many life lessons as well as opened doors that wouldn’t exist without it. The people that I have met, the coaches who have taught me the game, have all had a profound impact on the player and the person that I am today. Baseball has changed my life completely. It has created a strong work ethic because if you aren’t concerned with getting better then someone will pass you by.

Soccer is an international sport that is for many centuries and decades. It helps to release the stress from the job, homework and college. Also, preserve the children from negative influences such as drugs, tobacco, and alcohol. The children will grow with a healthy lifestyle. Soccer is a sport that includes eleven members in the team and soccer rules are the same in each country likewise it is played outside in the yard or the club.

How Competitive Sports is Beneficial Children at a young age have a lot of energy, To solve that problem, they are sometimes put into a competitive sports team. Many will disagree and say that this is unacceptable , while others say that it is beneficial. Children should be able to be put in sport teams because most children play sports as a passion,and it not only benefits them with being athletic and healthy, It's also favorable to children because only its a game, it also teaches children morals, and life lessons. One reason Children should be able to play sports, is that playing sports is beneficial to the kids health.