Becoming A Professional Soccer Player

Ever since I could remember, soccer had been in my life. If there was a soccer team that needed a coach, my father was always the first to volunteer. There were almost too many strenuous weekends spent hours away from home for soccer tournaments to count. My entire family, consisting of my parents, my siblings, my dog, and myself, packed in a mini-van heading to a city that I had never heard of for soccer games. But when I entered high school, all that would soon go away. I kept playing the same sport that I always had, although now I had to wake up at five in the morning for six hours of high school soccer practice in the smoldering summer heat in order to make the high school team. High School sports were more competitive than anything I had done before. I put in as much effort as I could to make the Varsity High School team, staying out past dinner to practice even longer. I was utterly divulged in soccer and trying to be the best I could be. Soon, I would regret placing a game over spending time with my family.

There comes a time when you have to grow up or are forced to. You learn from past experiences and base your recent scenarios from it. Since the age of five, soccer has been part of my life. From having practice twice a week, to having practice every day of the week not including games. I felt like soccer was my pathway to success. I felt like I could do big things from it and I had all the confidence in the world but never would show it when others asked me if I was good. I’m the shy quiet girl that shows you what I’m capable of without saying a single word.

I have not and will never forget those series of events. This time hurt me but also helped build upon my character. It was my freshman year of high school. I had decided to play soccer, which was not a hard decision for me since I had played travel soccer pretty much my whole life. Also my brother was in high school at the time and played for the boys soccer team, and had my dad as his coach. He loved it and was having a great experience playing high school soccer so of course I like to follow in my brother’s footsteps. I was very nervous at first. There were over eleven seniors on the team, and they were pretty intimidating to me. During the summer, I played with the varsity often and enjoyed it. As I kept playing with them and performing well, my nerves lessened. Finally when the actual season rolled around, I was put on full varsity. All my hard work had paid off. I was one of the two freshman put on varsity. I was ecstatic. I was actually very lucky at getting put on varsity because at this point in my life I played purely out of natural talent. I was never one to put in extra work outside of practice and be disciplined in the way I lived my life. I never really strived to be the best I could be. Making varsity made me somewhat of a threat for the older girls. Some were happy for me, others did not like the thought of a freshman on varsity. These girls were hard coore they were bound and determined to make it to state that year. They were not going to accept anything less than amazing. This put an incredible amount of pressure on us younger girls. I remember going to every practice nervous that I was going to mess up and they get mad at me. I never really felt at ease with them. In the first few games I got good playing time. I was doing really well. I was finally getting comfortable out there on the field, but that was not the direction God was taking me and with one swift kick of the soccer

I can relate to most professional soccer players because my dad and all his brothers were all soccer players themselves. I know what it feels like when you get fouled in a soccer match and the referee does not call a foul for you so you get up heated towards the opponent and you take out your frustration on the referee by talking back to him and asking why he did not call it. Also sometimes when you are not enjoying your playing time in a certain soccer team you choose not to play as hard as others because you are not enjoying your time in that particular soccer team. Another reason is that your own teammates frustrate you because they are not listening or are just off their game that night so you choose not to pass the ball. My life has always revolved around soccer. My father and I watch professional soccer games as often as we can but when our professional soccer team plays a certain day we are for sure going to be busy watching the game whenever the match is on. In our family a brother of my father was actually really close to becoming a professional soccer player for a team in mexico

Everyone has that certain thing that makes them who they are. That certain thing for me is soccer. It’s my hobby, my biggest interest, and my passion. Soccer isn’t just a sport for me, it’s my life. It has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. I have played the intriguing game of soccer since I was four years old, and I have loved it ever since.

I been playing soccer since I was five years old and I never been in a fight while playing or seeing one. That changed when I moved to Fargo. I was born in Kenya and raised there. My family and I moved to the United State in 2008. We lived in Memphis, TN for a couple of months and we moved to Portland, Maine. I have passionate for the sport of soccer. I play other sports such as basketball and football, but I enjoy playing soccer the most. I played soccer my four years of High School and it was great even though my team didn’t win state championship for the four years that I played, but we were once close and we let it slip out. High school soccer give me different perspective of the game that I didn’t know. I remember when I was young all we did was run around and kick the ball, mostly try to score a goal before the opponent. That is not how football is played generally, it’s a teamwork game, without knowing your position and where u good at then there is no chemistry between you and your teammates. My freshman year I was told to forget what I know and learn new system. It took me two years to learn the system after I learned the game I started with playing with the varsity team which is more complicated because it’s the hardest level in high school. After high I went on to college and i tried to play college soccer but I couldn’t because of my school and work schedule. After finishing my first semester of college my family and I decided to move to Fargo, ND.

The next big milestone in soccer for me was when I was a freshman in high school. I went to Troy High and didn 't think I was good enough to play high school soccer. If it wasn’t for my best friend’s dad, I really wouldn 't have played. He told me that I would regret not playing and that I had a lot of potential. I decided to try out with my three best friends and we all ran and did exhausting fitness exercises for weeks during tryouts. First, we’d have to do five laps around the track. In the beginning of the season, those five laps are a killer. By the end of the second one, I am usually out of breath. After that, we’d get into groups and do stations, like jumping over bars or doing sit-ups and push-ups, basically anything to get us into shape. The third part of practice was sprinting. I like sprints because I am way better at running faster for one-hundred yards, than doing a long distance run. The next part of tryouts were the best, all the girls would get put into two teams and we’d just scrimmage so he could see our real soccer skills. Coach Haviland, who was the varsity coach, decided teams after the tough two weeks. He said I had a little maturing to do on the field and that I will be on varsity in no time. I was shocked! I didn 't even think he was considering me. I had a lot of fun with the Junior Varsity team and made lots of friends. By

Soccer is my favorite sport, no I don’t watch it on tv, nor do I have a favorite soccer team. So, it all started when I was eight years old I believe I told my mom that I didn’t want to do a certain thing anymore and that I wanted to play a sport a.k.a soccer. She of course told me sure. So she signed me up for soccer a couple of days later. I was so happy I was jumping up and down with excitement. Little did I know that I would love the sport. So, the day of the first soccer practice I was nervous I never done anything with the team and I had these questions running in my head like what if no one likes you here? Or what if you like the sport? Or what if you aren’t even good enough ? but I let these questions slide and I had learned how to play the sport. In that amount of time I thought no more like Challenged myself and said “ Cassie you can do this you are going to be apart of this team and you are going to be the best.” From then on I challenged myself, I practiced almost all the

I have been playing since I was about 3 or 4 and I have loved to play it my whole life. On a soccer team, you need to learn to respect your coach and obey his orders when they tell you to go into a position and you should never be disrespectful to them. You should never back talk them or just be blatantly rude because that is not why you came to practice, you came to learn and how to get better at soccer. On the team, you meet a lot of new people that you grow to like and ultimately become friends with them. You also learn how to play soccer and sportsmanship because those two things are very important in the game of soccer because if you don’t know how to play then you may be pointless and you need to be nice and sportsmanlike in a competitive game like soccer.

Going into my freshman year, it was very reassuring to already know some of the upperclassmen. Additionally, I have matured as a player and a person from the experience of playing with older girls. Furthermore, any stress or worry I may have from the day is immediately washed away from my thoughts as soon as my foot touches a ball. Perhaps most importantly, I have found a place at high school and playing soccer makes me happy. I have more self-confidence than I ever did when I was younger.

I wanted to play high school soccer because it offers a completely different experience than club soccer. The thing is, high school soccer and club soccer are two very different variations of soccer. In club soccer you are playing against teams within your same age group and in high school you could be playing against players three years older than you. In club soccer you practice 3 times a week, but in high school soccer it is everyday after school. I soon found out that soccer in high school is all about hardwork and dedication, the coaches love to see the kids who are working their butts off. I decided to try out anyways and the experience was not what I expected. During tryouts, everyone was in their own circles passing the ball around, keeping to themselves. Soccer was not the same. I thought soccer was about making new friends and bonding, but a lot of them kept to themselves. This was a new team experience for me and eventually everyone became friends, less timid and playing like a team that had been together for awhile. Although the rules for the team were very strict, it turned out to be one of my favorite high school experiences. The coaching was also very different but allowed me to learn something from each coach and put that into my soccer playing to become a better

Every year the game got more and more serious and now the team wanted to win just as much as they wanted to have fun. When I entered High School soccer I was very nervous because I was in the youngest age group. There was a lot of older and more experienced players on the team. The summer before the season started the team went to a soccer camp to play against opposing teams, and as a new player I was very nervous to play. It was my first year playing High School Soccer, with no experience. The team played a couple games, and I was put on varsity to play. I was so nervous. I did not think I could keep up with the pace and the intensity of the game. The team ended up winning the tournament in that camp. When the real season started, I was starting on varsity my freshman year. I felt like I had no room for mistakes or I would get yelled at and taken out of the game. During the first two years of High School soccer, I also played basketball and club soccer. I decided that I really wanted to take my soccer career further. I decided not to play basketball anymore and just focus on soccer. I attended a recruiting session, which sets up your profile so colleges

Over the years, playing soccer has taught me what it takes to succeed. From months of tough practices, I have gained a hard work ethic. From my coaches and fellow teammates, I have learned to work well with others in a group, as it is necessary to cooperate with teammates on the playing field. But most important, I have also gained self-confidence. If I fail, it doesn't' t matter if they mock or ridicule me; I will simply try again and do it better. I realize that it is necessary to risk failure in order to gain success. The

“I wouldn't be surprised if you made JV or Varsity” my mom would smile and say. I usually just replied with a simple thanks and smiled. With tryouts coming closer and closer and my parents and other friends and companions talking to me on how well I should play. I got determined. I felt some butterflies often and became tense when I thought about soccer. The sport I adore. Even though my parents weren't trying to put pressure on me and make me more confident,sometimes the way they word things made me think the opposite. As more determination filled me, I started to practice more and get ready for the tryout.

Most people only see me an average kid, playing a game on a field, with a soccer ball. Nothing more, nothing less. I think about times when I played well, when I played poorly, when not everything has gone my way. I have had coaches tell me I'm one of the best on the team and I have had the director of coaches for my club tell me that I lack the skill needed to play for the A team.