How Football Has Changed My Life

The famous Scottish soccer player Bill Shankly once said, "Soccer is a matter of life and death, except more important."

Growing up in a house with all boys in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, I was taught to be tough and injuries were very common but easily shaken off. When it came to sports, I would put all my time and effort into one thing: soccer. Soccer was always a true passion of mine; as a matter of fact, it was more of a lifestyle than just a sport. I would spend weekends traveling around my local area playing the game I loved with people I enjoyed being with. My teammates became like my second family after countless seasons and we did almost everything together off the soccer field. The idea of putting on my jersey and lacing up my cleats was a moment I would not trade for the world and something I would never take for granted.

Sports have been a huge part of my life ever since I was about five years old. It has impacted my life so much. The biggest challenge that I faced was with my injuries during basketball and soccer season. I recently had to quit soccer and basketball, which was difficult for me.

From the age of three, my life was nothing but Hockey. With a father who was a hockey player and a brother 3 years older already playing hockey, it was clear which sport I was going to get into. Once I started walking, my parents put me on the ice to learn the game of hockey. I instantly fell in love and I have continued playing to this day. Once it came time to play high school hockey, it all got serious. I was a freshman on the varsity team with my brother, who was a senior at the time. This was nothing but an emotional year for me, it was my first year in high school and my last year to play on a team with my brother. Once my brother graduated, he decided to go onto Juniors hockey, which is what I would do once I graduated. By the time I graduated high school, my brother would exceed the age limit for juniors hockey, so

Lush, green grass began to massage my bare feet. Sunshine beamed off the clean, white goal posts. With my cleats in my hands, ball in my bag, and my freshly washed shirt, only one thing came to mind: soccer. The sport I love and have devoted the past three years was evolving. Many of my friends were shifting from recreational to club soccer. After three years of recreational soccer, I decided to take my game to the next level and tryout for club soccer. Eager to showcase my skills, I stood on the field bearing confidence. Before tryouts began, my thoughts solely consisted of playing club soccer with my friends. I thought little about tryout preparation, because I didn’t know what to expect. No one gave me information about how to perform well

I believe that I am a product of the environment that I have been raised in. The world that I live in has allowed me to become much more than a unique DNA sequence. I have been fortunate enough to have been blessed with a privileged life. My parents are happily married, have steady and well paying jobs, and love my sister and me immensely. Growing up, I never had to worry about money, whether that be for new clothes or to go on a trip with my church, or if we were going to be able to have a decent meal. I am truly blessed for that and I hope one day I will be able to provide for my future kids in the same way, and I feel the best way to achieve that is through a higher education. The one thing that has been always expected of me is to get

I had always been mature for my age; I started kindergarten when I was four and I made up for that age gap by acting a little older. However, the true maturity that I hold now, the maturity people refer to when they say I am “wise beyond [my] years” did not develop in kindergarten, or even in school.

There has been many important events that have occurred since I have been born but there is one in particular that has sparked a light in me that has changed the way i have looked at things. It happened when I was playing with the Sacramento FC and everything was going well until the middle of the season. When we got to the middle of the season things started to look shady. I wasn't getting playing time and that really opened my eyes to reality. Soccer was not the only thing that I needed to do in order to have a good life. I needed to start focusing on my dreams and different routes to success other then just soccer. It really showed what I need to do in order to survive in the real world. If it was not for my family's support through this

Athletics had not always been a flauntable aspect of my life as they are now. In grades 1-4, I was uncoordinated and far too lanky to produce and store any muscle. I often ponder about what changed in the fifth grade, for I became very agile and have exercised almost every day since the beginning of that year. I did not pick up the sport of swimming until the seventh grade and I cannot imagine myself not swimming, not only as a source of exercise but as a source of pure pleasure.

Growing up in an agricultural environment, alongside a small community with a supportive family, I matured into a confident, determined individual with strong family values.

This is my complete and honest truth. Personally, I feel like my most significant mark of adulthood occurred as a string of events following the last day of junior year. I expected to experience an average teenage summer, sleeping in late, watching my favorite shows, going to the fair, hanging out with friends… all that good stuff. Instead, I spent the months of June, July, and August as a visitor in a variety of hospitals and treatment centers. My mom has battled severe alcoholism for several years now, but last summer was the time when everything just collapsed. I felt forced to grow up because being mature was the only option when my mom needed help.

How has your school changed over many years has it been for the better or for the worse? Sports have changed in many ways some including new coaches. One of the biggest impacts on us is the new additions to GICC . Technology has really changed the ways we learn either by our chromebooks or how we are taught. Although GICC has changed over some years from sports to new additions to technology it's a great place to come and get good education.

“Football is like life - it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority” (vince lombardi) For me football started during the seventh grade, and is with me to this day, it take countless hours and many bruises to have a chance of succeeding on just a single play but what i think you must have in football and in life to succeed at your dream is perseverance.

Soccer which is largely played in USA, Australia, Mexico and Spain under this name and is known as Football in the rest of the world. But there is a slight difference between two of them and also in law which governs the game, you cannot touch Soccer ball with hand while playing but you can touch ball with your hand in Football. History of soccer goes back to China and Rome some 2000 years ago. This game was brought to USA by Scottish, Irish and German immigrants however Red Indians used to play it with slight variation. Now the entire scenario has changed and the game turned into money minting war. Enormous investment and very high returns has made it one of the largest investment industry of the world. The highest paying athletic team in the world is FC Barcelona and has an average salary of $8,680,569 a year, with each player earning about $166,934 a week.

Injuries and challenges always have an impact on a athletes abilities and there physical and mental wanting to keep on playing. One challenge I had playing some of these sports is the coaches. Some coaches you have through your high school or athletic career will help you and assist you. One coach I had for track was the total opposite of that, instead of helping us, all she would do is criticize everything that a person would do wrong and ignore the team if they had questions. She wouldn’t help us resolve our problem and I found that as a challenge for me because if I needed help on some tips for running, she would not help. How I responded to this situation is by talking to her about the ways she coaches. She didn’t respond very well to what I had to say but at least I stood up and said something. She learned that I didn’t like how she was coaching and that’s how I resolved my situation with her.