My whole life I’ve participated in a variety of different sports. At some point every one of my coaches, no matter the sport, have had to encourage me to try and have a more positive mindset. To me, losing or being bad at a sport hurts more than any physical pain I’ve ever experienced. When I was a small child it took the amount of time to go through a drive through for me to learn and compete with other children in most sports. Athletics just came naturally to me. I remember hearing adults converse about how great of an athlete I was at a young age and how impressed they would be watching me perform. Listening to them made me overflow with pride. I loved knowing that I had an incredible potential in sports, so I committed myself …show more content…
For the first two years playing on a select team I was stationed on the “B” team. My skills didn’t reach those of the players on the “A” team yet. At first it discouraged me that I couldn’t succeed on the better team, but that never got the best of me. I began select soccer as a below average player compared to those around me, but I continued practicing the sport I loved to gain enough progress for my spot on the “A” team. After countless hours of team practice and hours without a ball leaving my side, I earned my invitation to the team. After working so hard to accomplish my goal pride overcame me and I felt like there was nothing I wouldn’t be able to do if my mind was set on it. There were also nerves that would creet up on me and follow me around the soccer field. The competition I’d face on my new team would be nothing like I had ever experienced before. This fact remained in my mind and forced me to think “Now you’ve got real competition. Never give anything less than 100% and you’ll surpass them all.” So that's what I did. I continued playing select soccer for the next several years. Everyone shifted around to different teams or clubs, but I continued training at a high level from that point forward. After about two or three years of playing catch up to all the other prior select players I began to stand out like a sore thumb. I finally snatched up a starting position that no one
I chose to play another year of recreational soccer, making sure to come back the next year to prove a point that I can put in the work and give myself the best opportunity to make the top team. Everyday after school, I would head to the fields and practice every aspect of my game. I would arrive an hour early to every practice, and I would leave an hour after practice. Day in and day out, I worked diligently on my fitness. For a year, I stopped at nothing to give myself the best chance I could to reach my goal. Motivated after that dissapointing tryout, nothing could stop me from doing my best. Standing on a different field, one year later, tryouts began. I was determine to produce my best performance. Two hours later, every player stood single file. Coincidentally, I was the first person called up; the coach informed me that I made the top team. However, this team played for a different club than the one I tried out for last year. This team competed at a much higher level. Not only did I make the team, but I gained the knowledge and appreciation for hard work and dedication. People rarely receive everything they want; however, they can always put in their best effort to provide themselves the best opportunity at obtaining what they
When I started my soccer career during my freshman year, I began in the junior varsity team. I was not so familiar with sports until I started playing football and soccer. I once believed that I was not good enough to join the team, but after committing myself to conditioning and being determined to give my best to every practice, I proved myself wrong. Not only did I make it to the team, however I was also a starting player. For the following year, my sophomore year, I transferred into a different high school. There, I played in the Varsity team as a right defense for my sophomore and junior year. This year, 12th grade, I will be a captain for the soccer team. I was able to not only build strong friendships with my teammates, but also with
Sports are a form of entertainment, whether it is playing them or watching them. Yet part of the entertainment is also the audience. The fans can have a large impact on the game itself as well as your experience.
For most of my life, I was skilled in organized sports, especially soccer, which I had played for many years. After a successful soccer season my freshman year, I thought that I would make the JV team for sure. At tryouts, I went through the motions of each drill. I breezed through the conditioning tests, doing the bare minimum for each test. I didn’t try as hard as others, as I felt that I was more skillful than most of my peers.
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
“When your legs can’t run anymore, run with your heart.” Spring is the best time of the year, because it is soccer season. Spring of 2016 was a special time to me, because I was a freshman at Wahlert Catholic High School trying out for the women’s soccer team. I went into the first open gym scared, nervous and excited all at the same. The open gyms were for use to get in shape for the actual season and for the coaches to get a better look at our soccer skills. Previously in the year of 2014 I played for a club soccer team called DSC or Dubuque Soccer Club. After that 2014 season was over I decided to quite DSC and try something different. So going into open gyms I knew that I was going to be a just a bit rusty because I haven’t played soccer in a while. As open gyms went on some upperclassman were telling me that the coach was very impressed by the skills I had. Being only a freshman it was very flattering to know that the coach thought that about me. Knowing this it drove me to keep pushing myself hard and hard, because my goal was to make it on varsity.
At that moment I realized that I had to add something to my game in order to stand out. I soon learned that practice and physicality could only make me better. Freshman year came around and i didn't have a coach that was willing to support me and help me develop into the player i know i am today. Its been a whirlwind of emotions with all the pain and failure I've experienced since my freshman year, when i watched the team go 4-11, To say the least i didn't get a single game but that only taught me to fight harder for what i wanted. Sophomore year came around, and with that a new coaching staff that gave me an opportunity to shine from day one. At the beginning of my sophomore season i thought i wasn't meant to be a goalkeeper, so i switched to attack, after a few games, i didn't like it and my coach could see that i was frustrated not being able to settle in. During a game against Flanagan High School, our goalie let in two goals in a matter of seconds, and our coach
Growing up, sports never seemed to be my expertise. Dancing my youth away, I never imagined to show passion for such an intrusive contact sport. My friends continued to nag at me saying “You have to try out for the soccer team.” My first year of middle school I stepped out onto the field. Occasionally forgetting to breathe,I focused right on the ball. I started to think to myself that I could get used to this. I mean how bad could it be? What I didn’t realize was I did not have much soccer skills under my belt, but making the team already was an accomplishment. I respected the captains when they talked, and I tried, day after day, to pick up the skills they possessed.
I had devoted my entire off-season to attending camps and working out. I switched to a more competitive club league that included the best teams in the country. When the season began, I fought hard to keep my head straight and prove that I deserved a spot on the field. By mid-season I had I earned the starting center midfielder position.
Since 5th grade I have played for the local travel soccer team. I have always been on the lowest team from the beginning and when I was younger I was fine with it because at least I was playing the sport that I love. As I got older it became more competitive and I was tired of being on the lowest team. I told my coaches I was interested in moving up and asked them what I could do to get there. They told me what I needed to do to improve and I practiced almost every day after school. I tried out freshman and sophomore year to make the highest team and both times I failed. I did everything they told me to but it still wasn't good enough. For a short time I thought about giving up but then I realized that I have worked too hard and too long to
I started playing soccer when I was six years old on the Herndon House Soccer League. This is a recreational league that teaches basic soccer skills and sportsmanship. I've played two years in house league, with my father as my head coach. I was selected as an all star for two seasons. When I turned eight had the opportunity to tryout for a newly formed travel team called the Herndon Hooligans. During my first travel tryout I was very nervous yet excited at the same time. As tryouts started I got better and better as it continued. Then after a couple days I finally heard from the coach and he told us I made the team. Of course I said yes and from that moment on I was determined to grow and work towards my goal of playing on the U.S. women’s
One of the most significant challenges I never thought that I would accomplish was to become a starter on my soccer team. Since my freshman year in high school, I was one of the smallest kids on the team, was not very fast, and was not one of the most physically fit . Even though I never seen a lot of playing time, I continued to work to the best of my ability.
In 8th grade, I was selected to play on the varsity soccer team. We didn’t have the best team, and back then, I thought I was the best player on the team since I have been playing all my life. I tried winning games by myself by not passing the ball very often. Several of the people on the team, have never played soccer before. We only won three games and didn’t make the tournament. I thought the whole entire Summer on how we could win the championship. I wanted to win more than anything because I’ve been playing for 10 years and I’ve never won a championship. The next season came, and I was more ready than ever. I worked so hard and made sure all my teammates got involved because I started to notice that the team as a whole was playing better.
Overcoming the fact that one day you will not be able to play your sport is one of the hardest things all athletes must one day go through. It is a fact of the game that one day your eligibility runs out or if you are one of the lucky few who play professionally, your body’s years of health do not last forever. Coaching just to be around the sport and spread the joy that sport gave you for so many years. My coaching philosophy relies extremely heavily on this information. I have always been a person who is passionate about the things I love because I do not believe in not putting your whole heart into something. The most critical component to success in whatever sport you love lies in honoring the game that so many before you loved and excelled at. Excelling and honoring the game means having respect for everyone involved with the sport. Giving respect to your coaches is something I learned from the beginning. Being respectful and having a positive attitude learned at a young age is something completely taken for granted until you have adults who can neither adapt nor be flexible when something does not go their way. Sport is a form of education in that it teaches you similar life lessons that will be useful for far longer than the amount of time that you spend actually playing it.
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.