More Than Just A Game

Joining a new club soccer team coupled with almost daily workouts allowed me to improve my skills in the offseason. The feeling of going into tryouts being so prepared allowed a new level of confidence to emerge in myself. With only two starting spots open, working hard from the very start was necessary in order for me to prove myself to coach. After making the team again, I knew giving my best effort couldn’t end here. I showed up to practices with a positive attitude, always ready to work hard. When the preseason scrimmages, long practices, and exhausting fitness checks were over, the feeling of having earned a starting spot was incredibly satisfying. Now, not only am I working hard to keep up my starting spot, but I am hoping my attitude will rub off on everyone and make the team stronger. Afterall, soccer is a team sport; and the possibility of winning a state title in the near future adds to my ambition to perform well for my teammates every time I step on the field.

Touchdown It was halftime and the score is 13-6. We are losing. It’s the first time all year that we have ever been losing at half time. As I look around the locker room, I can see that many of my teammates are distraught. I could smell the sour stench of sweat radiating off of everyone's pads. It was deathly silent in the locker room. Nobody wanted to be the first to speak up. Finally our team leader, Joe Scolari, spoke up. I could see where his face paint had been smeared across his face due to sweat. His jersey was caked with mud and he was bleeding from his right arm.

First, it was time for warm-ups and as we glanced at our opponents we were intimidated and our bodies trembled in fear because we lost to them by thirty points and we felt demoralized. Flashbacks flooded through our minds. Our coach got our attention and he motivated us by reminding us that we worked with blood, sweat and tears to achieve where we were at, however it did not have any effect on me. I felt

I walked onto the court for warmups and the routine shots and drills performed seemed pointless. Our opponents did not have a single player that was closer than 3 inches to my height so I expected to have a successful game. We all believed that we would win the game, and most probably expected to dominate. We were hit by a rude awakening as our opponents torched the nets shooting the ball, and we uncharacteristically made mistake after mistake. By then end of the quarter, the scoreboard read 23 to 9 and we were not the happy leaders. Our coaches told us, “Stay positive, and play hard. We will be ok in this game if we play

As I exit the locker room, I strap on my black cleats and tighten my gloves. I grab my silver helmet with the lightning bolt logo, touch the sign that says “Play Like A Champion Today,” and walk into the tunnel. Finally, we hear our team’s name, and we run

I provide myself only twenty-four hours to dwell on a failure before creating a plan to overcome the obstacle and achieve success. Over this twenty-four hour time period I had the opportunity to reflect on my performance during the game, thinking about what I have done wrong and what I need to do better in practice the next day. The next day in practice the team moral was broken, we were all upset with our loss and needed to remember that the season is not over and that we need to get back out there and practice. This loss helped us to learn that we cannot take anything for granted; we went in with high hopes and made unfortunate mistakes that cost us the game. We must be humble, wise and learn from those mistakes in order to become

Throughout the season we had some big defeats from the tougher schools, however I was able to maintain our team’s morale throughout our wins and losses. And Fundraising. Oh boy those were tough. This year was very different from the previous with the new restrictions. However this brought out our teams creativity. These new obstacles brought pushed our team to think out of the box and work together in effort to raise money for the team.

Through his years of playing and coaching, John Wooden has become a wise man and has gained high-priced knowledge. Sharing his success with others, is one of Wooden’s main goals. Some people believe that success is always winning; however, this is not true at all. Defeat helps a team to be able to come back even stronger. Losses are not always terrible; they can help you learn from your mistakes in order to be able to execute better the next time. Wooden says “much as I hated to lose...this defeat was beneficial” (Wooden 155). With success, comes defeat. In order to succeed, you may need a few setbacks. Even though you might be fighting your hardest, you still might come up short, and that is acceptable. In this novel, Wooden tries to help the reader understand the different elements that come along with success. He uses his own personal experiences to inspire and impact the lives of coaches and players with his same

I was discouraged by his abandonment of the team. I decided to never leave a game no matter the score. Although to no surprise, Kansas won. I could not believe it. A stream of tears began to run down my face as I ran up the stairs to deliver the horrible news to my father, who was disappointed but not surprised. I sprawled out onto the floor dispirited and let out a cry for longer than the baby had. My father made an attempt to stop me, but my sadness was not to be argued with. Today, I laugh at the story, impressed by the amount of passion and importance I held in a simple game.

The team bonded and practiced diligently to get better. Our team was evidently young, but we were progressing. Once the fall performance season started in August, we hit unexpected bumps in the road. Many of the girls thought that we were going to have a “rebuilding year” and lacked passion and drive. Those feelings were contagious and created a toxic environment in practice. We were plateauing instead of increasingly improving. To add to the disappointment, Taylor quit the team due to the revoking of her captainship and an injury. Suddenly, I became the sole leader of a team that was giving up. I started to feel doubt, but then I remembered my goal. I had one year left, and I was not going to let it go by unsuccessfully without trying to motivate the team, even if it felt like a fruitless attempt. I decided it was imperative that I talk to the girls about our season last year to reminisce the pure joy and accomplishment we felt when we won the State Tournament. We discussed the effort and commitment it took to be a State Champion team, and we talked about how if winning was our goal for this year, we were currently not on the right track to meet that goal. After our heart-to-heart, the team dynamic changed. The entire team was on the same page and working to progress every minute of

The sun glared down on our bruised, tired, and dirty bodies as we hung our heads in defeat. Dropping to the losers bracket on our first of three days of the State Softball Tournament meant we could not lose again or we would go home and I would never play with this team again. Attitudes and hope started to fade as Coach read us our new schedule. We would have to play eight games in a row without losing once in order to make it to the championship. Everyone started to say goodbye and thank you to one of our coaches and a teammate that would not be there the next day. Halfheartedly they included a doubtful “see you on Sunday”.

Vince Lombardi, the iconic coach of the Green Bay Packers, is widely regarded as one of the greatest football leaders of all time. While his winning record may be attributed to many factors, most credit him with the ability to motivate an entire group of individual players to

Today was my first time return to my old college turf. As I step onto the pitch and watch a game, the memories of games and practice started to flood back. I could see important moments of my action from my old glory days at mccc. It remind me that my background has created the player i am. I had learned when i step on to the field and stunned everyone by doing what none of them thought you could.

It was November 3rd, 2013, the day of the Division 3 Midget Championship and my team was playing in our biggest game of the year. As the head coach, my dad had led us to the Big Game. After a terrible first half my team ran off the field with our heads down and took a knee, waiting anxiously for all the terrible things the coaches were going to say. My dad spoke first, “You guys have two options. You can pout and watch Christian Brothers take your season, or you guys can fire up and believe in each other and win a banner!”. Instantly, the team fired up, inspired by our head coach’s speech. The ability that my dad has to motivate and inspire people makes him the person that he is. One day, I hope to take after my number one role-model and be known for the following traits: maintaining a positive attitude, having a strong work ethic, and being charismatic.

One minute before the alarm rang I was up and full of energy. Waking up that morning was not hard, the nerves built very rapidly and could not be subdued. The day had finally come the one that I had prepared the whole season for; regional tournament day, which is just the first milestone of the State tournament, where the best of the best were. Always over confident as I am I consider myself as equals to the best, I had a career record of 120 wins and 50 loses. But that doesn’t matter when it comes to getting to the State tournament because one loose at the wrong time can end your whole season, and in my case my career, because I was a senior, which adds even more stress. After I shut my alarm off I got dressed in my sweats and made my lunch