Personal Narrative: A Women's Soccer Team

In a flash, the referee blows his whistle, and the game is over. Legs striding, I chase after the ball, stealing it from the other team. Amidst the excitement, I lose track of time, and minutes go by in seconds. I started playing soccer when I was 7 years old. For as long as I can remember I have loved to play soccer. When I play soccer I forget about all my worries. Since then I have played for many different recreational teams for Verdigris and Catoosa. I have also played for a competitive soccer team for West Side Alliance. Today, I play for Verdigris High School soccer. I have played for their junior varsity team for two years as the captain and the junior varsity player of the year. I have also played for the varsity team.

Christian like's to play soccer but he isn't that good . He want's to make to the soccer team, but the soccer coach doesn't think that he is good enough to make it, The other soccer players and his parents don't believe in him either.

Culture is a personal thing. An average person has many cultural identities not just one but many others. These Identities could be Beliefs, Rules, what you like to do or what you feel like you belong in. My cultural identity would be sports because I have been doing sports for a long time. Also sports are a way to release some stress.

Throughout my high school career, I have been blessed with the students and teachers that have surrounded me. Thankfully I have never engaged in heated discussions with others in order to defend my beliefs. On the soccer field, I can say the same, however, I did speak up on matters that caught my attention regarding team efforts and the chemistry among my teammates.

Ever since I was able to walk I have participated in sports from cheerleading, soccer, track, and etc. I remember after cheerleading practice, my friend and I would join the boys in a game of football. We were decent in football, but I felt we would have been better if we were part of the team. We wanted to drop cheerleading and join the football team, but there would be controversy within the community. Growing up I always wondered why there was a men’s football team, but never a women’s football team. There are usually a men and women’s team in every sport, except football. Therefor it is only right for women to have their own football team.

Every time school starts I am always looking forward to soccer season because that’s what I love doing the most and what i focus on. When soccer tryouts come up I am always ready also I am always prepared to give it my all to go out there and impress the coaches and let them know how much it means to me to join the team and how bad I want to play. There is two days of soccer tryouts and I attend both days because is very important for me to make the soccer team. I went to day one of soccer tryouts and I was trying my best to get attention from the coaches that were watching but then I felt like I didn’t give it my all, I felt disappointed because I know I could do better, at this point I was worried and stressed out but I never planned on giving up. I told myself that I was going to do better the next day.

My freshman year I made the Varsity soccer team. Every practice I had to strive and work harder to be able to keep up with the upperclassmen skill level and talent. I was finally getting to where I wanted with consistent practice. I became a starter and the upperclassmen would pass me the ball more and help me on the field when there were opponents on me. It wasn’t until the middle of the season when everything changed. We were playing against a school who was very skilled and talented. It was in the first half of the game when one of the girls on the opposing team had the ball and was dribbling it down the field. It got past our midfield players and two defenders. I was the last one before it reached our goalie. I ran towards her and with everything I had I kicked the ball.

Growing up I had focused on competitive soccer. Soccer challenged me both physically and mentally and I learned to love these demands on the field. These challenges helped me foster a self-confidence in myself when it came to athletics. When I fractured my tibia playing against my rival high school, sending my knee cap into my thigh, I was faced with a new test. The sport that I loved was taken away from me for an extended period of time and it took away part of my identity. Who was I without soccer?

First and foremost, soccer is a team sport. Teams and communities require a group of people to work together while also contributing individually. Personally, I contribute to the Varsity Girls Soccer Team by working to be in the best shape I can be in, both physically and mentally. I spend a lot of time, both during the high school and club seasons, developing my technical and tactical abilities. Additionally, as the sweeper, I must direct the defense to make sure we are organized. When an individual is better, it makes the team better. Everyone on the team, starters and substitutes alike, has a role to fulfill in order to make the team as good as it can possibly be.

I used to believe that soccer was, well, just soccer. I'd play for my rec team, in which would consist of one practice and one game a week. Nothing special, and not too stressful. After I got tired of rec soccer, I joined a travel team. To be specific it was the Mahwah Raiders. It was a step up from rec, I now had two practices and one game a week. This wasn't too crazy for me- I was fine with the timing and schedule of everything.

The Forgotten Sport I am a very active person, and when I was young I fell in love with the sport of soccer. My whole family is into sports and my sport of choice is soccer. Soccer to this day is probably 75 percent of my life. I live and breathe soccer.

When I was eight years old, I played my first season of soccer. The real reason I played soccer was because my dad forced me to play. I loved to play all kinds of sports such as basketball, baseball and football but I was never interested in soccer. After my first practice I already realized soccer was not for me. I told my dad that I did not want to play anymore but he would not listen and made me keep going to practice. At my 3rd practice, the whole team was running laps and I tripped over a stick and fell down. My ankle was hurting pretty bad but I knew I was going to be fine. While I was lying on the ground, I thought to myself If I tell the coach and my dad that my ankle is hurt really bad than I won’t have to play anymore. I thought it was a genius idea at the time. I told them just that and it worked! I have no idea how my dad knew this but once I got home he knew that I was milking my injury. He told me something that night that I won’t ever forget. He told me “you didn’t just give up on yourself, you gave up on your team”. He called the coach the next day and told him that

The goal, shouts the bench, our soccer team had just scored. Goal shouted the parents on the sideline. My dad was shouting very loud like usual. Now our team had some hope for our league play. We had lost all our games so far and we have no ties. This could be the first game that we could win this season. Goal shouted our bench this time we scored again. Now it's 2-0 us. The parents really thought that we had this one in the bag now. The whistle blew for halftime.

It was my third time trying out for middle school soccer. I felt strong, fit and ready

Seeing women in sports getting more recognition is incredibly important to me. Growing up I was constantly involved in some sort of sport. Sports are what kept me out of the house when things were starting to get unsafe and they taught me how to get my anger out in a safe environment. I was too busy in school, and with friends and with sports to get into trouble. The police would be over at the house one night and the next day I could run off any anxiety in PE or recess or at soccer practice, or dance practice or kickboxing.