Personal Narrative: Dubuque Soccer Team

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

I have always been told that I got blessed with my genes. Everything I do athletically just comes natural to me. I have had the opportunity to play multiple sports whom of which I have had success in. In all of the sports I’ve participated in I have loved soccer the most and track is just the most natural sport for me. I’ve played soccer for over half of my young life. Soccer just makes me happy when I play. I have also been blessed by being average at soccer too. I didn’t do well my 9th grade season so coming into being a Sophomore I wanted to change that. I worked hard in the off-season and I became a varsity Captain and I finished the season 3rd in the area for assist and was a 2nd team All-District player. I was proud of myself but i knew I didn’t give it everything I had.

Last year, I had been one of three sophomores to make the varsity soccer team. I was proud to be part of the elite group and motivated by the opportunity to play with the upperclassman. The season kicked off with a promising start. Coach gave me encouraging feedback and significant playing time as he tried to determine my position on the field. Game after game, I kept earning more opportunities

Yet my apprehension prevailed as I continued to fear getting put in the game in case another player was injured. I was still afraid of making mistakes and getting blamed by screaming coaches and angry teammates. Sometimes these fears came true. During my sophomore season, my position led me to play in the varsity games on many occasions. On such occasions, I often made mistakes. Most of the time the mistakes were not significant; they rarely changed the outcome of a play. Yet I received a thorough verbal lashing at practice for the mistakes I had made. These occurrences only compounded my fears of playing. However, I did not always make mistakes. Sometimes I made great plays, for which I was congratulated. Now, as I dawn on my senior year of soccer, I feel like a changed person.

Nothing brings a team closer than working together towards a goal. I discovered this especially during the final game of my soccer league tournament last spring. My team, the Saints, had just finished a bittersweet season. After losing our leading scorers the year before, we had defied the odds and made it to the third place game in our tournament. The team we faced were our longtime rivals, the Lions. We were not about to let any opportunity to beat them pass us by. Our offense was ready to score, and our defense was prepared for anything. From the starting kickoff to the final whistle, my team and I played our hardest, and taught me what unity actually meant.

It was the second semester of my senior year, and soccer season was just getting started. Prior to the first game, our coach put us through an extensive winter conditioning program. Looking back, it was the hardest I have ever pushed my body to this day. Having worked so hard, I was very optimistic about the season ahead. That optimism, however, quickly changed.

This was one of the scariest things I had ever done in my life. Teenagers of this generation are used to hiding behind screens to communicate, so when I was told that I had to call the coaches to set up a meeting my heart almost skipped a beat. I did a few practice rounds until I finally got enough courage to call. My mom was also threatening me because I was just trying to stall. I dialed the number and then hit call. When the telephone rang, I was begging for it to go straight to voicemail because that would have been a lot easier, but of course that was not the case. At the third ring the assistant coach, Kyle Schroeder, answered the phone and I just paused and could not talk, which is always a great first

We are coming toward the end of the season prepared to defeat Martin. Before the soccer game had started they were playing loud music to get us pump up to clear our minds for the game while the other team getting prepared for a competitive battle. As I looked around, I could see my teammates focus, serious, and talking to each other to get used to it when we head on the file. Seeing the size of the opposing team made me thinking to myself that they were going to smash me in little pieces. Even though, both of my coaches had the most confident look on their face as the players took the field. This excitement night we all was eager for this team arrive.

It was a cold day in November as I scampered out of my Biology class, unsatisfied with the grade that I had received on my exam. I rushed to the basement of my campus’s athletic facility brimming over with frustration and quickly tossed aside my school supplies in exchange for a pair of soccer cleats and goalkeeper gloves. I threw over my grass-stained gray cotton sweatshirt, stepped outside to the bite of an approaching winter and joined my comrades in our warm-up lines. The boys were all laughing and talking about what happened over the weekend as we prepared for another practice. Being surrounded by my teammates made me forget about my worries and allowed me to disappear into the routine of physical activity. My collegiate varsity soccer

My heart pounding in my chest, my hands shaking, as goose bumps devour my body. I get the ball and I fall to the ground, landing flat on my back as I try to pass the ball to another person. I hear roars of laughter as I see my leg straight in the air and the ball on the ground next to me. I look over at the Coach as he frowns at me and looks away. I start to roll off the field. I hear the siren as I start to limp home with my hand on my back. I try to run the rest of the way, but my leg won't budge so I limped.

The Ohio travel cup our soccer team is 2-0 in it. We beat Lagrange 3-1 and Twinsburg 3-2. We were about to play the hardest game of our lives. Belpre from south east ohio they haven’t let up a goal yet and are 2-0 like us. All we needed was one win and we are in the finals.They had the best offence and defence and can pass around any team like there's no tomorrow. We walk up to the field feeling different. We knew we were going to need to adapt to their play style. The game started the players just out worked our team. They were faster and stronger. They go around us like we were a leaf against the wind we had no chance. They scored again and again. It was now 4-0, 1 min left in the first half we couldn’t do anything against this first-class

When I was fourteen years old I had a national soccer tournament in Sanford, Florida. My club team was faced against the number one team in the nation, the Michigan Hawks. The Hawks had multiple national team players and multiple girls that were already committed to large Division I colleges before their freshmen year of high school. This alone scared the life right out of my entire team, but we came together and knew that we could preserver and get through it.

It was a casual summer day when I heard the good news. I came downstairs and saw my dad with a big grin on his face and my mom with a camera.

rough, sometimes practices would go longer, Coach Curry would say "You girls are running this until you get it right", and some practices were a lot

The sharp burst of pain came and knocked me to the ground. The tears started to flow down my face. The sadness stumbled upon me and I felt weak. All these thoughts were running through my head, could this be my last touch of the sport I love to play? Is my dream of becoming a soccer player over? Will I ever get to step on the field and show what I’m capable of doing? I knew I tore my hamstring in that instant. All these decisions I could have made in the past would’ve made a difference in the outcome of my fault. I’ve learned many lessons from this obstacle that I had to overcome, and it taught me to be patient, focus on my priorities, and to persevere until the end to accomplish my dreams.