Personal Narrative: How Soccer Has Changed My Mind

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.

There comes a time when you have to grow up or are forced to. You learn from past experiences and base your recent scenarios from it. Since the age of five, soccer has been part of my life. From having practice twice a week, to having practice every day of the week not including games. I felt like soccer was my pathway to success. I felt like I could do big things from it and I had all the confidence in the world but never would show it when others asked me if I was good. I’m the shy quiet girl that shows you what I’m capable of without saying a single word.

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

Football is back as the first preseason game was played last Thursday. With football coming back, so does fantasy football. Like a lot of people (myself included), you’re scouring the internet for rankings. There’s plenty of rankings out there, but none of them tell you where to take a defense. I am going to present my strategy.

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?

I was told that on the day of my birth, the operating room was overcrowded with medical staff, bright

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

From one week to another I started feeling so much pain in my back I honestly did not know what it was I tended not to pay attention to it that whole week. Until at the end of the week it got to a point where I couldn't move nor stretch that was when I realized my high school soccer career would end. I played soccer as a freshman and as a sophomore I always tried my best I was ready for soccer this time and I had just gotten back from a Europe trip which made me learn new things about soccer. My goal for high school was to be able to play all four years since I had already made the team freshman year.

Over 1 billion people watched the World Cup Final, and 26.5 million of them were in America. Only 111.5 million people Watched the Super Bowl. That puts things into perspective and the stats don't lie. For most people in America soccer particularly isn't the most favorite sport.

I pulled my red socks up over my right shin guard, then my left. I slipped on my shoes, making sure they were knotted extra tight so they would not come undone. After I brushed my hair back into a ponytail and fixed my headband, I was ready. On the bus, everyone chattered about the upcoming game, music blaring, loud with excitement. The game featured my soccer team, Oak Hills, and one of our rivals, Ursula. Ursula, known for their great passing and winning record, was very well going to be one of the hardest teams we had to play. But, we were prepared and nothing could stop us.

When I was six years old I moved from Colorado to New Mexico. At the end of my junior year of high school I found out that I was moving back to Colorado. I was full of emotions that made me hate the world. I had thought of every possibility on how to stay in nm and finish high school. At the time I was talking to a girl that I really liked and had a lot of very close friends. I wasn’t the kind of kid to go out and do things with people but during the second half of my junior year I made some friends that I started to do things with. It was as if I had finally made all my friends and found people who I wanted to be around but it was all being taken away from me. One of my brothers still lived in nm and my plan was to stay in nm with him and

I have known it for fifteen years. For fifteen years I have lived, breathed, and marveled at it. I am only eighteen years old meaning it has taken up almost all of my life. I know nothing else but this, and it is soccer. Soccer has been my lifestyle ever since I was able to walk and it has been what keeps me going and keeps me motivated in life. Soccer has made me who I am today and has taught me almost everything I have ever needed to know.

I became a big football fan, and I drifted from soccer. I began to only watch football, and everything I loved about soccer, was taken its place by the American sport of football. Since, this change of moving to America exposed me to new things that Mexico didn't have, I fell for football. Not only did I like it, but I also wanted to fit in, just like everyone else.

“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.

I am not someone who changes minds often. Even though I always stick to myself and believe what I say and think, I actually have changed my mind on something. I have changed my mind on soccer. I used to think that soccer was a boring sport to watch and play, and that it was mostly for girls. Now I find the sport different and therefore, I enjoy it and have learned to appreciate it.