Personal Narrative: My Cultural Identity In Soccer

Culture identity can include food or certain materials. But, what if you had a culture identity that you could be invloved in. My culture identity is basketball because i’ve been doing this all my life and it already became a part of what I do every day. Other than basketball there is a cultural tradition that I follow called, “Faka’apa’apa.” My cultural identity, basketball does not involve anybody and thats the part I like.

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?

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.

I come from an athletic family who enjoys playing together. Although I played all these sports, as I entered high school I left some behind and decided to focus mainly on soccer. I have played soccer my whole life and I have nothing but love of the game. I consider myself to be a good team player and a hard worker. Soccer was a big part of my life and made me extremely happy.

Being an athlete from the age of 6, I belong in a large, multi-player, organization: The culture of soccer. In this culture there’re many age-levels, divisions of skill, and competitive matches that I come across frequently. To be more specific soccer has many subcultures, in which one I fit in is travel soccer. Travel soccer is defined to be a very challenging division of the sport, in which you train and play at a very professional skilled way. Not only travel soccer but also all the other subcultures like recreational, futsal, and Paralympic soccer have similarities and differences. Ideology is shared with these subcultures because they all have a set of beliefs, attitude, and a certain status to maintain in order to continue to be a soccer player.

Soccer and a park, throw in some friends and it magically becomes fun. I can tell you this without a doubt because I did this myself on Friday. When I got to Emerald Glen, I saw that Vince, Justin, their dad, and Matthew were already there playing soccer on the grass field by the skate park. I went ahead and joined them, and we did some simple offense and defense drills. After a few minutes of that, Vince and I played a weird little game that seemed like a soccer version of volleyball while Justin, his dad, and Matthew kicked the ball around to each other. While we were playing our soccer volleyball game, me and Vince talked about random little things like how there’s a Fawaz A and Fawaz B, But there isn’t a Fawaz C or D. Later, we took turns at the goal while the others kicked.

I grew up playing soccer as kid and participate I various tournaments in highs school playing for school team. Soccer has been a part of my life from the beginning. My family are all soccer fanatics heck my nation itself (Nigeria) are soccer fanatics. “Football” as we call it back home was almost like a tradition and very much part of our culture as a nation. I played soccer at every chance I had whether it were on the streets barefooted or on a proper field. Needless to say, it is my favorite sport and I play with a couple of friends on the weekends. However, when I’m not raving about soccer, I do engage in artwork and animations. I love to draw, mostly cartoons or comics. I find it very relaxing to just pick a pen or pencil and draw. I often

I have played soccer since Preschool, and while I don’t receive any MVP trophies, I can play fairly well. Soccer is who I am. Correction: soccer is who I was. Going into my junior year, I thought I would continue to play for my high school as I had my sophomore year. But , they said “they couldn’t find a spot for me on varsity.” My friends and family expected me to feel shattered, but I didn’t, not yet at least. I felt numb, not fully realizing what this meant. Not realizing that I wouldn’t spend the fall with the friends I trained all summer with, not realizing that I wouldn’t feel the pride for the great Oak Hills High everytime I put on my jersey, not realizing the embarrassment I would feel when people questioned why my name was absent from the roster. Putting on a brave front, even for myself, I told everyone I didn’t care; however, a few days later I realized all the cherished experiences I would miss and I sobbed. It’s challenging to hear that all of your hopes, dreams, and aspirations of the past twelve years, which at sixteen made up

“Yeah, my team’s going to regionals now!” said my older cousin, Noor. He’d been playing soccer since he was about 8 years old, and had recently turned 16.

I have had the privilege to be able to play soccer the majority of my life. Over the past several years, I noticed the formation of cliques on the club soccer team that I was on. Unless other positive alternatives are encouraged, cliques tend to stay together and can produce negative power. My teammates would belong to certain groups within the team, and the groups wouldn’t interact. That impacted the way we worked together on the field. I asked myself, “Were we really playing soccer at our full potential?” In my freshman year of high school, I was chosen to be the team captain by my soccer coach. This responsibility included representing the team, getting to the games early, and leading warm ups. My coach told me that I was selected because

Before freshman year, I was a very lazy person. I never cared about school or anything else in particular except for the sports I did. I have always had a passion for soccer. Ever since I was about 3, I’ve been playing the sport. Having such experience has given me a natural understanding of the game. I’d say im a very gifted individual when it comes to soccer. And all the running and conditioning I had done for soccer also prepared me for track. These sports all took dedication. But when high school came about, I didn't know what to expect.

I’ve been playing soccer a long time, longer than i remember. My dad says i've played since I was four. Despite that, as a freshman in highschool I still wasn't very good. id simply drifted through ten years worth of summer and fall leagues, only picking up enough skill to become the captain of my school's C team.

Soccer in the United States has always been classified as a second sport, and even though recently there has been a lot of expansions in Major League Soccer teams and youth academies many people are still far behind in their soccer knowledge. Soccer, or Futbol as it’s supposed to be said, is truly a beautiful sport that anyone can play, from the starving masses to the rich beverly hills children. My passion for soccer began to grow when I was six years old and hasn't stopped since, after 11 years of early morning and late night drives back to town I have met many people and learned many lessons brought to me by the beautiful sport I respect. Soccer is a team sport and very physical, tactical, and mental which makes it very complex. Regarding

Football is a great sport. I also did football myself. When I was nine years old I joined the Tri County Hurricanes. When I first joined the team I was trash. I did not know how to hold the ball, throw the ball, nor catch the ball. When I was practicing at home and on the field I got better and better every day . So I got back on the field the next month and I out ran people, caught the ball, and I made the QB( Quarterback ) spot and wants we got done all you done all you can smell is the wet grass and all you can hear is the football players hitting each other back to back to back.

My talent is becoming more and more popular in soccer.My talent is soccer.Soccer is a great sport for people who want to become athletes or good players.Soccer is becoming a good sport around the world for all ages.Soccer has a lot of good players like Messi,Ronaldo,Neymar,and Suarez.These famous people are stars in soccer with millions of dollars.And I would one day become like them in shape,have money,active,and famous.