Personal Narrative: My First Soccer Team

Ever since I could remember, soccer had been in my life. If there was a soccer team that needed a coach, my father was always the first to volunteer. There were almost too many strenuous weekends spent hours away from home for soccer tournaments to count. My entire family, consisting of my parents, my siblings, my dog, and myself, packed in a mini-van heading to a city that I had never heard of for soccer games. But when I entered high school, all that would soon go away. I kept playing the same sport that I always had, although now I had to wake up at five in the morning for six hours of high school soccer practice in the smoldering summer heat in order to make the high school team. High School sports were more competitive than anything I had done before. I put in as much effort as I could to make the Varsity High School team, staying out past dinner to practice even longer. I was utterly divulged in soccer and trying to be the best I could be. Soon, I would regret placing a game over spending time with my family.

Well I finally discover the true love and passion I have for soccer two years later when I was 8 years old. My parents finally decided to put me in a team called “Princess” I would go to every practice and always tried to get my parents in the car at time so we would never be late to games. I played defence and scraped my knees sometimes trying to get the ball out of our side. But I never knew what I was actually capable of until my coach had a job and had to leave coaching for a while and one my teammates parent decided to step in. I was so use to playing defence but he wanted to make things different and he believe I would do even better at forward. The next game I played forward score every single goal winning the game I never understood why people seem so happy to score until that day. Seeing the ball slowly roll in the back of the net and every single parents and kids raise from their seats and start clapping nonstop and screaming my name has been the most amazing feeling I have felt in my

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.

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

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.

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.

During the second semester of my sophomore I started coaching the U-12 soccer league through the Joliet Park District with my sister’s boyfriend Ryan. Ryan and I co-coached this team and we had the help one of the player’s father so we had an extra hand. I was extremely nervous because there wasn’t a huge age difference between kids and myself. The first day Ryan took the lead in coaching and I tried my best to reinforce what he was trying to explain. As our first season went on I started getting a little too close to some of the players and the impacted how I would talk to just those players alone. To me that was not a big deal because what is the point of coaching if you don’t to know the team you are with right? Well that blew up in my face when it

I was shaking from nervousness. I knew that I had to give it everything I had for the sake of my team. I ran out on the field. As the ball was being played on the other side, I prayed that I would have an opportunity to help my team. Not a minute later, the ball flew up over me and the rest of the offense. One of the midfielders dashed to the ball. She ran down into the corner and passed it to the middle. I stood there, anticipating the drop and ready to score. As the ball fell to the ground, I took a small step back. I quickly got my balance, and shot as hard as I could. Time seemed to stand still as the ball flew through the air, over the goalies hands, and right into the corner of the goal. I had done it. I had broken the tie. My whole team rushed over to give me a hug. I was almost crying from joy. I could hear my parents and the other fans cheering for me from the sidelines. Shortly after we took the lead yet again, the final whistle blew. We had

The 1st half of our game against Eagan didn't go so well, we were down 13-0 heading into the locker room at halftime. Losing the game was on everyone's mind considering we were on a 2 game losing streak, but I wasn't going to let that happen. I did my best to inspire my teammates and spark some energy for the 2nd half. I walked into the locker room and started physically lifting teammates heads up. During this time I was giving different thoughts of encouragement to different teammates, I could tell our starting quarterback was pretty upset after throwing a few interceptions and being scoreless up to this point. He was a sophomore, so knowing that I told him that there was no pressure on him, and that no matter how he played our team, the

7:00pm could not come fast enough. I was waiting anxiously in my seat for my first opportunity to start as a varsity player. I saw the ball soar through the air as my stomach churned, what I did not know was that we would lose that game twenty three to seven. We had not lost to that team in thirty nine years, and I wanted it to be forty. Preparation was our downfall, and all we could do was move on and get ready for the next game.

Walking out on the field clothed in full confidence, I have no doubt in my mind that our team will perform to our fullest potential. As a team captain, fear is something that I keep locked away in my mind; however, I still get butterflies before every game. Before each game, I inhale two puffs, stretch every muscle, and sing to myself to remain placid. When praying for strength, courage, and protection, it is like the Holy Ghost enters my players and kindles inside of them. Their focus shifts from what could go wrong to what will go right and what they will do to help the team. When I walk on the field, my heart begins to feel like it is about to beat out of my chest, and I feel like someone is trying to take over my kingdom. On the field I am home, I have purpose, and I have a sense of belonging. While I may feel like I am suffocating, I still continue to pump my

Hey Mohawks! This past Thursday was senior night for soccer. I would of never imagined it coming so fast, it seems like the season started last week. Words cannot describe how sad I am that I only have a few more games left. As we closed out our season Tuesday we are looking forward to the post season. We are hoping to upset Valley View next Monday. We faced them earlier in the season and the results were not what we wanted. I am confident that we can come out this time ready for what they are going to throw at us. I hope everyone has a good weekend and thanks for

The delicious smell of the ground beef hamburgers and pork hot dogs was distracted me from the game. While I was running down the field, trying to get the ball. This girl, number seven, came up to me drippling the ball down. While I was in my defense mode, I took the ball from her and she felled slowly down the ground and started screaming because of her disappointment, but I kept going because wanted my team to score. I could smell the fear from the other players as I was going through them to score. I passed the ball one of my teammates that was ready and serious to get the ball and we did a one and two passed together we were very excited and finally ... she scored! The crowed started screaming in

My dad showed me how to move the girls around without leaving any weak areas on the field. About a quarter of the way through the game, one of the Pocatello forwards got away from our defense on a breakaway. This breakaway resulted in a goal for Pocatello, so the score was 1-0. Right before halftime one of the Pocatello defenders fouled on of the Rigby forwards inside the 18-yard box, consequently, Rigby got a penalty kick (PK). One of the girls that I coached was an excellent PK taker. I had her set up, and take the kick. The ball zipped just inside the right post and into the sidewall of the net The score was now 1-1, we were tied with Pocatello. The ref blew the whistle signaling that it was time for half time. The second half of the game was just as intense as the first. We held them until about ten minutes left, when one of the Pocatello forwards snuck one more goal in, making the score 2-1 Pocatello. We ended up losing the game, but the girls played hard until the very end. After the game we talked about how the tournament wasn't over yet and we still had time to go home with first

"Fweeeet-woooo", the sound of the whistle letting us know the game is about to begin. A little apprehensive isn't the word that describes this moment. "Yanna your at mid", Coach Russuem says in the background distracting from my daze; my first game ever playing soccer and I'm in the starting 9. As I walk on the field I get this rush of fearful thoughts, "What if I miss the ball? what if I don't be aggressive enough? Am I ready? Should I sit this one out? Should I tell coach I'm sick? Should I.....", I notice I have this tremble as I walk and I start to tell my self I can do this! After encouraging myself and putting my head in the game I looked at the score board realizing we're in the lead 3-2. Now the second half is about to cease, thus for,