Personal Narrative: The Culture Of Soccer

In the summer before my senior year, I tore my ACL while playing a small soccer scrimmage. The doctor explained my injury as very common in female soccer. But the heartbreaking reality made me feel much more than the statistic on the dry erase board that Dr. Mayer held. I loved waking up, going to school, and finishing the day with some type of sports practice! After the incident happened, I cried and whimpered for hours as my leg swelled to the size of a balloon. But the pain was much more than skin and muscle deep. With a post-surgery recovery time of nine months, I realized my high school athletic career had come to an abrupt and expeditious end. I had also ran out of college credits at my small school in the same year. Because of this,

Stepping onto the field, all eyes on me, the crowd chanting, “block that kick! block that kick!”. That’s the only thing I remember from our 25-22 loss over Sun Valley my sophomore year. As a kicker on the football team you have a hard job. It is 10% physical and 90%mental. Having the teams trust is a real confidence boost, but after that night, I wasn’t sure if I had that anymore. Crying, a quiet locker room, not being able to sleep, all of the sad faces. That’s not what the end of a football game is supposed to look like. “Maybe I’ll get over it”, I asked myself. Little did I know this would help shape the future of not only my football career but also life in

My parents and I would always be at the park every weekend for my soccer games. Soccer is my passion and having the support from my parents every single time is the best feeling anyone can have. There has been times that I wanted to give up on what i love to do most which is soccer but my family has been there to motivate me .

Soccer has been my passion ever since I was a young child and my love for the game is always growing. I have gained a lot of experience and knowledge of the game by playing with various teams, but I know there is always more to learn. Watching how hard people, such as the pros, work for what they have reached inspires me, which is why I always try my best in practice and try to improve everyday. I try to be the most hardworking player in practice and in the games, but as captain of both my club and high school team, I try to encourage all of my teammates as well. Living in a small community, far from bigger oportunities, I feel like I haven't been able to fully show more people what I'm truly capable of. I believe that because of my determination,

Soccer is my thing. Soccer is something I live, I breathe, I analyze, I bleed, I practice, and I play. The sport has been a vital part of my life ever since I started to play the game as a kindergartener. Working as a club soccer referee is also my job, and incorporating the sport I practically worship into my work is something that I will never regret because the experiences I have gained as a result have taught me various lessons over the years.

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.

Throughout my entire life, soccer has influenced me greatly. In fact, my childhood can be described as watching my siblings play soccer. Rain or shine, no matter the distance, no matter how much I didn’t want to go, I was still there to support them. All four of us made sacrifices to support each other. This made our family more close knit.

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.

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.

I was walking down the field on the soaked soccer pitch towards my team. I saw that they were already stretching,