Personal Narrative: Verdigris High School Soccer Team

The odds were always against us, yet we persevered. When everybody told us “no, it cannot be done”, we stared right back at them and simply smiled while nodding because we always did our talking on the field, where it really matters. This is a story of how the Dulles Varsity Soccer Team shut up Clements without having to open our mouth.

On February 28, 2005, I experienced one of the most exciting events that anyone could ever experience – winning a State Championship. The day my soccer team made history is a day I’ll never forget. However it is not just that day we won the title, but the whole experience of the preceding season that got us there. From start to finish, my team’s 2004-2005 season taught me that the platitude is true. You can do anything you set your mind to.

“When your legs can’t run anymore, run with your heart.” Spring is the best time of the year, because it is soccer season. Spring of 2016 was a special time to me, because I was a freshman at Wahlert Catholic High School trying out for the women’s soccer team. I went into the first open gym scared, nervous and excited all at the same. The open gyms were for use to get in shape for the actual season and for the coaches to get a better look at our soccer skills. Previously in the year of 2014 I played for a club soccer team called DSC or Dubuque Soccer Club. After that 2014 season was over I decided to quite DSC and try something different. So going into open gyms I knew that I was going to be a just a bit rusty because I haven’t played soccer in a while. As open gyms went on some upperclassman were telling me that the coach was very impressed by the skills I had. Being only a freshman it was very flattering to know that the coach thought that about me. Knowing this it drove me to keep pushing myself hard and hard, because my goal was to make it on varsity.

Summer, a season where many are free to do whatever they please and not have a worry in the world. This is not the case, however, for a high school football player such as myself; for classes being released marks the start of another season, not summer, but football season. It was a hot day on Mount Diablo High’s football field; I could already feel sweat dripping down as I stood there in my armor. Players were separated between two categories: Skills players and the Linemen. The coaches came and said we had to do hitting drills to start of practice. So the linemen, Erik, D’antae, Xavier, Charlie, Jarreck, Anthony, Josh, and I, created a circle and waited to see who the coaches would call out first. To my surprise, there was someone in the

Last year I went to a different high school and I was part of the Junior Varsity soccer team. It was my second year playing for the team and I was elected to be the team Captain by most of my teammates and even the coach. I was chosen to be captain on a practice before our first game, I told myself that I will lead my team to victory and win all of our games to take the B.V.A.L title for J.V. We ended up winning our first game but it was hard because we had no communication on the field. Since I was captain I was doing all of the screaming instead of the coach. One thing that I found out after that game was that I should have been easier on the guys and tell them to do their job instead of yelling at them. So after that game during our practice

First and foremost, soccer is a team sport. Teams and communities require a group of people to work together while also contributing individually. Personally, I contribute to the Varsity Girls Soccer Team by working to be in the best shape I can be in, both physically and mentally. I spend a lot of time, both during the high school and club seasons, developing my technical and tactical abilities. Additionally, as the sweeper, I must direct the defense to make sure we are organized. When an individual is better, it makes the team better. Everyone on the team, starters and substitutes alike, has a role to fulfill in order to make the team as good as it can possibly be.

Call it failure to capitalize on an opportunity or failure to commit 100% effort to my team; both would be true and both failures lead to lessons learned my junior year on the high school varsity soccer team. From the time I was little, with my dad as my coach, success came easily and failure was a concept not easily grasped. Playing on the JV team my first two years of high school was pretty much a given, and in hindsight, I realize how valued I was on the team. I started most of the games both freshman and sophomore year and played a significant amount. As my junior year was approaching, I knew this was not going to be the case. Desperately wanting to make the team, lots of training and hard work was how a majority of my summer free time

In my life I feel like I've been very successful, whether I was playing sports or working hard for school. When I regress to my glory days during middle school, I feel very euphoric, almost as if I was boasting to a group of my friends. I look back and see myself as if I was practically infallible. I remember how my attendance was merely perfect up until the first time I had gotten strep throat at the end of my 7th grade year.Or how my pop warner football team went 9-0 for the season, winning the championships of the Big Island.

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.

The temperature rises in the warehouse-like building as six teams attempt to hit their individual pyramids. Five hours, lunch, five more hours, dinner, three more hours; repeat three days for best results. It’s June, and the season has just begun.

Stephen is a senior transferred to WCSU from Miami University in Ohio, it is better known for the home of the famous NFL quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. That one fact made it a little easier to bond and converse with Stephen as I am a huge football fan and he happens to coach football. It wasn’t Stephen’s idea to transfer but his parents, they decided it was too expensive for him to go to school so far from home. He therefore transfer here and now lives in his parents basement in Ridgefield CT, and he commutes to school. Stephen is majoring in media studies and he hopes to do something in the field of being a promoter or a publicist. Stephen coaches high school football mainly to freshman's and he also is part of a baseball league. Stephen also loves to sing even though he claims he isn’t so good at it.

It was my favorite day of the week, game day. I was a sophomore, 16, about to play our district rivals in soccer, Cedar park High School. Year after year us and CP are neck and neck for title of district champs. But this one game in particular, on March 5th 2013 I will never forget.

My life was just going great for 1 week . I was hoping that things would pick up from here. Soccer was going great, I had been accepted to the prestigious science summer academy. I had all A+’s and my Dad’s pneumonia had finally cleared up after 2 months of treatment.

I spun around in my new, bright green swivel chair, staring at my bedroom walls. I reloaded the page for the billionth time.