Soccer Narrative

If you really knew me, you would know that I am ever so lucky to have my mom. I have a mother who cares about me, supports me, makes sacrifices for me, and constantly does what she can to help me. If it wasn’t for my mom I don’t know where I would be. I couldn’t ever put into words how thankful I am for her. My mom is as strong as Hercules. She is a single mom and I admire her for all the strength she has. She does it all by herself. I know it is stressful on her sometimes, but somehow she stays positive and calm as a peaceful sleep. I have great respect for my mom. I’ll admit my mom is a thorn in my side sometimes, but I love her and could not live without her.

Soccer is an awesome sport that most people love to play! But soccer involves lots of skills you need to know. Especially the scissor, the scissor helps you get around the other team and their defenders. Some people have a lot of trouble doing the scissor and need to learn it so their comfortable doing this skill. Before learning how to do a scissor some equipment will be needed. Soccer cleats to help yourself grip to the ground, possibly shin guards, socks to cover your shin guards, and a blown up soccer ball, make sure it’s your size!

The Richard Thompson Stadium started to get packed while we warmed up. Our team consisted mainly of sophomores and juniors, if there were more than 5 freshmen I would be exaggerating. I was putting on my cleats to start moving the ball and Vicente, one of the freshman said, “I wish Coach Nunez would let me play today.” “You might get some minutes depending on how the game goes,” I replied. Then, one of the juniors started laughing and told us, “look kidos, there are no chances of you kicking a ball tonight!” We did not pay much attention to him and kept on getting ready just in case. Coach Nunez was talking to the varsity Coach and suddenly he shouted, “Rojas! Come here.” I thought he was going to ask me a favor or tell me to go get something from the locker. “Rojas, I need you to be a wall in the midfield. No te quiero ver parado. Tell Kevin [one of

“PUSH THEM OUT!” I bellowed at the other people on defence as I charged the halfway line in the blazing heat. As the defensive captain it was my job to keep the defence in line and organised and just was generally in charge of them, only outruled by the coaches. I had just sprinted to stop an offensive attack from the other team and booted the ball up to the offence. I was giving this game 200% of my effort, even though this usually resulted in me coming close to passing out and being a wreck for the rest of the day, but this was the finals in the soccer tournament. It was also the day of my confirmation at church so I was already a bit exhausted. On Saturday we had won three of our games and tied one which was well enough to get us seeded first for the finals Sunday, but Sunday was here...

Opportunities like those come very few times in a lifetime. Maybe only once in a lifetime. For some, it just never appears. Luckily I was handed the opportunity that everyone wishes for. Philadelphia Union, a professional MLS team, had sent my dad an email about a month ago saying they wanted me to go to Philadelphia to try out for their youth soccer team. At the point I was notified by my dad of this news, I was ecstatic, joyful and mostly eager to go to Philly and try out already. I’ll admit: I got emotional the moment I was told of this glorious opportunity. Never before had I been given such a chance, such an opportunity to someday reach my goals of playing professional soccer in front of thousand-plus fans.

I sing the song of the biggest catch, the catch to beat them all. "Ah, but the defense, whose confidence then falls!" I sing the song of the happy fans, screaming out their praise.

My mother mourns privately and I join her for the first time in a long time, longing for things to have been different. I find myself desperately seeking the warmth and comfort I’ve always found in my family. I find myself desperately seeking the warmth and comfort I’ve always found in my true family. The family that has always been there and shown support. I no longer see the heavy, sleek-cut stone as ancient memories rush into my now-clouded vision. I’m not going to forget you or leave you. I’ll be loyal to you and your memory. I don’t want to be like him.

Her words were like the waterfall beating down on my poor soul. I realized I would never be ready to face the world, but my mom prepared me for almost all of whatever I will face. She had given me the greatest gift of all, purpose. I ran to my mom and hugged her even though I had no fingers. “Thanks, I love you,” I whispered.

Billy dribbled so fast the our defenders could not keep up with him. He took the shot and it was the first goal of the game. It looked like it was going to be a long day for our team as Billy quickly scored another goal now it is 2-0. We kicked it off with a simple pass to Steve who took that opportunity to use his skills to dribble past the defenders to score the wonderful goal to put us back in the game. Now Billy has the ball going full speed and takes the shot but was barely saved but our goalkeeper. The goalkeeper tossed the ball to a defender who made a perfect pass to Steve. Steve had a wide open shot for the goal if he dribbled in just a bit more. Then all of a sudden, as Steve takes the shot Billy comes in and runs into Steve, but the ball was already in the air and went right past the goalkeeper to score. Steve laid on the ground in brutal pain. Rolling on the ground holding his knee. The coaches and medics ran out on to the field and the referee gave Billy a yellow card which was a warning. The crowd yelled frustrated at the call. Meanwhile The medics got Steve off the field. The coach came over to me and told me that it was my time to shine. I ran out on to the field with only ten or eight minutes left I wasn’t sure. On the kick off Billy got the ball and came at me as fast as he could I moved out of the way and kicked the ball out of his control to one of our defenders. The defender pass

Ever since I was small I remember telling my mom I had always looked up to her because of everything she did. My mom would always tell me stories of herself when she was small and I realized how lucky I was to get most of the things I wanted as I kid. I remember her always telling me that she wanted me to take care of her just like she was taking care of me when I was older. "Mom I promise when I'm older I'll get you the biggest car and house you've always wanted" I would tell my mom every night when she would come to my room to put me in bed. My mom and dad had always had their differences for as long as I can remember. My parents had been happily married for most of their lives until my sisters and I were older. Even though the

Mothers know and see everything; however, I never wanted to believe it was true. When I was short on money, needed a hot home-cooked meal or a shoulder to cry on, I would call my mother. I never took or valued my mother’s advice, but I always tried to learn from her mistakes. I failed to grow to my full potential when I had my mother to rely on. Few events in my 25 years of life demanded urgent self evaluation, maturity and reliance until the sudden passing of my beloved mother.

About eight years prior to hearing those words from my mom, she got married to our stepfather. I had never seen her so elated since her divorce with my dad, and I had never been more excited to see her with this much joy. We both shared pain through the divorce, yet she always said, “Everything will get better.” and it did. From that day on we shared many great memories together that are tacked up on a wall and caged behind a plate of glass, our pictures. One of these frames contained an experience we had when we went on a mission trip together to Haiti. My dearest and most adored part of the trip was when

“Go shoot” yelled everyone from my coach to all of the parents” it's yours” my teammate started to yell.

On a sunny summer morning at my house the annoying birds woke me up as always, but this was not an ordinary day. I was going to my friend Bruno's house. His house was just on the other side of Lake Tranquility. There was two weeks of summer left before we had to go back to jail which is also known as school. I was going to go to his house at 11:50 in the morning. I had pancakes with syrup for breakfast, then I got my clothes on and packed a bathing suit in a bag for Bruno’s house, because he has a pool. I watched Netflix and played on my kindle for a while.

It was all going fine until they started pushing our teammates way too hard. Even though people get pushed around all the time in soccer, but they were pushing way to hard. We decided it was not a big deal, and got back on the game. After a couple of minutes, one of our teammates got kicked really hard in his shin. By that time, my team and I were starting to get mad. We told the other team not to do that again and to play fair because we did not have any referees or coaches. The game started to get little rough after that scene. When I got close to the other