Soccer Team: A Short Story

The coaches said that we weren't gonna get the results until a couple days, but those days I was so anxious. Finally the day we were gonna find out the results came. My mom opened up her email and she found out that I made the team with some of my fellow friends from school. I was so excited for my first day to come. That first season of competition was very nerve racking but at the same time so fun. I even remember at one competition I placed first all around in my division. After the first season of competing on silver, my coach wanted to see if I was ready for gold. They put me through one gold practice and I moved up to the gold team. I didn't know a lot of people on that team, so I had to make

I have been playing with older kids myentire life, when I first joined I was a 6 year old playing with 9 year olds. I played for plantationfor 8 years. Plantation was my home it was everything I wanted it to be, but I knew that if Iwanted to fulfill my lifelong dream I would have to move to a more competitive team. It wastowards the end of my freshman year and I was selected to go try out for Boca USSDA whichwas a big deal. I would have to leave my comfort zone and go play somewhere completely newand different. I went to the tryouts ready for stiff competition. When I got there I was mentallyand physically ready for the opportunity in front of me, they gave all the players number to puton there legs to identify who you were. We began to warm up as a group, and then the coachescalled us over and said get ready for the game. It was the longest 5 minutes of my life waiting

I was super excited and never did I think that one of us would not make the team(one of us being me). I was pretty good at soccer I had been playing since kindergarten but I was also on the

One of the most significant challenges I never thought that I would accomplish was to become a starter on my soccer team. Since my freshman year in high school, I was one of the smallest kids on the team, was not very fast, and was not one of the most physically fit . Even though I never seen a lot of playing time, I continued to work to the best of my ability.

I had preconceived notions of what being on the football team was like through movies and tv. But the real thing is so much more.The attitude of the coaches and players overwhelms you by their intensity and devotion to the team. The idea of individualism was quashed. This is not an overstatement, they literally chastised you for trying to differentiate from the team. Doing thing like wearing different color socks or gloves were discouraged. You were either another helmet in the field or out of the team. I was shocked at first, but considering the team’s track record, regularly in the playoffs and got to the state championship last year, I figured they must be doing something right

to play. I came back to school and the cut list was up. I made the team. I was

"Make sure you all have your seat belts on and go to the gas station as soon as possible also love you lots" my mom told us as I got into the car.

But just like basketball I am super small and not the strongest. The main reason I made the team was because only about 8 kids tried out and we had to find kids to come play with us. I realized fast that baseball would be hard and challenging. I had to be either a lead off hitter or the last guy in the order because I couldn't hit the ball hard enough to be a power hitter. I also had to work harder in the field because I couldn't throw the ball nearly as far or hard as most kids. This was a big challenge for me that I had to overcome. So I started working, I also wanted to be a pitcher too, so I had to learn how to do that as well. I would throw on one day the next day would be hitting then the last day was pitching. Throwing, hitting, pitching, over and over again for the last month and half of summer. Then by the end of summer I had the skills necessary to compete with the larger kids my age and have a chance to play the positions I wanted in catcher and shortstop. This made me extremely happy, but our record did not. We only won 6 out of about 30 games. The next year we were better and we continued to improve as a team every year and we are now winning about 66% of our games. This has taught me that hard work by myself and as a team can greatly change how well we do with

I played on a team with some familiar faces that I had already known from previous Rec and travel teams. Currently, I play on a travel team called Union Liberty. I have been playing with the same group of girls for over five years. Playing soccer with a new group of girls versing new teams was a good change overall for me as a player. On the field, I am an aggressive right defender who will not let anyone push me down.

“I’m late,” I yelled stumbling down the stairs. My dad was chuckling as he said.

During the ride home, I’m tempted to get out of the car and walk home. But I don’t, I wouldn’t know how my mother will react. About a few minutes before I arrive home, my mother says,

Therefore, I did not think I had any chance in making the team. Tryouts were at least a month long and as the days pass, the smaller the group of girls

After our summer of practicing, our first game was here. I didn’t do much in the first few games because the teams we faced weren’t that good. Eventually though, we ended up facing more teams like TCA, USJ, JCS, Lexington, and St. Mary’s. I got to play in each of these games along with 7 other games.

Yay! I was so ecstatic, I can finally go the practices and games, even though I can’t really play at them. On the other hand, all I could think about was tomorrow’s game. How am I going to prove myself if I don’t get the chance to? Well only time will tell.

Making a baseball team had always been not too hard for me. The skill is there, and so is the love of the game. But then I had make a choice harder than ever that would change the way I make decisions forever.