Summit Country Day Narrative

Adrenaline begins to flood my body. As I lean over to tighten my cleats. The Adrenaline makes me feel as if I am invisible and cannot be touched. As my team lines up hand in hand to start our march toward the field, I start to prepare myself mentally for the task at hand. I think to myself put on a show, make them all remember #4, play every play as if it is your last, hurt them before they hurt you and never back down, you go 110% every time. Prove to everyone that said you are too small to go anywhere after

I knew that we could pull off the win if we continued to work hard together. I now knew that I could depend on my teammates to guide me and help me to be the best player that I could be. I still had to be shown where to go, but I knew that with practice, I could really learn to love rugby. As the ref blew the whistle to start, I felt like I was on top of the world and now felt much more confident in my rugby abilities. As the backline swiftly made their way up the field, we seemed to mesh a lot better and the ball moved with ease from one person to the next. Once it got to me, I knew that there would be someone nearby to help me out and if I went down, we wouldn’t lose possession. Even though there were only six of my teammates on the field, we dominated. Most of the time, we had possession and controlled the ball relatively well. Even if we messed up, we were able to recover smoothly. As the final whistle blew, we were up an incredible 38-7. Even though, I was nearly wheezing and my body ached, I still felt proud and happy. We had won! After we shook the other team’s hands, we came back to the sidelines and had a group hug. Everyone was telling me how well I did for my first game and that they were proud of me. This helped me to realize that I belong to this team, and everyone in it is important not just to the game, but to me as well.

Our season was coming to a close, and we were all excited for our final game of the season; that is, until we found out that the coaches and parents of the opposing

Before the game my teammates and I were all hyped up. It was like we were warriors going off to battle. We could hear the roars of the crowd outside of our locker room. We took a peek outside and saw the student section was packed, in fact the whole stands were filled. Then

We went from Ballinger, to Llano, and finally to Forsan for our last tournament of the season. When tournament season ended, we all knew what was next. We got to fight for our position in the state playoffs. Our district opener was against San Saba. We started off district one and zero after a twenty to four win over San Saba. The first half of district lasted the next two weeks. We had not lost to a team in district play. The newspaper's sports section had the headline "Miles undeafeated halfway through district play!" We began to think that we had already won district. Our coach; Coach Hoffpauir saw our change of mindset and started to change his attitude towards us, but we were all blind to this. He started to have a shorter fuse on everyone but especially Cody and I. As we got closer to our second game against San Saba, tension was built between our team and coach. We started to argue with each other, and were butting heads with Coach Hoff up until

The boisterous music is blasting while our coach and the captains try to have some thoughts about the game. “Turn the music off guys, it’s time for our speech”, he shouted across the locker rooms. Everyone went forward to the board while he stand and waited for his team to listen. While he went over our goal for the day and tell us that we shouldn’t play below our standard there is a look on each player face like they are ready and prepare for anything to happen on the field. After that motivation speech we all tuck our shirt in our shorts and simultaneously lace our shoes.

Pulling into the parking lot was a lot more nerve racking than I thought. I could feel my body shaking from head to toe; trying to remind myself to take deep breaths. This was the first time I wasn’t playing in the game, and I had anxiety just like every spectator had for my team. Everyone, including me, was rooting for us to win, and I didn’t want to disappoint. It had to be 90 degrees that day, because I could feel the sweat dripping down my face as if I had just run a marathon. My nerves didn’t help either, because it just made me sweat even more. When I grabbed the handle to open the door, my hand almost slid off because they were so sweaty. My friend’s dad grabbed it, and opened it for me. After I walked in I was handed a yellow and black brochure that said “Seton Academy” in big bold black letters. I found my name listed inside next to all the 8th graders on my team. It was St. Agnes vs. Marsh, and it was going to be an exhilarating game. We had worked hard all season to stay undefeated, which led us to the opportunity to play in the championship that day. I walked into the gym which was about 10 degrees hotter than outside, because of the extra bodies stacked closely together, and that’s when it started.

After the 7th period bell rang, I rushed to the locker room. Walking into the locker room, every one of us started screaming and yelling football talk. "Time to kick some ass," I yelled over and over as I put on my pads. After we all suited up, we received the pre-game talk from the coaches. We then ran out of the locker room, punched the lockers on the way out and screamed all the way onto the field. Then we started warm ups. For me, this was the most anxious time of game day.

Now our coach was talking about the offense plays we were going to run and defensive set we are going play. He told us about the keys players on that team. Finally he told us that they are more talented team then we are but have stronger heart. That made us to get pumped for the game. We were screaming, yelling, and some were throwing things. My teammates were ready to play, but I wasn't ready. I didn't want this game to being, because I know this would be the last one with my buddies. I told myself, to make this moment special for me and for my teammates. So that I could come to it later in my

One sweaty game later, the people in the bleachers cheered us on at our victory. I beamed, even through no one could really see it. I was literally the best thing that could happen to this team. It felt amazing to body slam so many people and yet not break any rules or bones. Holding that leather ball and slamming it down against the green grass under my cleats excited me and sent shivers up my spine. I could tell the rest of the team felt the same as me, since we all group-hugged with no awkwardness what so

As we got into the stadium is was very much a shock to me because I come from a small town with a small high school. The atmosphere of this stadium was much more different than what I remember of mine. Back at home it felt like the entire town came out to the game while at this game a ton of students and not as many parents but lots. So during the first half we kind of just observed the students, we watched what they were doing, what they were saying, and how they were acting. A vast majority of the girls were barely dressed, couples were participating in much more than just a simple back rub and the language was pretty vile. What really shocked me is how the adults and younger kids were acting. Literally, the high schoolers and adults were acting the same. The same actions, same skimpy dressing, and same terrible language. And the little kids were not acting the way little kids should be acting. Also the treatment of women for all ages was far less then what it should be: remarks were made, terrible words were said, and inappropriate contact was exchanged. We also looked at the division of student groups in the stands. This really brought me back to the lunch table model. If you looked into the stands you could see each individual “lunch table”; the Cheerleaders were cheering, the jocks were playing, the “emo’s” were talking with each other, the partiers were being rude, and many more groups. One thing that really shocked me

The energy picked up as the game progressed and eventually the stands were on their feet. From this experience, I learned to understand the culture of the student body better and to level my expectation to the size of the school.

As I glided back to the bench I heard the crowd roar. It was the loudest crowd I had ever played in front of and I had just maxed out the volume. A sense of we got this came over the whole team as we entered the locker room between the second and third period.

“One, two, LGU, goooooo United!” We ran out to the field, full of energy. I jumped up, slapping the crossbar with my glove. I always do this before most games that I play as the goalie, hoping that it will give me luck. It was a beautiful day for soccer. It was a bit hot, but we had three substitutes, so we were set. There was a slight breeze, but it wasn’t enough to blow the ball in any certain direction. This was our second game in the tournament, and we came out determined. We hadn’t lost in four games, and we weren’t going to stop now. The field wasn’t great- it had some rough patches near the goal -but that was okay. Most fields had rough spots like this, and I had grown accustomed to it. I flashed back to the last time we had played MVLA (the team we were against) in a tournament. We had lost. I remembered the sad faces, bent heads, and the gloom that seemed to hang over everything. We had waited a long time for this game. I had practiced extra hard in preparation for this tournament. I was nervous, but that fueled my determination to win. I closed my eyes, trying to get into my “zone”.

Unlike all other game days, this one is very special. We take on UC San Diego in hopes of securing a playoff spot. My emotions have been running all over the place, and no it’s not because I am a young adult trying to get through college. I have been playing soccer for 15 years already so it is safe to say that soccer is my life. All I do is constantly train to get better and improve as much as I can and today is my chance to showcase my talent at the highest level I’ve played at so far. It’s my second year at SFSU and my second year playing soccer here and with 20 games already recorded for me at the school, I should be coming into the game with a cool head but I am far from it.