Soccer is the most exciting game I’ve ever played in my life. Strategy, skills, tricks, position , fun, and excitement when combined with each other make this a beautiful game. At the age of ten, for the first time I touched the ball with my feet and it was like the best feeling I ever had towards any sport and after then we used to play this game every day on streets . Wait a minute on streets? Yes, a solid rock ground with no cushioning of grass and the stones plays the role for the pole.
Rules were pretty simple the fattest one would be a goalkeeper, a goal would be awarded if the ball crosses between the stones, no corner or outside, no referee and if there is a referee and he gives red card there would be a huge chance he’ll end up getting beat up. There were only two ways by which match can be stopped, the first one is when all the players got tired and the second one, if a ball’s owner is offended, he takes the ball home and the match is over. I grew up playing soccer and watching soccer, basically soccer was my addiction.
It all started in June when High school summer conditioning began. It was challenging because all the players wanted to prove something. As the weeks of summer went by, the conditioning got harder. In the final week, I suffered a terrible accident. I was defending the ball and then out the corner of my eye I saw a big muscular boy flying in the air, pushed me so hard and I fall like a crashing plane, ” rolling and rolling and rolling ” and finally booom. Blank…. I was unable to hear anything or speak anything , all I can see is random lights flashing one after another.
I felt like my right leg was being squeezed like lemon. After I regained my consciousness I decided to quit the game because sometimes things can get real ugly. I think no athlete wants to end his career on an injury but I did. I would rather sit in the class than to play soccer. Months and months passed and I didn’t even look at the game . But one day miracle happened: , the game I used to be afraid of, once again became my favorite game. While watching T. V I heard a quote given by Victor Valdes (soccer player) ” Injuries can never be used as excuses.”
From then onwards I decided never to back down again. Soccer taught me, I need to learn how to face challenges in my life . And at the time , it is funny how you can look at something and say for example with my leg injury, when it first happened I said this is the worst thing that could happen to me. Why me, Why now? Now I look back and say it was probably best thing that happened to me. After this incident , I wanted to live the life, a different life. I didn’t want to go to the same place every day and see the same people and do the same job.
I want interesting challenges which improves my life. Tomorrow I have football trails for my high school team. The main reason I am worried is that it is an open trail. Who so ever wants to go, can go. Therefore I don’t know of any advantage I might have. I am quite nervous as I haven’t played football in 3 months and the football I did play before was five players on one side and this is eleven . I was talking to someone today and I was told that they are looking for around 15 players. Also, I have never played for a team. It was a 8 or 9 a side match with friends down the park.
I wasn’t the terrible but I wasn’t the best either. Do you guys have any tips or advice for tomorrow? ” ” Don’t over think it , just turn up and own the opposition” ” Good luck just keep to your team plan, just relax and play to your best abilities” Somebody has rightly said that friends are always there for you. On the day of trail, I could feel the confidence flowing through my veins which helped me getting through the trails. After weeks of weeks of training , A day comes that we all waited for , selection for playing eleven.
A list does not have my name in it . When I asked my coach that why can’t I be in the playing eleven he just said five words ” You are not good enough” which makes me numb for about 10 seconds . But I realized that I need to get better in order to be make my identity in this game. I started working very hard trying to make myself better and better , Practiced a lot to gain more and more skills . I was the one who always reached before the practice and the last one to leave . I practiced day and night trying to achieve that level.
Every morning when I would wake up, often with the ball next to me, the game would be the first thing to pop up in my head. Just like every other night, the dream would be that of me, uniformed and ready, forming part of a recognized club team, where it always fills up with thousands upon thousands of roaring fans, cheering so loud that I can barely hear my own breathing. The dripping sweat exiting my body, rushes with thrill to every single cell in my body and score the greatest goal ever known in history. This would wake me up with a smile on my face.
In our first match I didn’t get the chance to play , as our team already had three forwards and Being a fourth forward was difficult to replace any of these forwards. It was when I got a chance in a second match after the half time I was substituted with one of the forward . As I glare at the ball then the goal. Ball again’ then goal. I started sprinting up to the multi colored ball. I strike it perfectly. Perfect follow through. The inside bend curving the ball just right . As I watch the ball soaring through the air , the sun puts a glare on the ball .
I have lost sight of it in the sun . I close my eyes and hear the ball sliding on the side net. I glanced up and I start sheering, jumping up and down, I just won the game for the team . Another reason why I love soccer is because it takes a lot of team effort. So much you wouldn’t even imagine. If one person doesn’t try on the team or doesn’t give 100% your whole team loses. There is no I in team and that was the first thing I learned during my soccer career. Team effort is what I love, you have to work with your team and communicate with everyone to take the ball up the field and score.
My coach always says ” Soccer is simple but it is difficult to play simple ” And that’s true sometimes I think it gets too aggressive cause people get hurt a lot more than you would think . We as a team won many matches and I learned the meaning of team work or may be not ! When in the finals I got the ball started dribble . I was about to kick. When a player slides cutting through the grass. the air pushes the crippled grass upwards. shows the ball wrong way , I jumped and lost the ball . That match we lost 4-0.
He said we lost because we couldn’t connect 3 passes without getting the ball taken away. And we have no team effort. That game every one was greedy . They wanted to score more and more goals and they didn’t care what anyone said. I admit that I was one of them But team effort is what wins the game. Soccer is just not a game it is like a teacher which according to me teaches all the things which are being taught in the class . It shows how to face challenges in life, what are the importance of friends, the result of hard work, and also how teamwork works.
