This I Believe
I believe that nothing worth doing is easy. At age eight, I started playing soccer. My dad was the coach. He often took me to a field to practice, just the two of us. Soon, I stood out because I had been practicing with my dad, in addition to participating in team practice. My dad was hard on me during games. He wanted it to be obvious that I earned my playing time so that it didn’t look like favoritism when he put me on the field. When I played poorly, my dad yelled at me.
Soon, I started practicing on my own. It was not always fun, not even half the time. I got frustrated trying to learn how to juggle the soccer ball and how to take a proper shot. In the winter, I played indoor soccer, and I practiced my footskills along with a Brazilian guy on a soccer instruction DVD. Countless times, my frustration caused me to break into tears. It sucked to have to go to the backyard and work on my skills when I would rather play with my Barbies and Bratz. I practiced most days of the week, if not everyday.
Soccer started to become a huge part of my life. I started to play club soccer. We went to tournaments and games, and I started to play on multiple teams per season. I saw that the work I put in on my own showed on the field. I had a better touch and shot, I could juggle the ball numerous
times (my current record is 213), and I got faster and stronger. Seeing the benefits of this practice inspired me to practice even more. It was a cycle.
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| Soccer girl probs |
In ninth grade, I practiced with a team in Syracuse every Sunday for around a month. None of the players talked to me, and they were cliquey. It was not fun at all. Now, I am more inclusive of newcomers on and off the field. Another time, I tried out for the Olympic Development Program. I made it past the first few rounds and then got cut. It broke my heart, but it allowed me to reevaluate myself and motivated me to get better. Last year, I tore my ACL during the varsity season. There are no words for how badly it sucked that I couldn’t play soccer for seven months.
Although I still play soccer, lately, I’ve realized that I won’t always be playing soccer. That’s a hard idea for me to swallow. The lessons that I have learned and will continue to learn about myself on my soccer journey will stick with me for the rest of my life. I will reflect on them during my future endeavors, and they will be part of my story. Soccer has been tough at times, yet I never quit, and that proves to me that nothing worth doing is easy.
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