Narrative Pt 1

Throughout my life soccer has always been an important part of my life. For as long as I can remember my parents and I were always very passionate about the sport. We would always gather in the living room to scream and cheer all together while watching some of our favorite teams play. Being raised by a family that grew up playing soccer, I got the lucky opportunity to start playing young. Ever since I got involved in the sport I was always got the honor of being made captain of the team, all the way from early elementary school until the end of high school. I played for multiple clubs outside of school, but after also played for my middle school and high school teams. I loved every aspect about the sport. Soccer has not only helped me physically but mentally as well. Yes there was the physical benefits such as staying active, in shape, and healthy; but to me soccer was and still is a lot more than just the physical benefits. Joining my first soccer team was one of the most opening experiences as well as one of the most impactful and life changing decisions I made. Growing up I was always considered an introvert; I was always quiet and shy, but on the field all of that fear and anxiety would completely disappear. On the field I was able to be myself, I was able to release any kind of negative energy, and most importantly I was surrounded by a community. Being the shy kid I was, I would constantly feel alone, but when I played with my team I felt apart of something much greater. People would constantly notice and mention that I have natural skills and that I am a good player which felt great. But even better than that was the fact that I was able to lead my team; as a captain I did not necessarily “control” my team but I would definitely lead and motivate them, and they listened. They looked to me for advice. It was one of the first times I experienced the feeling of leading a group raising my esteem a lot more. Not only has soccer helped me become more open and a better leader, but it has taught me plenty of life lessons, some of which have shaped me into the adult I am today and others which I still use to this day. Soccer has taught me many life lessons for example, not to give up. No matter if my team was winning or losing, no matter if we had all the energy at the beginning of the match or gasping for air during the last minutes of the game, I along with my team was always taught to give it our all, to put 110% because if you don’t then you never know what you could’ve achieved rather than knowing you lost trying; and this goes for multiple situations in life. Soccer also showed me that practice really does lead to perfection. Since I first started playing up until now my skills have significantly improved, which was only possible due to the amount of practice, time, and dedication I put into it. I learned that one can’t expect to become better at something without putting the effort; one has to keep striving in order to be successful. Out of all of the lessons soccer has taught me I think the most valuable lesson I took away from the sport was to have respect for others. Sportsmanship is one of the biggest and most beautiful factors of the sport. When playing not only did I have respect for my teammates, but even for the other team. If someone got injured both teams take a knee out of respect. Playing against the opposing team I would see the same passion that everyone had while playing, and i figured why create tension over whoever wins or loses when you can show respect to both sides for trying their hardest. This sport has taught me to place myself in the position of other and treat others the way I would like to be treated. Soccer has helped me grow and mature, the sport has helped shape me into the person I am today. I am still very passionate and try to be as involved as possible in soccer, but even though I no longer play the sport for any teams I can still apply the lessons I was taught to other situations and I will always carry on the lessons I learned.

Narrative Pt 1 Revised

Futbol, also known as soccer, is one of the most popular and most well known sports in the world. Over 200 million people play and are familiar with the sport. For those of you who lack information on the beautiful game, soccer is a sport where the objective is to score by successfully getting the ball into the other team’s net or goal. It is a divided between offense and defense, and all players are constantly running up and down the field, so it is very fast paced action. You are allowed to use any body part except your hands and elbows. For many people soccer is a very competitive organized sport. For others it is an everyday, fun activity.

Throughout my life soccer has always been an important part of my life. For as long as I can remember my parents and I were always very passionate about the sport. We would always gather in the living room to scream and cheer all together while watching some of our favorite teams play. There was never a game that I did not enjoy watching, and I definitely had no issue being glued to the couch to watch. Being raised by a family that grew up playing soccer, I thankfully got the lucky opportunity to start playing young. I got signed up for my first soccer camp at the age of 6, and ever since I got involved in the sport I was always got the honor of being made captain of the team, all the way from early elementary school until the end of high school. I played for multiple clubs outside of school, but after elementary, I also played for my middle school and high school teams. I loved every aspect about the sport. Soccer has not only helped me develop physically, but mentally as well.

Yes there was the physical benefits such as staying active, in shape, and healthy; but to me soccer was and still is a lot more than just the physical benefits. Joining my first soccer team was one of the most opening experiences as well as one of the most impactful and life changing decisions I made. Growing up I was always considered an introvert; I was always quiet, shy, and nervous, but on the field all of that fear and anxiety would completely disappear. On the field while playing, I was able to be myself, I was able to release any kind of negative energy, and most importantly I was surrounded by a community. Being the shy kid I was, I would constantly feel alone, but when I played with my team I felt apart of something much greater, I felt like a had people to watch my back. People would constantly notice and mention that I have natural skills and that I am a good player which felt great, but an even better feeling than that was the fact that I was able to lead my team. As a captain I did not necessarily “control” my team but I would definitely lead and motivate them, and they listened. They looked to me for advice. It was one of the first times I experienced the feeling of guiding and leading a person let alone a whole team, and because of this my self esteem improved a lot more.

Not only has soccer helped me become a more open individual and a better leader, but it has taught me plenty of life lessons, some of which have shaped me into the adult I am today, and others which I still use to this day to help get me through everyday situations. Soccer has taught me many life lessons, one example of these lessons is, never to give up. Whenever my team and I played a game, no matter if my team was winning or losing, no matter if we had all the energy at the beginning of the match or gasping for air during the last minutes of the game, I along with my team was always taught to give it our all, to put 110%, because if you don’t then you never know what you could’ve achieved rather than knowing you lost trying; and this goes for multiple situations in life. Soccer also showed me that practice really does lead to perfection. Since I first started playing up until now my skills have significantly improved, which was only possible due to the amount of practice, time, and dedication I put into it. I learned that one can never expect to become better at something without putting the effort; one has to keep striving in order to be successful. Out of all of the lessons soccer has taught me I personally think the most valuable lesson I took away from the sport was to have respect for all others. In soccer sportsmanship is one of the biggest and most beautiful factors of the sport. When playing not only did I have respect for my teammates, but even for the other team. If someone got injured both teams take a knee out of respect. While playing against the opposing team, I would notice not only my team but our opponents all putting in the same passion and effort into the match, and that led me to realize why create tension over whoever wins or loses when you can show respect to both sides for trying their hardest.

So yes, I can definitely say this sport has changed my life, it has taught me to place myself in the position of others and treat others the way I would like to be treated. Soccer has helped me grow and mature, the sport has helped shape me into the person I am today. I am still very passionate and try to be as involved as possible in soccer, but even though I no longer play the sport for any teams I can still apply the lessons I was taught to other situations and I will always carry on the lessons I learned.

Narrative Pt 1 Final Draft

Futbol, also known as soccer, is one of the most popular and most well known sports in the world. Over 200 million people play and are familiar with the sport. For those of you who lack information on the beautiful game, soccer is a sport where the objective is to score by successfully getting the ball into the other team’s net or goal. It is a divided between offense and defense, and all players are constantly running up and down the field so it is very fast paced action. You are allowed to use any body part except your hands and elbows. For many people soccer is a very competitive organized sport. For others it is an everyday, fun activity.

Throughout my life soccer has always been an important part of my life. For as long as I can remember my parents and I were always very passionate about the sport. We would always gather in the living room to scream and cheer all together while watching some of our favorite teams play. There was never a game that I did not enjoy watching, and I definitely had no issue being glued to the couch to watch. Being raised by a family that grew up playing soccer, I thankfully got the lucky opportunity to start playing young. On both my mom’s and dad’s side of the family, everyone played soccer. In fact my grandpa and my uncle on my moms side were both pros for the Ecuador national league. I got signed up for my first soccer camp at the age of 6, and ever since I got involved in the sport I was always got the honor of being made captain of the team, all the way from early elementary school until the end of high school. I played for multiple clubs outside of school, but after elementary, I also played for my middle school and high school teams. I loved every aspect about the sport. Soccer has not only helped me develop physically, but mentally as well.

One of my most surreal memories was, around the age of 15, when i got invited for the third executive year to play the all star game. In the club outside of school that I was playing for, at the end of the season, the league picks the best players from all the teams apart of the club from all around the state to play the all star game. I got honored to play every year since I joined, but this one game was different.

I was apart of this club for 2 years prior to this game, and have been invited to play the all star game both years. Even though the team I was with lost both years, I always looked forward to playing this specific match because the intensity was through the roof. Every player was very skilled and poured out their heart on the field. Everyone including myself put all their effort into the game, which I loved. When I got the news that I was invited to play for the third time not only was I thrilled but also extremely motivated. I wanted to make this game different from the rest. I wanted to win. I had 1 month to prepare until game day, and I used everyday to my advantage. I would practice for long hard hours on a daily basis. 30 days later and it was finally the day of the game. My parents, my sister and I, all had to wake up extremely early to start our drive to Orlando which is where the game was being hosted. After 4 long and slow hours of sitting in our car we finally arrived.

Upon arrival each team had exactly 1 hour to assemble, find their team, and practice. Each year the players are invited individually not knowing who is going to be playing with them. You only get to meet your teammates the day of, so you have to become familiar and learn people’s names within the hour. Luckily in my case since I’ve already played in the all star game I knew some of the players from previous years which helped improve our team chemistry, but even with that there were more faces that I was unfamiliar with. While practicing I was able to become familiar with most if not all of my new teammates. Then the hour was over, and it was time to begin. My coach not only assigned me captain, but he also put me in as a starter to play defense. From what I remember for some reason I was a lot more nervous than the previous all star games I played, but i had to fight through the nerves. As I was standing on the field I was becoming aware of everything, I was mentally preparing myself, and then the ref blew the whistle indicating that the game has started.

After the first 45 minutes the first half was over. So far the game has been absolutely insane, everyone was giving it their all, but of course my team was not winning. The score read 2-1, and looking around at my team I can tell many of them were losing hope. As a captain I did what I do best, motivate. I gathered my team in a huddle and began motivating all my teammates, I spoke firmly and loudly to assure that everyone heard me. I reminded everyone that we still had a chance and that we can not give up, then the whistles blew again and it was time to begin the second half.

All my teammates where playing amazing, there was about 20 minutes left in the game when things took a turn of events. We got possession and next thing you know.. GOAL! My team tied up the game with still 20 minutes remaining, everyone including the crowd was going crazy, filled with joy, but it wasn’t over yet. Both teams still had a very likely chance of scoring. The game continued strong, 5 minutes left in the game and everyone was started to believe that the game would end in a tie. Then the unbelievable happened, I was able to steal the ball from an opponent, and that’s when I knew, it was now or never. I immediately began sprinting with all my might down the side of the field, and as I was approaching the opponents goal I looked up to see my teammate in the center wide open so I hoped for the best and crossed the ball in, and then… GOAL! My teammate scored, I was so in shock, then the sound of the 3 whistles and the game was finished. The rest of the team on the bench all ran to the middle of the field and we were all screaming, hugging, and celebrating. My team came back and won, it was such a surreal experience.

After the game both teams shook hands and congratulated each other, then of course we all had to deal with all the parents and family members wanting to take pictures. Once that was all over, my parents and sister surprised me by taking me out to eat at my favorite restaurant and also by getting us a really nice 5 star hotel room in Orlando.

Even though i no longer play the sport for personal reasons, I am still very passionate and try to be as involved as possible in soccer as it has changed my life. Soccer has helped me grow and mature, it has helped shape me into the person I am today, and even though I no longer play the sport for any teams I can still apply the lessons I was taught to other everyday situations and I will always carry on the lessons I learned.