Personal Narrative Essay: My Journey To Club Soccer

“She shoots, she misses, she scores!” Throughout my childhood, soccer was the rock that kept me stable. At four years old, as I dribbled across the field with a ball at my feet, I was easily distracted by the grasshoppers bouncing from blade to blade in the grass. I fell in love with the game as I scurried around aimlessly, hoping to place the ball in the little yellow-rimmed pug net. My love for the game never subsided, but as the years went by, the game was not as simple as scoring in those little pug goals and watching the grasshoppers hop by. Seventh grade was the leap for me from childhood into adolescence. Everything was new to me: new school, new teachers, new friends, and a new soccer team. This team was special because it was my first club team. I joined club soccer because I wanted to be like everyone and else and fit in in this brand new environment. Also, I figured being on a club team would increase my chances of making the school team in the fall. Club soccer

As I jogged along with the rest of the girls through the dewy, morning grass, I reassured myself that I played club, so I would not be cut. As tryouts went on, I watched the other members of my club team, one by one, get picked apart from the crowd like grapes on a vine. I was that one squishy and soft grape left on the vine that no one wanted. On the last day of tryouts, two fields were set up, one with all my club teammates and one with me and all the other mediocre players. Their field seemed thousands of miles away from ours. I once again reassured and told myself, the coach knows I play club. She will put me on the team. My teammates were all over there, surely I would be too. I held on to this last sliver of hope the entire day, watching the clock tick slowly, my heart ticking faster and faster, until it was finally time to pick up the letter. I walked over to get it, told the coach my number, and took a deep breath as I opened