Personal Narrative: How Soccer Has Affected My Life

I first played soccer recreationally when I was 5. When I was in 7th grade, I finally had the chance to try out for the Modified team and I made it. At that point, I was just an eager kid with immeasurable confidence in my ability to kick a ball. I thought I’d be an instant superstar, and was ready to take on the world! Reality kicked in after a few minutes, and I realized it was more than just kicking that ball.
At the time, I was really just interested in soccer because my friends were, I had no idea how important it would become to me. Luckily, I ended up making the team and falling head-over-heels in love with the sport. There was something about the thrill of making a great play, the energy on the sidelines, on game days and the rush of adrenaline of hoping to score a goal that had me hooked. Over the coming years, I would come to realize that even beyond being the most fun I had ever had, my participation in soccer has had an incredible important influence on my life.

It was a great release. When there were days when I was having a bad day in school or just in general, I always knew that I had something to look forward to after school. Although playing soccer didn’t stop everything bad from happening to me, it gave me the confidence to handle situations with more maturity and poise. My coaches were my mentors and they taught me what it meant to be a leader, a teammate and how important it was to always conduct yourself in the best sportsmanship way no matter how bad a situation might have gotten and to also respect each other the other team and