Personal Narrative: Bishop Hendricken High School

I wish I could include a picture of me playing soccer with this essay because that was all I did from age five to fifteen. Soccer was life for ten years so most people are surprised to hear that the fall of my senior year in high school I will Captain of my high school Cross Country team. How I became Captain of a running sport is an accomplishment I never saw coming. If you had asked me in elementary school, middle school, or even my first two years of high school if I would do anything but play soccer I would have said never. I am the youngest of three boys.

This is the reminiscence of my first soccer game that I refereed. I was volunteering for the local soccer league as they needed assistance. As a fourteen-year old, I did not know what to expect. All I could think about was the roaring of the parents, and how much pressure was on my shoulders to make the right calls. It was ironic since I was refereeing a game for thirteen-year old players.

I was lost. Friends were not at my disposal. Time was in abundance. Thoughts was all i had. Freshman through Christmas break of my sophomore year I attended Berks Catholic High School, but before that I graduated from a feeder school named Scared Heart School.

Then, tragedy struck the team; three of our fastest girls were injured and out for the season. Now, I wasn’t happy about them being sidelined, but it did finally give me a chance to recover my placement from the beginning of sophomore year. I wanted to help lead the team to state, and with what my coach had previously said, it didn’t appear to be too far out of my reach. However, “too far” should have been followed by an asterisk, as my season soon spiraled out of my

While soccer is singled out as one of my very strong passions, I find myself playing harder and smarter during school soccer. With the help of Craig Rocastle, former professional soccer player and the current coach of Seaman High School, we are undergoing one of the best seasons Seaman High has ever had. Presently after seven games we have yet to face defeat; furthermore, Rocastle pushes our team to the limits and states, “We will fly, I am proud of our season so far but there is still another level in us.” As our team enter each game with new mentalities and expectations we are; in fact, becoming a better team while also handling the task at hand and winning the game.

The first two tryouts came and I was fairly confident I would make the team, but waiting for that email was one of the most nerve-wracking times in my life. I was sitting in my bed, waiting for the email to show up. I was a river of sweat. My heart was beating while I opened the message; Congratulations on making the boys soccer team; I was ecstatic and couldn’t wait to start the season.

Through the adversities that accompany senior year, I have worked hard to propel my academic career, develop my leadership, and to have a successful soccer season. I recently had a conversation with the instructional superintendent, Anthony Smith, and he equated high school with a 400 meter race. As the race concludes and fatigue attacks, I continue to sprint towards my objectives. In the first semester, I applied to seven universities and I was admitted to all of them. I decided and committed to Colorado State University.

Soccer has been an integral part of my life since childhood. My love affair with the beautiful game began at the age of six, thanks to my parents who signed me up for the local youth league. As I grew older, my passion intensified and I participated in various soccer programs, including clubs, camps, and private training sessions, hoping that one day I would become skilled enough to represent my high school team on the varsity level. However, fate had other plans for me until last season, which marked the first and only opportunity thus far for me to don the blue and white colors as a member of our boys' varsity team. It was a privilege to finally be counted among the ranks after two consecutive years spent languishing on the sidelines as a

in my mind i had put a goal for next year to make it in varsity. We did not meet the rest of our team and coach formally until the next day where we would have our first practice. Coach eric had already an idea of what our starting 11, our formation that we were going to use was 4-4-2 diamond, our goalie was braulio, the four in the back were jayden and jared in the center and seth on the right and aron on the left , i was as a cam or a center attacking mid ,carlos and mauricio on the wings and james as a cdm, our strikers were sebastian and javier. At the end we were told when our first game was. After about 6 games we had a game in north branch where something terrible and good would happen to me.

All good things must come to an end at sometime so that a new chapter in life can open up. For me that was my last year of high school soccer. As i look back are many bitter sweet memories and feelings on why it’s the sport I love. The atmosphere of playing on a cool and dark night, hearing the crowd cheer as the game goes on. The adrenaline rush you get when your team scores, and the sadness you feel when your team gets scored on.

Above all, soccer has taught me that the mastery of a skill can only be attained through prolonged dedication and persistence. Playing alongside the Vaughan and Richmond Hill soccer clubs, I have grown to appreciate the journey to the top as much as I do the final victory itself. The Canadian Soccer League and Lake Simcoe championship trophies, composed of stainless nickel and rouge ribbons, are meaningless without the hard work and consistent practice sessions needed to win them. All in all, soccer can provide a sense of diligence, especially to the youth, which is what motivated me to run a soccer program for students

By the time I was thirteen I had been playing soccer in my city for nine years, and saw it as no more than a social event with running. I was never on the team that won the championship until 2013. When I showed up for the first practice all I saw was older girls, which made me nervous and anxious. I didn’t know it then, but these eight girls that I just met would be a big part of my life for the next five years. The day we won the championship was a turning point in my life.

Nothing was more important to me than was getting on that field and impressing the coaching staff of the freshman team, after all I didn’t come to any of the summer practices because I was out of the country in Dubai with my uncle for the summer and also stopped by Sudan to visit my grandpa. I had no choice but to go there and work harder than anyone else out there. The School day is over and I’m heading over to the

Through two of my most favorite things at Mendocino High School; soccer and my yearbook class, I have been able to grow exponentially. Although I’ve been playing soccer since the age of seven, it has especially been a tremendous part of my life the last two years. The end of my sophomore year, myself and a few close friends rallied for a soccer team, due to the fact that our school hadn’t had a boy’s or girl’s team in years. Once all our work paid off and we had successfully obtained a team my junior year, we were star-struck with this goal we had accomplished together. Therefore, once the season of my senior year rolled around, I began appreciating every little thing we began doing more every practice.

“Fhweeoooo! Halftime” , yelled the referee. Coming back from the field I knew that we were about to get a mouthful of yelling from Coach Vernon. Starting the game 0-2 in a championship game was not pleasant. “ WHAT WERE YOU GUYS DOING ON THE FIELD” , he yelled viciously. “ I want to see everybody on the field hustling and playing the game of soccer seriously so that we can bring home the trophy”, he said.