My favorite thing in the world is to play competitive soccer. I started playing soccer as a kid, here and there but just 3 years ago I started to play for Trysa and this last year for The Emporia Soccer Academy. The reason why I love to play soccer is that I love to run around and talk to my friends and that is what soccer is. Well, it’s a little more serious and with a ball and objective.

One thing I like about soccer is all of the feelings you get when playing a game. When you first get on the turf, fields feel amazing under your feet because they are perfectly flat and the ball moves amazingly. Then you start to warm up. You start to feel the butterflies in your stomach from the big game you’re going to have to play in just a few minutes. During your warm-up, you can feel intimidated if the other team is really big and their players are tall, or you can feel like this is going to be an easy game because they are a small team, but no matter the size it could go good or bad for you.

Right before the game starts you get told who the starters are and then you huddle up in a group and your coach gives you some last-minute advice. Then it’s like a competition on which the team can be the loudest. The most nervous part is when you’re running onto the field right before the ref blows the whistle. When the whistle sounds the team with the ball passes and the other team attacks.

The best feeling in the whole game Is when you score a goal. Even though I’m in defense so I do not get that opportunity very often, I still have made a goal before. I usually play sweeper or stopper because the stopper needs speed and fast thinking and the sweeper needs to be patient and good with their choices. When I was a stopper and we had a corner kick my team kicked the ball in and the other team headed the ball right to me, and I was just standing behind the big group of people after I got the ball I just kicked the ball right into the top right corner of the goal! It was the best feeling I have ever had.

Three years ago I started to play Trysa soccer for 2 years, The first year was my favorite out of the two. My coach actually knew what he was doing. I remember that once we had a game in the freezing cold rain and everyone was moving very slow. The second year in Trysa my coach was new so we as a team had to help him out every now and then, he also had knee surgery so he was gone for a while but we still had an assistant coach there.

In the Academy which I only just now joined this season, I have had a lot more fun and more challenging times. Unlike in Trysa, the coaches had some playing experience themselves and they knew all the best drills and warmups. We have games every other weekend, we won our first game and lost are second and then we have won all of our games since. We have had 1 tournament so far and we won all of our games except for the last one. We tied at full time then we had two golden goals which are basically the first team to score wins. After that, it was still tied so then we went to free kicks which we have not really practiced. So, that is how we lost that game, but we still got 2nd. We are going to have two more games this weekend and then in like 1 month, we are having another tournament. After the soccer season ends, as a team, we are going to start “Futsal”.

In conclusion, I want you to go out and play any sport you like. Even if it is not soccer, just pick one and keep practicing and soon enough you will get very good.