Soccer Narrative

I step up to the penalty kick mark and sense a drip of sweat travel down my face. This is my team's last shot, and if I do not make this we will lose. It is the biggest game of our careers, and somehow the outcome is all resting on me. I sense a pit in my stomach, like I am going to throw up, but I slowly make my way up to the line and take a deep breath in. You can do this. You've been preparing for this your whole life, I tell myself. I swing my leg back and with a force that I didn't know I had in me, I kick the ball. It flies through the air like an arrow being released from a bow, ready to kill. It lands in the upper left corner of the goal as the goalie dives the other way. I stand on the field, surveying everyone cheering, jumping, and

The aroma of freshly mowed grass was overpowering and almost overwhelming as I curved yet another ball just high above the rusted goal post of the Desert Spirit school yard. I squeezed my eyes shut in frustration. I’d spent so much time and put in so much effort just to simply be able to curve a ball into a net and after everything, my skill level seemed to amount next to nothing. My fists clenched with anger as I cursed under my breath and jogged towards the ball. Setting it down almost identically to where I’d shot the previous ball from, the ball flew wildly from my foot in desperation. It had gone farther than the first time. I threw my head back in frustration and started for the ball again, prepared to kick it harder as I got angrier. “Stay

We were going against Lexington high school. While we walked onto the field examined the other team. I had a lot of confidence in myself and tried to hype up my team and gave my team an inspiring speech when we all came together to form a circle. Next we all walked onto the field into our positions, i was starting. I was the left forward position. Forwards in soccer are the most difficult position on the field because that was the position where your suppose to score most of the points and control the offense. I was always a forward because coach said i had a lot of speed, agility, and good footwork. At this time the game had started, we had the ball first i passed it to the other forward on our team. His name was Jimmy, he was the most aggressive forward on our team. He was a great forward. At this time it was near the end of the game. The score was 3-6 we were losing terribly. Everybody on our team was tired and bummed out and lost hope. We were all tired of losing all the time. I saw the emptiness in everyone's eyes. I felt sad as well. While i was running on the field i heard our goalkeeper named Matias yell out “GRAYSON”!!. I turned around fast and forgot everything else. I saw Matias lob the ball down the other side of the field to where i was running. My eyes were all on that ball, i saw it flying in the air then falling towards me while i ran as fast as i could to catch up to it. A voice in my head just kept saying, “ just go for it!”. So i waited at the right moment to where the ball was perfectly positioned to where i was able to header the ball into the goal. Finally it was that time, i lunged into the air as high as i could, as soon as i tried to header the ball into the goal in mid air. One of the players on the opponent's team came out of nowhere!! He was so fast, i don't know where he came from. While i was still in the air he had jumped towards me to get the ball as well. At this time he had

“Why wasn’t my midfielders getting to the ball?” I thought to myself frustratedly. I had scored at least one time every game, for my indoor club team, but the last game I couldn’t. For years I played forward or right wing. We needed help back on defense, so my coach asked me to go back to left back. I don’t play defense much, because it wasn’t my strength. As we were playing, the ball was kicked to center field, and no one on my team or the other team was getting the ball. I thought to myself, “even back on defense, I could still try to score or pass the ball.” As I ran up to the ball to strike it in the goal, a girl on the other team was racing me to the ball. I turned my whole leg so that the side of my foot would

Soccer was a huge thing in my community so when one of my friends named Julio invited me to join his soccer team i got so happy i went to go buy new pairs of shoes to show them off and to this day i will never forget what those shoes were they were these blue and grey nike mercurial shoes. I went to my first game and that's when i met more people that also loved soccer like i did but they went to different schools so i didn't really know them. My team won the league and also the finals i was 8 years old when all this happened and as an award for winning the finals my team was rewarded with a huge trophy. What made that day the most memorable day of all is when i received a separate trophy and on the trophy it had written “Star player” that's when i

We were all set up on the field ready for the game, I remember closing my eyes forabout a minute before the game started, that minute felt like 10 years, I froze and thought aboutmyself when I was 3 years old and how I first fell in love with the game and how my ultimatedream was to become pro, I remember the hours of pain and suffering I put myself through tobecome the player I was today, I remembered waking up at 4 a.m. on school mornings to go forruns so that I could run longer in games,I remember skipping parties and hanging with friendsso that I could train, I remembered everything, but one thing truly hit me was how much soccerwas there for me growing up my parents argued a lot and when I was feeling sad and lonely Iwould go train at the fields and it would hell my sorrow. Growing up in a household when yourparents are constantly fighting is difficult, but soccer was my out lit it was my therapist. Duringthe time of their divorce I felt like I had no one but soccer so I decided I need to give back to thegame. Soccer did so much for me, so I wanted to prove to it that it wasn't a waste of time andthat I would make something out of the game. I opened my eyes and didn't feel human anymore Ididn't feel in control of my own body the sport had taken over me for the better. I remembermoments when I was running and it didn't even feel like my feet were touching the floor

The sharp sound of the referee’s whistle slices through the icy air, signaling the final penalty kick in the most-anticipated game of the season; the semi final of the girl’s Varsity playoffs between my school (Hamlin) and our rivals (Burkes). I, along with all my teammates, feel the enormous pressure of this game. If we loose, Burkes wins for what seems like the millionth time in a row. If we win, we have a shot at the championship and maybe even the league. My coach looks at me and tells me to go up to the line. I walk, as if in a trance, to the hash mark where I would take the fateful kick in less than a minute. I stare at the ball in front of me, paralyzed with fear. I am the last kicker and the fate of this shot is the fate of

It was a rainy day at school; I was pretty excited for the game following the school day. I was in eighth grade, and I really enjoyed soccer. Finally the end of the school day approached. I got with my team and we decided who was riding to the game with whom. The game was against Allendale, the field was not at their school, but pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Our coach was great. He had an interesting idea for that game. Instead of our usual formation with starters, we decided to put the defense on offense. I was a defender, but it was time for me to attack. I was worried, but I was also very, very excited. Well, one of our best players, Hayden, shot the ball and the goalie missed it. The ball didn’t go in though. It was stopped, not

My enjoyment of soccer started in the summer of fourth grade, in Canada. My family and I were staying at our family friends’ cabin, a tradition we do every year. The cabin is on a beach called Kai Bay and there is a ton of other cabins in the area. There is also a hotel and a park. One day I was playing at the park with my family and I saw a girl playing alone. Feeling compassion for her, I went up and started playing with her. Eventually, we got disinterested so we went back to the hotel where she was staying. There were a ton of kids that were playing a big game of soccer. At that time I had only played for one year in kindergarten. Jumping into the game, I realized just how much I enjoyed it. Stealing the ball from people and dribbling down the field with a perfect goal

We were in our positions and the whistle went off. Our midfielders had the ball. They passed to the strikers. The strikers passed and dribbled up the field. They were like a well-oiled machine. They were in the eighteen-yard box….six yard box...go….Go…..GO….GOAL! We had scored! It was a tie game! Our good luck didn’t last for long. One of the orange players had the ball in our box and I slide-tackled the ball. It was a penalty kick from inside the box, about ten feet from the goal. The kid taking the kick was tall and muscular, he was a football player on the wrong field.. He stepped back, took a breath, and shot the ball. I saw our goalie make a spectacular save, diving towards the top-left corner of the goal and barely punching the ball outside the goal. We had dodged a bullet, but the gun wasn’t empty yet. Around five minutes away from overtime, practically all of the orange team were in our box, trying to score. Sadly, to stop a goal, one of our teams defenders had to use their hands to stop a goal, which was another penalty kick ten feet from the goal, plus a yellow card for our team’s defender. It was the same kid taking the kick. He stepped back, took another breath, and shot. I looked away and heard cheering. Then, I saw my team’s offense roaring as they ran back to the middle of the field. The ball was in our keeper’s hands, and he was smiling. He had blocked the shot! Still, the game wasn’t over; it was one all and the next goal would probably win. We had the ball in the last minute of the game, before it would go into overtime. I passed to one of our midfielders, he passed to a striker, the striker dribbled to the box and shot and...SCORED! We had won the game! With one minute to spare, we did it! We won the

When game time arrived I had somehow convinced myself I was in condition to play a full soccer game. The adrenaline that was rushing through my body during the game distracted me from the bigger picture; that this could be my last time on the field for a while. That game I had scored my first and last goal on the Junior Varsity Soccer Team.

I was dribbling down the field it was just me and the goal. one on one. I felt like it took one hundred years to get to the goal box. I was finally ready to shoot. At the eighteen line. I found myself second-guessing my ability to make the game-winning shot, at the worst time possible. I went to shoot. My ankle clicked. I fell .And the goalie picked the ball up right at my feet. Thinking to myself, why did it have to be me. Why did I have to get the ball and try to make a goal, why me?

We had worked for months for this moment. We have poured our hearts into our training and this is our time to prove it. It was like time had stopped and it was all up to me. In the corner of my eye, I could see the crowd waiting in anticipation. I saw my parents watching me like a hawk and their faces, worried yet happy. I saw my little brother sitting in my mom’s lap, following the ball with his eyes as it streaked across the field. As I looked around the crowd, I saw the opponents’ parents all on the edge of their seats everybody, waiting and waiting to afraid to move a muscle. Then, it hit me, this was all up to me, my moment. As the ball came rolling to my feet through the freshly cut grass, it came to a sudden halt as it hit my foot.

“One, two, LGU, goooooo United!” We ran out to the field, full of energy. I jumped up, slapping the crossbar with my glove. I always do this before most games that I play as the goalie, hoping that it will give me luck. It was a beautiful day for soccer. It was a bit hot, but we had three substitutes, so we were set. There was a slight breeze, but it wasn’t enough to blow the ball in any certain direction. This was our second game in the tournament, and we came out determined. We hadn’t lost in four games, and we weren’t going to stop now. The field wasn’t great- it had some rough patches near the goal -but that was okay. Most fields had rough spots like this, and I had grown accustomed to it. I flashed back to the last time we had played MVLA (the team we were against) in a tournament. We had lost. I remembered the sad faces, bent heads, and the gloom that seemed to hang over everything. We had waited a long time for this game. I had practiced extra hard in preparation for this tournament. I was nervous, but that fueled my determination to win. I closed my eyes, trying to get into my “zone”.

POW! I dive left to go for the save. The game had just ended and we were now in the penalty shootout. I had to make so many saves in the game to get us to a PK shootout. Back in March, my parents signed me up for the soccer camp with a friend. Last year my parents won a ticket for the soccer camp, at first I did not want to go but since the camp was full and there were no other tickets I had to go so I did. After the first two days I really liked the camp, by the end of it I realized that it would have been more fun with a friend. This year we got a friend that could go to it this time. There were supposed to be three of us, but one of the friend’s parent forgot to sign their kid into the camp. This was my most unforgettable week of my life because this was just such a good camp, plus I got one of my highlights of my goalie career to me.