"Goal Kick, 2002, by er"

From MemoryArchive

Who: er
What: Goal Kick
When: May 2002
Where: jennings county

Goal Kick

Today was the day and I was scared to death. I had my cleats on and I was waiting by the door. In about fifteen minutes my mom would say that it was time to go. Would they hate me or would we be best friends? This question haunted me the whole way there. The car pulled up to the field. It was finally time to fly the coop. I was off to my first soccer practice.

Three weeks prior to the day my friend Angie had told me about the game soccer and how much she loved it. She had also informed me that she thought that I would be pretty good at it. So I being the curious type that I am decided to check it out. So I got signed up at the YMCA and patiently awaited the schedule. It came and now I am attending my first ever, for real, soccer practice. I walked slowly across the field and was met halfway by a strange man. He introduced himself as Brian Grigsby. He then walked me over to meet the team. I automatically felt a sense of familiarity only moment after meeting them. All my fears had been relieved in a moment.

After Brian finished the introductions he told us he had a surprise for us. He pulled a long rope from his bag and asked us all to gather in the middle of the field. He told us that we might as well get nice and acquainted with one another. Then he tied us together. Yes, literally tied us together like in the movie Mighty Ducks 2.

The point of this drill he said was to teach us that we are one team and not twelve individuals. It took us almost ten minutes to figure it out but eventually got and slowly began to understand. Halfway through this practice I realized that I wasn’t in the right place. These kids were fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen years old, and I was only ten. So I told my dad and he talked to the coach and figured out that my team was practicing on the next field over. Brian told me that I was welcome to stay and play with his team but Dad thought it better that I went to the other one. So we quickly walked over there and met my other coach. I don’t remember her name, but I soon realized I would have enjoyed Brian’s team a lot more. It was almost embarrassing that I had been in the wrong spot, but not entirely. I missed the new people that I had met on Brian’s team but I made some of my life time friends while playing on this team.

Two weeks later we played our first game, and guess what? WE WON!!!!!! She put me on defense and I became one with the position. I started every game and played most of every game. For a while I was content with the position. Then I realized that I wanted more. I wanted to be able to score. So I started working my butt off in practices and showing the coach what I really could do. I did this for about a week and didn’t get a result. Then at our next practice she pulled me aside and told me that she wanted to try me as forward. I was ecstatic and couldn’t believe my ears. The next game we played I started as a forward and I automatically felt as comfortable there as on defense. I scored two goals and assisted on one. I fell in love with the game and still play to this very day. I sort of just stumbled onto the game and it turned out to be a passion of mine. I can’t get enough of it. I have even thought of becoming a coach at the local YMCA we I finish school. Like I said before I LOVE the game. Its my life and I wouldn’t have it any other way.