When I was in the 4th grade, all of my friends played soccer and I wanted to play it, too. They all played at the rec department, so when it was the next season, I signed up to play with them.
When I want to learn, I like to figure things out by myself. So I tried to figure out how to kick the ball where I wanted it to go and I finally got it. My friends and my coaches helped me a lot every season and I was starting to get the hang of the game. I spent every day outside playing soccer to try and be as good as my friends that had been playing since they were 3 or 4 years old.
Through the years, I played with so many people and I was coached by a lot, too. I loved all my teammates and coaches and I still do. But one day after practice at the rec department, my mother pulled me away from everybody and told me that my favorite coach had passed away while I was playing. Soon everybody knew and people quietly went home because everybody was sad. I was upset about it for a long time, especially when I was playing soccer because that was all I could think about. When I’m upset, for some reason I can’t play. It’s like I’ve never seen a ball before in my life. Since every time I went to play that was all I thought about; I didn’t play good at all. But later, I thought about how much of a good coach he was and how much he had taught me, and that he would want all of the kids he coached to keep playing and to keep getting better at the sport. After I thought that, I was comfortable with playing again. So when it came time I started playing school soccer again and I was a lot better than I was the last time I had played-just because of that. This year our team got three times as many wins and more than double the goals that we had last season. We’ve had one of the best girl’s soccer teams I think the school has ever had. Through that experience I learned that if somebody close to you dies, don’t let the most important thing they taught you die with them.