My Soccer Lesson

My Soccer Lesson

It's five more minutes on the stop clock. My team losing by a goal. Shot fired! Shot missed! Unbelievable, I missed! How? it was well timed and accurately placed. I have let everyone down, my team, my family and most importantly myself. Playing soccer for a team was one of my major goals in my early teenage years. It didn't matter what team I would play for, I just wanted to play. For the first time I felt I could actually be doing something I loved. I had trials with many local teams and coaches, but they all rejected me because of my age. I knew I was strong and well determined, but none of those coaches saw that probably because of my skinny stature. I finally found a new local team which were deep need for players so I seized that opportunity to become a Team member.

Despite that the team was a new team and had inexperienced players, I had little playing time. I had to so somehow come up with a way to prove myself to the coach. Luckily for me, a teammate sustained an injury in training three days before a match.I knew this was a chance to secure a spot in the first team. I begged the coach for a chance, promising he wouldn't regret.
The math day finally arrived and I was well prepared, however I was overconfident.
My happiness overwhelmed my determination. The sight of my opponents was frightful but it seemed not to matter, I have waited and here was my chance to seize the spotlight. The match turned out badly. I struggled almost throughout the whole match. I have never played so poorly; my legs couldn't communicate with my brain. The concept of Teamwork completely escaped my mind. I had the opportunity to redeem my team from defeat In the dying hours of the game; I took the shot alone when I could simply have passed to a better opened teammate. After the match, I swore never to play
again. After a week, I got over my disappointment and went back to training. I expected My coach to scold me harshly for my performance and attitude after the game, rather He gave a heartwarming speech. He offered me to take that day off and reflect over my last game. I went back home and did exactly as he said. I understood about myself that although I could be really passionate about something, I was so easy to give up. I knew why I couldn't complete anything and why I wasn't doing so well academically. I also learnt that no one could be an Island of himself and that my selfishness was depriving me from being successful.

I applied all I learnt not only to my soccer career but to all aspects of my life in general. I began to notice quite some improvements in my grades. I began thinking of people almost as equally as myself. I began to work with others and also tolerate people's behavior. I was selected to play other matches, my maturity and gameplay began to build up gradually with every match I played. Although it took a while to get my name on a score sheet. I felt what it was to have team chemistry. My coached congratulated me on my improvements and promised me more game time more than before. I remain thankful to God for revealing the truth about myself in a rather stranger way than I would have expected.