Personal Narrative: A Day Out On The Soccer Team

It had been a clear boiling summer day out on the practice fields of Saint John’s high school. Tryouts for the soccer team had just ended, and everyone, including me were anxiously awaiting the cuts. Though I was nervous, I reassured myself with this one fact, “I was on the freshman team, I am definitely not getting cut.” As I gazed up, I saw the coaches huddling and quietly discussing, my heart was in my throat. The coach slowly began to amble his way over to us grasping the dreaded clipboard. At this point, sweat was rapidly beading down my neck and face stinging my eyes. He began reading names off the list, after each name that wasn’t mine I felt a deep sigh of relief. However, on the last name that the coach called was mine, Ashwin
My self-confidence had plummeted into an abyss. I needed to find a way to dig myself out of it. To compensate for not playing on the school team, I joined a soccer team outside of school at the local athletic complex. Through each practice and game, I slowly began to feel better and better about myself. And my soccer skills were also improving as well. Every time I stepped onto the field I thought to myself, “I belong here”. I was beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Though my confidence level was nowhere near the level it was prior to tryouts, thankfully it had increased. But the important thing I learned after I got cut was that nothing in life comes
Every day I was casually relaxing without a care in the world. I thought I could easily coast through the tryouts and even have a chance on securing a spot on varsity. However, I was clearly wrong. After playing soccer outside of Saint John’s, I understood why the coaches did not think I was an adequate player for their team. My skills were as rusty as an old abandoned shipyard boat. However, during the practices I suddenly realized that, if desire to be the best, I need to work harder than anyone else. Though my mom had always told me this, but it never actually occurred to me that I need to work harder until I missed an opportunity and regretted it. The moment I realized that hard work was the key to success, I immediately changed my ways. Instead of taking practice in a nonchalant manner, I began to put my time, effort, and energy into becoming a better player. In the ultimate goal of making the soccer team next