A Soccer Player That is in The Wrong Sport

by Sarah Wddie
(Miramar, Florida, U.S)

Every morning at around 11, I get ready and go out to the soccer field by my house. I’ve always loved playing soccer but in high school they gave me an ultimatum; basketball or soccer? At the time, I was a little bit better at basketball and I knew more about the game. So I chose basketball, now making me regret that I should have chosen my first love and not try to be so much like my cousin, a rising basketball star.

But it happened, nothing I can do about it now. But yea, it was a Tuesday morning. I rode my bike to the field like I did on any other day and which was completely mine for the rest of the day. I could practice all I wanted because I now wanted to learn all the skills I had missed out in the high school.

But this Tuesday was different. As I rode onto the field, I could see that it was occupied. There were all these olds guys' dressed in Colombia jersey's kicking the ball around looking like they were about to start a game.

I was highly upset because they were using my favorite field. But I could not do so much so I let it and went over to another field on the other side with much more dirt and less more grass. I laced my cleats, warmed up and stretched. I continued to practice on my own, but kept looking over at their game wishing they would ask me to play.

After a little while, under the hot sun, I decided to walk over to where my bike was parked to get a little bit of water. That’s when one of the guys called out to me. "Hey do you want to play"? I eagerly nodded my head as I ran up to him. He asked me what position I played and I told him defender. He said great, you’re on our team. I ran over to the defense line and stood in the middle.

I was kind of happy but also a little nervous. As they brought the ball down the field, I noticed how fast they were and also how well they handled the ball. I thought to myself, what did you just get yourself into? Just as I thought that, I saw the guy kick the ball a little bit over my head. A regular soccer player would jump and head the ball immediately. But I wasn’t a regular a soccer player. I was a basketball player that wanted to be a soccer player.

So I did what seemed like second nature to me. I jumped as high as I could and grabbed the ball out of the air. I could hear some of the guys laugh so I dropped the ball in a hurry realizing what I had done. The guy, who had invited me to play, yells out its cool. Yea, but I still felt the embarrassment. So the ball headed back down the opposite way but soon thereafter the same guy, with the amazing foot skills was headed my way again.

This time he tried to kick the ball over my head again, but this time I was prepared (I thought). Once he saw that I got in my stance, he tweaked his shot making it a little bit lower then it was before. This time the ball smacked me right in the face. Again, I could hear the laughter. My nose ached badly, but I brushed it off and chased the guy down to my right who was picking up the ball. After those two incidents, I think I did pretty well.

I was making great passes, had my attempt at the goal but I kicked the ball either too hard or way too high. On my way home, I thought about what happened at the beginning of the game. I just shook and said "so not cool Sarah. So not cool!".