Soccer as a Significant Part of the Formation of My Personality

Many things have helped to shape my personality to make me the person I am today. The most impactful was playing school and club soccer. My older brother played a lot of soccer, so as a result my family was familiar with the game and rules. However, to regular people who aren't familiar with soccer, watching a game may just look like a bunch of people running around trying to kick a ball. For the players on the field, it’s completely different. Soccer is an art. It’s an art of motion, communication, and technique. There is a deeper understanding of ​what is meant by commands given by teammates, how certain positions work together in specific formations, and the unspoken responsibilities of each player on the field.

Growing up my parents signed me up for little league soccer, amongst many other sports. I kept playing in this park district league until one of the coaches encouraged me to join an indoor league. My brother also played soccer for an indoor league so of course I wanted to follow in his footsteps. I never took soccer seriously. People just told me I was quick and good at it so I kept playing. It wasn’t until around middle school when I started to play club soccer with this all girls team when I realized my love for the sport. It wasn’t a fall in love right away type of thing. My love for it developed over a period of time.

After joining club soccer and realizing my passion for it, I started to learn more and more from all these new coaches and players. Now with even the slightest bit of literacy in soccer I could be a better player and perform a whole lot better. For example, offsides might be one of the most confusing topics of soccer. It took me many years of playing the sport to even fully understand what this call meant, and how to use this to our teams advantage. A player is in offside position if they are nearer to their opponents goal line than both the ball and the second last defender.

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In other words, a player can’t receive the ball from a teammate unless there are at least two players either level with them, between them and the goal, or unless their team-mate plays the ball  backwards to them. Another one of the most well known things in soccer is headers. But how many of you know that there's actually a technique to heading the ball? A header in soccer is when you use your head to pass, clear, or shoot the ball. There's a technique to everything in soccer. Even the tiniest of details like how your foot is positioned when you either pass the ball. There are many types of headers like offensive headers, flick-on headers, and defensive headers. Each of these have their own specific technique and once a player starts to master small techniques like these, it allows them to improve their all around game.

After gaining a lot more knowledge about the sport I continued learning and playing as much as I could. In club soccer, I played right outside midfielder for my team and I grew very content at this position. However my high school school coaches thought I would be best playing center midfielder. I wasn’t too happy with this decision. Playing center midfielder was a completely different position and I now had to work extra hard to learn how to fill this role in order to better myself and the team. There are two center midfielders and basically one plays more up the field offensively, and the other plays more back, defensively.

To put it in easier way, together both of the center mids need to work together at all times and communicate in order for things to go well on the field. This was very challenging for me to take on this new role as a freshman. The other center midfielder was an upperclassman who was a lot better than I was and played at a different club than me. I was extremely intimidated and nervous but as the season went on this teammate became my new best friend. On the field we were constantly communicating and she was always telling me what to do, in a good way.

For three years we played center midfielder together and I have her to thank largely for helping me fit into my role on the team and helping me become literate in soccer. When my junior year season came to end I remember thinking how messed up next year would be without her. When my senior year came around the roles were switched. My teammate who helped me every step of the way was gone. I was named one of the team captains and I now had to be the one leading the midfield while the younger players looked up to me for what to do.

Playing soccer has shaped me by making me more of a leader and more open minded. I never thought of myself as a leader, I was more than fine just playing my part and listening to other people. However once I was named one of the captains of the team my senior year it felt right. It felt right when the younger players looked up to me and came to me for help and I was actually able to help them thanks to my literacy in the sport. All of this probably wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t go out of my comfort zone and take on the role of center midfielder my freshman year. Without all the struggles and victories in soccer I wouldn’t be anywhere near the person I am today.

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