High School Soccer Team

Winning a District title is not something that all athletes get to experience in their time playing high school sports. It takes determination, teamwork, and skill to reach that level of competition. Fortunately, during my junior year of high school I was lucky enough to be on a team that possessed those qualities. With thirty-one players and a lot of heart, my soccer team was able to win Districts and make it to the State semi-finals, which is one memory that will stick with me forever. However, that season was bittersweet because I almost let the sport I love slip away from me.

Three weeks into the start of that same season, I experienced a failure incomparable to any other. It all started after a usual day at practice when my coach said,

The questions that were swirling around my mind were finally answered with the arrival of my Athletic Director. The scene felt planned like actors falling into place on a stage. I, however, hadn’t had the chance to rehearse my lines beforehand and did not know what this show was even about. “McKenna, will you read these out loud to us?” my coach said, as she handed me her phone. As I looked at the screen, I saw my Twitter page with tweets picked out for me to read. Still confused, I read the tweets out loud to the three adults: “I started for two years. Why am I not starting anymore?” Too nervous to look up, I continued and read the second tweet: “I hate soccer,” it

There I was all by myself, being verbally reprimanded by three adults and they wanted me to choose my punishment? I said that I would like to apologize to my team at the next day’s practice. My coach then told me that she wasn’t kicking me off the team but she thought it might be in my best interest to quit, which came as a complete shock to me. My parents had engraved in my mind that it is never okay to quit. I grew up believing that once I am committed to something, I will stick with it no matter how awful it may