How I got into soccer

When I was a little girl I never thought I would ever get into any type of sports. I would watch my older brothers soccer practices and say to myself "wow that looks so hard I could never do anything like that". My mom ended up signing me up for an AYSO team that was co-ed without even telling me. I went to the first practice and I ended up loving it. I played on AYSO teams all of elementary school until I wanted to start getting more serious about it. In sixth grade I started playing on TBAYS because the coaching was better and the competition was much better. Playing on TBAYS for a year didn't cut it for me, I wanted more. That is when Northstar came into the picture, which is a club travel team in Traverse City. I tried out for the team when I was 12 but I didn't make it. I was very upset and felt worthless. After that I worked my butt off for the entire summer I went to six soccer camps along with taking private lessons every other day with a former college player. I was going to make sure that I made the team the next year. I did pretty much everything thing I could. I would practice in my back yard for hours everyday. I would practice juggling for hours and practice all sorts of moves until I had them perfect. Soccer was basically all I did that summer and in the winter I would play indoor at just for kicks. I was on three different teams sometimes just so I could get extra playing in. It sure paid of the next summer because I tried out for the team older than the one I tried out for the year before and I made it. The team I made was also ten times better than the one I tried out for the year before. I felt very accomplished after that because I worked so hard and I got exactly what I wanted. I played on that team for about four years and in the spring I would play highschool soccer which I loved just as much. In highschool soccer I was a varsity starter all four years and made all state my senior year. People would always tell me I had such natural talent in soccer but I disagree because I worked harder than anyone I know to get where I was. It was the drive and motivation that made me a successful player, and all of the the one on one hours with the ball. One of my favorite quotes is, "The Vision of a Champion is someone who is bent over, drenched in sweat, and the point of exhaustion, when no one else is watching." By Anson Dorrance. I loved this quote because it really reminded me of myself and how hard I worked.