How soccer has changed my life.

Playing soccer all of the years that I did, didn't only make me successful as a soccer player. Soccer has really changed my life in so many positive ways. If I never started playing when I was a little girl I would definitely not be the person that I am today.

Playing soccer has made me stay fit and healthy, because basically all you do is exercise which after I exercise I never want to eat anything unhealthy it just doesn't sound very appetizing. You also always have to be in shape for soccer unless you want to be benched because the coach isn't going to play someone who can't run for more than two minutes. This made me want to run and practice a lot in the off season so I wouldn't become fat, lazy and out of shape. So basically what I am saying is I would probably be a lot unhealthier if I hadn't played soccer.

Soccer has also definitely kept me out of trouble because it took so much time out of my life. There were times when I hated soccer because I could never do anything with my friends. We would be gone almost every weekend downstate playing in a tournament or a game. Even on the weekends where I would have home games I couldn't go out the night before because I would have to get rested up and wake up early to play my game. We would also have practice three times a week in Traverse City which was a half hour drive for me. I basically only had two free nights a week. It became very frustrating at times but I loved soccer and I couldn't just stop playing. All of the hours that I put into soccer really kept me out of trouble because I was never bored and I always had something to do. I know for a fact that I would have gotten into trouble if I hadn't have played. What do you do with all of that extra time? Exactly, that is why the people who don't do extra curricular activities are more likely to get into trouble because they have nothing better to do. On my club soccer team we had to sign a contract saying that we would stay drug and alcohol free or we would be kicked off of the team. That also made me second think things when that type of situation came up.

There are many other reasons how soccer has changed my life but those are the two that I chose to write about. I thank soccer so much for keeping me a healthy person and keeping me out of trouble. I could be a complete different person today. If it weren't for all the sustained weekends downstate that sometimes consisted of playing in the pouring rain to come home with a loss and all of the the extensive hard practices doing uphill sprints until I could barely walk that we had to participate in, chances are I could be a drug user or even worse in jail, although that's just worst case scenario. Thank you soccer for everything you have done for me. You were a pain in the butt at times but I wouldn't trade you for the world you really made me into a semi decent human being, on a good day :)

Is soccer really that boring?

Many people who haven't had the experience of playing soccer often say that it is extremely boring to watch. When people tell me that I wonder how they could think such a fun and carefree sport could be boring. People at school would also say that only "pussies" play soccer and that football is a real mans sport. That's how it even is in movies, it's always the big tough guys that play football and the little wimps play soccer that everyone makes fun of. That is the picture that a lot of people have of soccer players and I couldn't disagree with it more.

Soccer is a very difficult sport to become good at. It takes many hours of practice and hard work because it is all with your feet and normal people don't have naturally gifted feet with a soccer ball. On the other hand when it comes to football you basically have to be big and I don't think it takes nearly as much practice as soccer. So therefore I think people should give soccer players more credit than they are given.

Many parents and kids also think soccer is extremely boring to watch which is why you will always see hundreds of people at high school football games and not too many at a high school soccer game. I personally find soccer really fun to watch especially if they are good because I learn so much from watching and I feel like i'm playing. I love watching soccer now that I have stopped playing it because it brings back a lot of memories and makes me miss it. That is the closest thing I have to staying somewhat into it.

I think that the reason people find it to be a "pussy" sport is because they really don't know what it takes to become a successful soccer player and all of the hardwork they put in. I think that people find it so boring to watch is because they can't relate their lives to it and they don't understand it. Just by watching one soccer game certain things that players do while I watch, bring back so many good memories of all of the years that I have palyed soccer. People who haven't had soccer experiences can't do that so therefore they think its boring.

Coaches

Having a good coach in soccer is very important. You can either end up with a really good coach or a really poor coach. I have had many of both in my soccer career.

My first soccer coaches were pretty much all parents of the kids on the teams in AYSO and just did it for fun. They were basically there just to watch the kids and make it fun and they didn't really know much about soccer. I didn't learn much from them but they are the ones that got me really into it so I thank them for that. One of my coaches that I had in elementary school took things way too seriously for our age and would tell the kids inappropriate things about their level of play. many kids ended up quitting because she was sucking the fun out of everything and when you are younger that's what it is all about.

In middle school the coaching was much better because when you become older you need more help to fully develope your skills. In middle school I played on the middle school co-ed team and my coach for that team was really good and knew exactly what he was doing. he was a former college player and had alot of experience with soccer. I really learned alot from him and taught me many basics about the sport.

When I reached highschool soccer I didn't have the best experience with the coach who happened to coach all four years I was there. When I was in ninth grade I had alot of knee pain and he would always tell me it was in my head and to just push through the pain. I ended up needing to get surgery from his stupid idea that it was all in my head. He would aslo make us run in sweat suits when it was really hot out to get ready for hot games and almost became fired because of it. I did not participate in these runs because I had an injury because of him. He would also be very rude and unfair to the players. There were two girls on the team that were his absolute favorites and would always tell us they were the best players on the team and to always get the ball to them. It hurt everybody elses feelings because we felt worthless and not needed. All of the players and parents had a very strong dislike for him and I am very glad I don't have to deal with his crap anymore.

I had the best coach of my life in club soccer. I learned more than any coach I have had put together. He taught me how to fix every flaw in soccer that I had and also taught me alot about life and how to be a good person. Everyone on the team loved him. He is the one that told me what to do with my knee when I told him what my highschool coach said and said I needed to get an MRI right away and to see a doctor. When I was done palying on his team I was devestated because he was such a great caoch and person.

As you can see the coaching in a sport has a great affect on people. I have had probably up to 15 different caoches throughout the years I have been playing soccer. Most of them were good but a small handful were very bad and I have learned from every one of them. Sadly I have learned even from the bad ones but more of what not to do.