Tuesday, March 17, 2009

The Mind Game of Soccer By Nael

My family may of been thinking it's weird for someone to run around the house with a soccer ball, but I had a soccer game in an hour; and to me, my preparation is more important to me than what they think.

When you're standing on the pitch and hundreds of people are watching you, all you can think about is your reputation. If the opposition take the ball from you too many times, it can transform from best player to substitute.
My heart was aching, my hands were shaking, and I was quivering with fear.

As the ref blew his whistle, I made a run for it, a run for my life, a run for my reputation. When your heart feels like it's exploding, you soccer skills feel like they're exploding too, so you lack self esteem... and when you lack self esteem, they take the ball off you. And when they do take the ball off you, your reputation is at stake.

That's exactly what happened to me...

It was half time, and the coach was deciding if he should play me on for the second half of the game. What do I do? What is best? If he plays me on, I might be as useless as a rock. If he does not play me on, that must be a sign that my reputation is dead. The coach asked me what I wanted and I had to answer in the next five seconds...

















I played on.
my team is the best team in west Auckland so each time the opposition stole the ball from us, all i could think about was our team moving down a grade. I was playing on defense and their best player was running with the ball as all he needed to do was get past me to score a definite goal, as well a a definite win. I was so stupid, thinking about my reputation and what to answer the coach when it was a quarter final game. That thinking could be costly...



They won 10-1. My dad talked to me about the game. I told him about what my thoughts were.
"Yes, I know it's weird", I told him. "but I learnt my lesson, from now on I will only focus on the game."

A week later and another game was about to start. Will I make the same mistake?








11 comments:

Anonymous said...

That was our teams worst loss!!!

Anonymous said...

wow Nael cool recount it is very bad thay won I hope you win next time comment by mathew

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

What a fabulous piece of writing Nael. I was gripped from the opening sentence and even though I am not a soccer fan your recount none the less appealed to my sense of sporting occasion. You are able to articulate your thinking in the heat of the moment in a way that must be very helpful to others in your team. I hope you have shared this writing with them as well as with your online audience.
Mrs Burt
Pt England School

Heymilly said...

Wow, what a great piece of writing. I was so impressed by your choice of vocabulary - it made me feel very tense about your situation! I can't wait to hear how they next game goes. I will have my fingers crossed that you win!

Anonymous said...

hi,Nael that is one cool recount!I love it! wow!:)

tori-grace

Anonymous said...

good language Nael I was very interested,I play soccer myself.

Extreme Team 14 said...

Nice story i really liked it!!!

Nael said...

thank you everyone, i won't do too much posts on my own profile, only one to make it clear that these have been appreciated. It's amazing looking at these comments!

Nael said...

we did lose our next game, but it was just a friendly. Thank you for your concern Mathew anyway!

Anonymous said...

Hi, it's Jung Yun.I'm sorry for your loss, Nael. Hope you win next time!
AWESOME volcabualry! I don't even understand half the words! It really made me want to read more! Awesome writing! Keep it up!