Your goal turns into misery…
When I was three years old my dad always played soccer every Sunday and I have to say, he was an amazing soccer player. His position was defense and he was always prepared to play and even though he would be in pain from his foot, he didn’t care because that wasn’t going to stop him from playing his passion for soccer. When I was four years old my dad asked me if I wanted to play in a soccer team. I was kind of nervous about what my future experience with soccer will do in my life, but I agreed to play in a soccer team and my dad registered me. I played the same position as my dad, defense, and it was my favorite position. One time I scored a goal without even realizing because I didn’t even know what a goal was.
At the time, I enjoyed playing soccer, and it was my passion. I even wanted to become a professional soccer player like the one and only, Cristiano Ronaldo. Then one day, I felt a sharp pain in my foot during a game. I really didn’t pay attention to it because I was playing a soccer game and it really didn’t bother me at the time. All of a sudden, it worsened. I couldn’t walk properly because the sharp pain I had in my foot was expanding, like pop rocks were exploding in my foot.
10 years later, I quit soccer because the sharp pain I have been having in my foot was really discomforting to the point where I decided to quit. I still have the sharp pain till’ today but it doesn’t hurt as bad as when I was younger. Unfortunately for my dad, his dream of becoming a professional soccer player didn’t come true. He suffers from plantar fasciitis which is an inflammation of a thick band of tissue that connects the heel bone to the toes. He takes medication everyday and visits the hospital every once in a while. Little did I know that I had the same thing my dad has, but luckily it’s not as serious as my dad’s pain but I would still need treatment for my foot so that I won’t be struggling as bad as my dad is right now. All the things I’m saying may sound negative, but I learned that goals can come true, but you should never have high hopes.
Then again, soccer is a very productive and great sport to learn! I would definitely recommend joining a soccer team and learn great soccer techniques and challenges that you may face in soccer. People may think that soccer is a sport where you run and kick the ball until your team scores a goal, but they are 100% wrong. Although, some people don’t really enjoy nor respect soccer because they may think that soccer is a very rough sport and people always have injuries during games. Then again, soccer can be a sport to have a stupendous learning experience for people to not only learn how to play soccer and have lots of discipline, but to communicate well with your teammates and take leadership in your team.
Some advice that I would give other people is to have the courage and determination to play soccer. In order to have a good head start in soccer, people should try to watch soccer videos on YouTube or on any type of social media to learn from people that play soccer. Remember to not watch advanced soccer videos, try to stay at beginners for easy skills and techniques, then little by little you can start watching some more advanced skills and challenges you may face in soccer. Don’t think that soccer is a very rough sport, soccer is a no-access sport that can help students learn defense and discipline. At the end of the day, soccer is all about fun, you’re in it, to win it.
Christopher Martinez – Nazareth Academy – DMSF Class of 2026
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