Hello younger self, here are some things I wish you knew. Out of all of these obstacles that I have encountered I will admit that the biggest struggle in my young age was knowing how to play soccer correctly for the team I played for called “Santa Rosa”. I wish you had known that I was going to twist my ankle very badly during practice. In addition, the very next day I was going to play and also the day after. That meant in my mind of a younger version of me I thought I have to play no matter what. However what I didn’t think of and what I would have told myself is to tell my coach if I can play until my ankle hurts so that I can be subbed out; therefore I can do that the next games until my ankle is healed fully.
Another thing that I would tell you right now is how you can correct your playing style; in addition I wouldn’t think my coach would know how to improve my particular problem I have with my playing style. The particular reason why I said that is because I am the only one who knows what is in my mind and the decisions I would make; so I will tell myself how I can defend properly. How to perform under pressure; like in big games. My favorite is telling my younger self how to defend against for example a 2v1.
Sometimes I would tell myself I wondered if I knew this before I had this specific action to ruin the chance I had of improving what was happening at the time. If I could tell my younger self right now in the championship final for my “school” team 2 years ago. I would have told myself to look over here because your teammate did not see the opponent hiding and he was going to soccer the game-winning goal. However if I told my younger self I would have ran towards him to block him and to pass the ball to the attackers and score the game-winning goal.
Younger me you can do this for performing under pressure. It would have been this June when it was a big game to secure the first place title. I had a decent amount of pressure because I made two mistakes that made me think that I could have made the mistake of losing the first place trophy, but they were mistakes that I had over-thought because I was under pressure. In addition, You won first that season.
If I had known how to defend against a 2v1 especially when I tried to do that however it backfired badly. Younger me if you hadn’t runned backwards and trip so that you would not have humiliated myself when you tripped in the soccer match. Younger me you can run to the side and backwards to pressure the players and to not fall on the field. These are a few tips so that next you know what you can do during a soccer match; bye younger me.
Saul Dominguez – DeLaSalle Institute – DMSF Class of 2027