The Second Break

It was a bitter cold winter in Chamblee as Sophia sat out the required amount of time while she strengthened her arm back into shape. She worked very hard with her travel team to shake off the dust and cobwebs to improve her already impressive soccer skills. She was ready to go back to work and was determined more than ever to make the team again that year.

She had to make it.

When she returned to school for her sophomore year she learned that there was a new soccer coach for the girls’ varsity squad. This was exciting news for Sophia as it meant a possible new game plan. But before this year’s tryouts had even gotten underway Sophia had somehow managed to acquire the flu. She was beginning to think that she must be cursed. Fighting through the constant nausea and dizziness Sophia was hoping that the new coach, who had never seen her play and did not know her skill set, would be able to see her athletic prowess despite her recent run of bad luck.

She fought through the lingering effects of the illness to be present at tryouts but she was still afraid that it wasn’t going to be good enough. Thankfully her coaches did not share Sophia’s pessimistic point of view. When Sophia went to look at the varsity list the next day she was surprised to see her name near the top.

She couldn’t believe that she made it again.

After basking in the excitement and relief Sophia thought about what her goals should be for this upcoming season. This season she was determined to earn her starting position back, and once she had it back she was determined to never lose it again.

She participated in the preseason tournament but her previous coach of last year had obviously talked to her new coach and unfortunately she was only playing a few minutes a game. She was angry, she was sad, and those unpleasant emotions propelled her into decisive action. She begged her father to take her to a private soccer coach so that she could deepen her already impressive set of skills.

He obliged.

Sophia began a serious training regime. She worked with a trainer on the weekends and by herself every day after school in her back yard. Over time her commitment and dedication for improvement began to show. Her high school coach noticed her progress and she began playing more minutes. The more she played, the more her confidence grew. She began to feel like the leader she always knew she was.

The team ended the season with a mediocre record but Sophia knew that next year had to be different. She would use the off-season to prefect her skills. Or so she though…Sophia chose her favorite holiday to have all of her friends over her house for some teenage fun: Halloween. Most of her friends happened to be cheerleaders. In attendance were also all of her brother’s friends since they were only a grade apart.

So with guys and girls at her house, the front yard became a tumbling and tossing gym. Sophia asked one of her brothers’ friends, Robert, to hold her waist and launch her, while continuing to hold on, into the air; it allowed you to do a perfect toe touch. Sophia was in heaven attempting a sport she had always wanted to participate in.

The only thing was that Robert forgot to hold on. Sophia flew high into the air. Her friends were in awe at the height of her body. She heard “holy cow”, “WOAH”, “She’s too high”. This was all before gravity yanked her back down to earth.

SPLAT!

She landed, back first, flat on the grass. She was gasping for air and had never felt so helpless in her life. After she regained her breath, with the help of her friends, she walked inside and immediately put ice on her back.

Her dad had told them not to play outside so she decided not to tell her him what had happened and how much pain she was in. After a few days she could only feel the pain if she ran or did any sort of exercises. She didn’t think too much of it.  

Two days later Sophia went to her travel soccer practice and continued to play for two weeks. While she was playing she had a teammate crack her back before every practice and every game. Sophia didn’t want a doctor, a coach or her dad to tell her she had to stop playing so she continued to say nothing. She loved the game too much.

She scored two of the most amazing goals of her life and after that game her coach walked up to her and said, “Something is not right.” She looked at him and said, “What do you mean?” He said “You are being lazy with your shots. They look amazing but they are not you.” So she finally told him why she was being lazy and he asked her to go see a doctor. So after that game she confided to her dad about her pain. She listened to them and went to the doctor and got x-rays. What came next was devastating.

Sophia had broken her back.

X-rays revealed that her T-7 vertebra was chipped and that she would be out of soccer for three months. She started sobbing. Again, another season was shattered. The next day she got fitted for a full upper-body brace that she would have to wear for 23 hours a day. She only took it off to shower. Her only saving grace, it would be off in time for her junior season tryouts.

The First Break

This year Sophia would accept nothing less than making the varsity team. During the off season daily practice became a necessary requirement for Sophia because she knew that making varsity would not be as much of a breeze as making the JV squad. Try outs rolled around every year just as the autumn leaves would begin to litter the high school ground of Chamblee field. Sophia was poised, ready and confident.

This years tryouts went much like they did when she tried out for JV, this made her feel as if she did very well. Not only was the scrimmage again her favorite part, it was also her strongest moment. Afterwards the coaches told her that she excelled. Despite the critical praise heaped on her she was still unable to get a good nights sleep. She was worried that they would overlook her because of her youth and inexperience and she couldn’t help but focus on the fact that there was not one freshman on the varsity squad last year.

She was in for a restless night of wondering.

The next morning Sophia bounded upstairs to the coach’s office to view the lists. On that list were two freshman names: Sophia was one. She took a deep breath and a few tears rolled down her face. She was proud. None of her friends were surprised when Sophia informed them all of her incredible accomplishment, no one knew how big of a deal it was but then again none of her friends played soccer.

Sophia was the only starting freshman at the beginning of the season, specifically preseason. She did exceptionally well and scored several goals in her first few games at the varsity level. But as the season went on her coach formed a new game plan and Sophia wasn’t included. Each second she watched from the bench she became more and more devastated. The season ended and Sophia had a choice to make: Was she going to continue to fight or was it time to give up and follow another endeavor.

Sophia decided to keep fighting.

When the school season ended travel teams began. While in the middle of her travel teams season, Sophia was racing up the sidelines, pumping her little legs when a bigger stronger girl came up from behind her and maliciously fouled causing her to hit the ground hard.

Darkness. Nothing. Sophia was knocked unconscious.

As Sophia began to awaken she opened her eyes to see Anna, her teammate and two coaches from the opposing team yelling at the referee, they were accusing Sophia of faking her fall to the ground. Sophia sat up very slowly and gingerly and immediately began yelling at the coaches to shut up. After answering generic questions about who the president was and what year we were in she answered the question she was waiting for, “does anything hurt?”

Yes. Something hurt a lot.

Sophia quickly realized that she could not raise her arm above her chest. Her mom came over to the bench side of the sidelines and asked her if she needed to go to the hospital, she stubbornly replied no. Sophia sat in agonizing pain for the rest of the game because she refused to leave her team. The opposing players continued to call her a fake but deep down she knew that something was seriously wrong.

She went home and couldn’t even walk up a simple flight of stairs. Her mother came downstairs with a sandwich and said “mothers instinct, we’re going to the ER.” This time Sophia did not object. The ER doctors informed her that she had a broken collarbone and that she would have to miss soccer for the next six weeks.

Sophia began to sob; the rest of her season was over.

JV Try Outs

After making the traveling team Sophia set her eyes on a new goal, making the high school junior varsity team while she was still in middle school. In her district, if you were in eighth grade you were eligible to try out for the JV team. She really hoped to make this team but she had her doubts.

She was very intimidated by the high school girls that she knew were going to be at try outs. The big day came and after school Sophia got on the bus. On the way over to the high school she did all of her pre game rituals; yes she treated this like a game. She had retired the bandana once she made her travel team because it wasn’t cool anymore. Instead she got out her portable CD player and pumped her warm up music. She slid her shin guards in her socks and wrapped her laces around her shoes twice.

Nothing was going to stop her.

When she arrived at the high school field she absorbed the smell of the spring sir and newly mowed grass. She drowned out her nerves with the excitement a soccer field brought her; a new chance to show off, she thought. She sat in the bleachers like all of the other girls awaiting the coaches’ instruction. For the first half of try outs the girls did not touch a ball. First they stretched. After stretching was Sophia’s least favorite part, a three-mile run. She could run back and forth all day but it had no meaning if she didn’t have a ball at her feet, but she gave it her all. She finished some where in the middle of the first group.

Drills were next, which she always did well at, but there were so many sets of twos that the coaches couldn’t stay focused on any one player for any good amount of time. This made it very hard to be seen. The headers, passing, pivoting and dribbling drills were all a precursor to small scrimmages. This was Sophia’s favorite part. She did very well in game play and the coaches could truly see her abilities. This time they were only in two groups.

She wowed them.

She made the right passes and even scored on the varsity goalie. When she played defense she only let one ball past her and never allowed her man to score a goal. She played aggressively and never got winded. At the end of try outs the coaches thanked all of the players for coming out and told us that the teams would be posted on his door and on the middle school coach’s door tomorrow morning.

Sophia walked off the field feeling very good about her performance. She couldn’t wait until tomorrow. She barely slept. She tossed and turned all night. And when she finally did fall asleep she had a nightmare that her name wasn’t on the list. She got up early the next morning and when she got to school rushed over to the coaches’ office and ran her finger down the JV list until she hit Sophia!

She made it!

After a few practices with the JV team they were set to host their first game. Sophia was starting. She played offence and dominated. Not just the first game but everyone that follow as well. The whole season was hers. She scored a total of 28 goals, eight coming in one game, and only losing one by 1-0. She received the Most Valuable Player award at the banquet and could not have walked away from that season more elated.

Her next mission: varsity.

Finding her Love

Her teammates, coaches, family and friends knew the telltale sign was when her tiny, delicate hands reached for the red bandana. This, they had all come to know, was the most important part of her game day ritual. Then she would meticulously slip her shin guards into her socks while trying to contain a healthy dose of game day anxiety and excitement.

Her name was Sophia. She was six.

One can imagine the foreign feeling of having a ball at your feet when you were used to holding a bat in your hands and swinging at a ball. Having to switch from T-ball to soccer because of an older sibling was, at first, infuriating. Until, that was, the first time she stepped out on a soccer field. The smell of fresh cut grass, the expansive green lined fields, the constant movement and the challenge of using your legs and feet to control a round object was the immediate draw.

At her very first practice she was not only nervous about playing a new sport for the first time but also nervous about weather the other girls would be nice to her. As soon as the coach was done talking to the team, Sophia made a fast friend in Liz, the only other girl who was wearing a bandana. Hers was green.

Liz was not the only friend Sophia made. She found that all of the girls were relatable. They were all very nice and welcoming. She was surprised that all of the other girls were as nervous as her. Some were scared of the ball while others were scared of meeting new people.

She wasn’t alone.

Once we started playing games and learning the ropes, all of the nerves faded away and a new perspective was embodied by most of the girls. Oblivious to their parents standing on the sidelines they were running and screaming like they were at Disney World with no lines. At the end of practice she didn’t want to leave and wanted to take all of her new friends home with her.

Sophia got in her fathers car after practice and was beaming ear to ear. Her father asked her if she wanted to go back to playing T-ball and she quickly and passionately said NO! At the end of that season she realized that she would play the game of soccer until someone forced her off the field. She played almost every day for the rest of her childhood.

She joined a new league that was more competitive and quickly got very good at her new sport. After a few seasons she decided she was ready to try out for a travel team that was able to compete in tournaments, more importantly the state tournament.

She tried out and made it.