I am one of the most competitive people on this planet. From winning spelling bees in third grade to running the fastest mile in middle school gym class, I've been this way for as long as I can remember. If someone beats me at something, I get angry and then I work as hard as I can to beat them the next time. Some may call this a "sore loser," however, I see it as a constant opportunity for self-improvement. Naturally, my parents noticed this intense trait of mine at an early age and decided it would be best to get me involved in competitive sports. I tried softball, basketball, and tennis, all which I painfully admit to be mediocre at, until I realized that I only wanted to play soccer. The continuous action mixed with the occasional (or frequent) slide tackles and vicious elbowing was perfect for me, and as I got older, my coaches constantly pushing me to improve after each game was what made me stick with it. Not only am I competitive with others, but more with myself, and I was never content until I knew I played a game to the best of my ability.

Soccer was my life. As I got into high school, I spent more time with my team than with my family, and the girls I had been playing with for years I considered as my sisters. However, there comes a point in every high school athlete's life where they have to really decide whether or not to pursue the goal of playing at the collegiate level. This really hit me as I was spending endless weekends traveling on a bus to God Knows Where, North Carolina to play in showcases for Division III schools I'd never even heard of. My team began the process of constantly emailing college coaches and attending summer ID camps, and until then, I had never really thought about what I wanted to do after high school. My mom was a college athlete at a small private school and my dad attended a large public university, and I found myself torn between the two options. Did I even love soccer enough to work as hard as possible for the next two to three years, just to be picked up by a school that I didn't even want to attend that much? I had always played with the mindset of improving enough for the next game, not with the perspective of trying to get scouted.

There wasn't one specific game or day where I had the epiphany that I didn't want to play soccer at the collegiate level. I was always pretty realistic with myself, and I knew it would take some sort of miracle to even have a shot at playing for a good DII school. I love soccer and of course continued playing for my school until the end of senior year, and the memories made while advancing to regionals and during senior night are ones I will never forget. When it came to an end, I felt like a huge part of my life was over. Throughout the years, I watched as some of my friends committed to college teams and some decided not to pursue a future career in the sport. People said to us, "You can always play club or at the intramural level!" and we would smile and agree, but always knew it will never be the same. The bond we shared growing up on the field together is one that will never change, no matter what we do after high school.