Growing up, my parents always told me I had to do some kind of sport or after-school activity. As a little girl, I went with ballet, which somehow eventually led me to gymnastics. I loved gymnastics, but because of an upcoming move, I wasn't able to commit to the demands of the dance studio for that year. I was devastated to have to quit something that I loved so much, but my parents told me to try something else and if I didn't like it, I could go back to gymnastics the next year. So, as a nine year old who had only ever danced, I didn't know what to do. Somehow, I came to the crazy conclusion to give soccer a try and it was the best decision I could've made.

My dad was big into baseball, so naturally, he tried to convince me to play softball. There was a point in time where I agreed, but after buying some of the equipment, I changed my mind. I wanted to try soccer. This kind of threw us all off because none of us knew anything about soccer, but it's what I wanted to do. So, my parents bought me what I needed and signed me up for city league.

For my first few seasons, I played for the city league. Then for a few seasons after that, I played for the travel team in my area. After being invited to play with my best friend's travel team, located about 45 minutes away from home, I fell in love. This is the team that introduced me to my best friends, and the coach was one of the best people I have ever met. He's a foreigner, which just made our time with him so much more fun. He knew when to goof off with us, and he knew when it was time to coach and guide us. He led us to many championships, but we also had our low points. He taught me so much in our years together, and he taught us how to win and lose as a team. When he was our coach, we were more than just a travel soccer team; we were our own little soccer family, including us, the coach and all the parents.

I played with this team and coach through a few different team colors and names, but we always stuck together. When one club team looked like the better option for us, we transitioned together. We traveled to tournaments together and we carpooled to practices together. We even had "team-bonding" nights where we just bowled and played laser tag all night. This team was my family for years.

Sometimes I wonder where I would be if I never would have had to take that break from gymnastics. There were some points in my life where I wished I would have gone back to it after that year, but I'm glad that I didn't. I wouldn't trade my soccer childhood for anything. It brought me my absolute best friend in the world. She's been by my side for almost 10 years and I have soccer to thank for that. I cannot thank the sport of soccer enough for bringing me all the people it did over the years. Growing up playing soccer made me who I am today, and I'm more than grateful for that.