When the spring of my senior year rolled around I knew things would start end; slowly one by one I said goodbye to clubs and organizations I had been a member of for years. I knew that soon I would have to say goodbye to my longest running organization, my travel soccer team. I started playing soccer when I was five years old and it was such a crazy thought that I would soon be playing my senior game and saying goodbye to my teammates, some of which I had been playing with since fifth grade. Soccer had become such a constant, stable thing in my life in the last twelve years; I always knew that a few weekday nights I would find myself warming up on the field behind our local middle school.
My soccer team was filled with the most insane group of 15-18-year old’s you could possibly get together at one time, but I loved them all (and I still do). Between warm ups, aka everyone catching each other up on the events of the last few days, and scrimmaging for the last fifteen minutes of practice, we never stopped talking. Every minute of practice was filled with stories, jokes and teasing about how terribly we had missed that open net during the first drill. Games were filled with comically drawn eye black and cheering from our little fold-out bench but, nothing was better than tournament weekends. For anyone who has never played in a soccer tournament they are basically as follows; everyone and their families roll into the field’s parking lot just a little too early in the morning and get the lawn chairs and coolers ready to roll. Slowly the team makes their way to their designated area, hopefully equidistant from all the fields you’re playing on, and sets up camp. The day is spent playing two or three games and eating bags filled with sliced oranges. Usually half way through the day someone finds the booth selling the tournament t-shirts and everyone fights for the coolest colors. During the games parents, siblings, trainers and coaches cheer you on while the players on the bench start calculating how many goals you need to move into first place. These days and nights spent laying on the grass while someone plays Hannah Montana from their speaker are memories I wouldn’t trade for the world.
My soccer team gave me years of amazing memories and amazing opportunities. I got to meet people I otherwise never would have come in contact with. My soccer team became a second family I got to see every week and occasionally have team parties with. My team was definitely one of my hardest goodbyes and these last few weeks without a game to go to on Sunday have felt weird, for sure.
I have been given so many reasons to be thankful for my team, so now it’s my turn; Thank you, Plainedge Liberty. Thank you for showing me what teamwork means, thank you for making my last year of soccer so special and all the years before that, and thank you for giving me memories I will remember forever.
