“Being a part of something special makes you special.” - Rachel Berry, "Glee"

Ever since I was a little girl, I have been a part of a team. I have been on volleyball, basketball, swimming, and soccer teams, and felt the different connections each team has. I have the utmost respect for each of those teams I have been on, and each community they have have brought me into. However, this year, my senior year of high school, my soccer team has brought me more joy in the first two weeks of the season than I have felt in almost all my years on any other team.

People seem to believe that being on a team is all fun and games. They talk about it as if there is no trying involved; that it all just comes naturally together into a shape that works together and wins/loses together. Whoever thinks this could not be more wrong. It takes integrity to get along with nineteen other people all the time. You must do what is right, not what is easy. It’s right to get to practice on time and to get onto your teammates if they don’t. Doing what is right is putting aside drama outside of the game to come together as a family during practice and in games.

It takes trust to let nineteen people know your angry side, your sad side, your scared side, as well as your happy side. When it comes to a team, there will always come a time when you have to surrender the “me” for the “we.” You can score that goal on your own, but you can also pass the ball and make connections with your teammates for a bigger goal. Knowing where your teammates are on the field at all times involves trusting each other to be accountable for each member’s responsibility.

There are so many aspects of being a team that make every member better as not only a player but as a person as well. You share in the victory, console each other in defeat and get up the next morning to do it all over again. A team is a group of people you should want to do those things with. I love my soccer team more than words can say. I would lose with them every game, as long as I knew we all gave our best and played hard to the last second. Yet because we have trust, community, optimism, respect, and many more values for one another and together as a team, we create one beautiful, strong, happy family that works together towards victory. We don't win every game we play, but we are proud of every game we play and every person who gives 150 percent.

After spending five days straight with my soccer team, from waking them up at 6:45 every morning, to two practices a day, eating every meal together, and tucking each other into bed, I know and love every member of my team in some unique way. I know their favorite guilty food, their favorite line in "She's the Man." I've learned their favorite song and I know the sound of everyone's belly laugh. We learn about each other in order to grow together into more than a team. Every member of my soccer team is a best friend and a sister, on and off the field.

Rachel Berry said "being a part of something special makes you special." I fully believe in this statement, and I fully believe that I have never been a part of something so special. We are all so special to each other because we love, respect, and cherish the game. Eight years ago, the cheer "Hoorah!" was made for the team before any of us were apart of it. This year, a freshman on our team, an amazing defender, came up with an acronym for HOORAH. Home of Optimism, Respect, Acceptance (and), Honesty. Hoorah makes us special.