At the time, I loved soccer and wanted to join an after school soccer league.
in my opinion, if you still "love" soccer until right now, it is not necessary to change "love" become a past form and separate "wanted" to the next sentence.
But I never asked to join because
Avoid to start a sentence by using "BUT", instead you can use "However"
money troubles
better change it to "financial problem"
Overall, that was a touching story that you have there. I also see a nice flow about your ideas.
For an additional note, please consider to make your last paragraph at least three sentences to make your paragraph become a strong one.