The scorching sunlight shone upon me, as I stand and anxiously wait for someone to score a goal. The ball sweeps into my feet. I approach the goalkeeper and with full force, swung my foot at him. The ball gets blocked by one of the defender. At that moment I realize how life itself is like a soccer game, where people strive to go towards their goals but face obstacles that prevents them from reaching that goal.
It was the 8th grade District Soccer Tournament. I was the left defender for my team. Our team was formed from a group of trusted friends who loved playing soccer. However, all the other teams were recruited professionally and had a lot of experience. Therefore, our overall morale was low but our trust and hope amongst ourselves was quite high. However, our hopefulness didn't really helped us in our first match, where we lost 8-0. We were devastated by our results. Immediately, I sensed and recognized that having hope and trust is of no use if it is not followed up by effort. I looked at my captain in the eye and said "They have worked harder than we did". In the next few weeks, our team got up and running into the wilderness of endeavor. And as a result, we won every game that we played and reached the finals.
The day of the final match. Everyone looked extremely nervous and yet hopeful, as we go against the best team in the district. The whistle blew and the perpetual struggle towards hope began. In the first 25 minutes, I was quite frustrated and annoyed as the ball never came in my way. It just keeps passing right by way but never comes to my feet. That's when I realize that the ball is like our dreams that doesn't always comes true by coming towards us, we have to chase that dream. Then I began rushing towards the ball, when someone tackled me and the halftime whistle was blown. As I sit in the locker room, I reminisce how the blowing of the whistle represents the beginning and the end of life. And everything in between, the game itself, represents our struggle for reaching out goal and fulfilling out dreams.
The second half starts. Still no goals. Then as the final whistle was about to be blown, I received a pass from the midfielder. Being quite indecisive throughout my life, I began to panic. "To whom should I pass", I ask myself. My best bet was be the striker as he was closer to the goal post but then I realize that sometimes I have to do what I think is right. Then I passed the ball to the goalie, who then passed it to the striker. I began rushing forward from my position and start running parallel to the the striker. He passes the ball to me and shoot. The ball misses the goal post and the final whistle is blown with the score being 0-0.
At the end of the day, we won the match through a penalty shootout. I was glad that I made the correct decision even though it didn't result in a fruitful result. This game made me realize that the obstacles in life are not necessarily preventing us to reach our goals and dreams. It is just slowing us down. As long as we have an optimistic view, make the correct decisions and go after our dreams, we are sure to reach our goal.
