A Game of Mistakes by Christopher

A Game of Mistakes by Christopher - February 2017 Scholarship Essay

Soccer, more than any other team sport, is all about mental toughness. A player requires the mental fortitude to go into a tackle with everything he or she has, committing everything to winning the ball. A player requires the mental composure to make a play under pressure. That being said, soccer is a game of mistakes. It is most difficult to move on and forget mistakes when one's mistake cost one's team the game. The ability to preform when fear of failure clouds one's mind can only be developed through the overcoming of said fear. I, through my high school soccer career, have dealt with these mental obstacles and overcome them.

I entered high school with expectation of success. I had been the top scorer for every soccer team I had played for in my life. Thus, I was perhaps too confident in my abilities to dominate the soccer pitch. I made the varsity soccer team as a freshman, though there was a JV team, and proceeded into a season in which I would begin to doubt myself and my skills as a player. Playing against kids who are four years older than you is a challenge everyone faces when playing at a high level in high school sports. I had never really experienced failure until I entered that level. I found myself struggling to score, and began to not trust myself when I would get scoring chances.

I do not think anyone needs to be told that self-doubt is deadlier than any poison. My freshman year I finished with a mere 2 goals and 1 assist, and while my coaches and peers admired my play against much stronger and faster opponents, I began to fear failure.

My sophomore year I was recruited to play for one of the best club teams in the Tampa Bay area, along with a couple of my high school friends. I played phenomenally, but as high school season approached I had a nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach. I desired greatly to preform for my school, but I did not possess the mental fortitude necessary to overcome the fear that clouded my mind. I played better that season, scoring 8 goals and providing only 1 assist, but I hit another road block after high school season. My club team was playing against the number one team in the state, and as the clock ticked down the final minutes of the game, the score stood at one goal to one. My team won a penalty kick (which is a free shot at goal from 12 yards away with the goalie of the opposing team trying to stop it), and my teammates yelled for me to take it. I was a bundle of nerves. I stepped up to the spot and I missed the goal entirely, ending the game as a tie. I walked off the field in tears as my coach came to comfort me. Little did I know that this marked the beginning of a 2 year mental struggle.

My junior year I preformed well for my high school team, scoring 11 goals and giving 12 assists. I was selected to the All County Boys soccer team, and at the Montverde Academy Soccer Tournament, perhaps the most competitive high school soccer tournament in the country, I was selected to the all tournament team. We lost in the state semi final that season to the number two ranked high school team in the nation, and the season ended with a hunger for a title and my confidence growing. I remained deathly afraid of penalty kicks, however.

Currently I am playing as a senior and am having my best ever season for my high school. Leading up to the district finals I had scored 20 goals and given 12 assists (it is currently 22 goals and 15 assists). Earlier in the season I had missed yet another penalty kick, however, and as time winded down in the district finals I realized the inevitability of a penalty shootout to decide the winner. Butterflies assaulted my stomach. I knew as a captain of the team I would have to take a penalty, but I had not scored one since before my sophomore year.

Initially I had decided not to step up. I had taken the easy way out, and had given in the mental weakness in the face of adversity. But something snapped. I was tired of being afraid and I was tired of the self-doubt cluttering my head. I marched up to my coach and told him I would take a penalty kick. He looked skeptical as he put my name down to go second in the lineup.

We scored out first penalty, and unexpectedly the other team's first kicker missed his shot. As we shouted our congratulations to our goalkeeper, I realized the task of putting my team ahead in the championship shootout fell on my shoulders. But I was not afraid this time.

I stepped up to the spot, placed the ball, looked the keeper dead in the eyes, and put the ball past him into the net. As we celebrated out district championship, I felt lighter, as if a great weight had been lifted off my shoulders. And indeed one had. I had conquered my fear of failure on a grand stage, and led my team to victory.