My Therapy by Mary

My Therapy by Mary - May 2022 Scholarship Essay

My Therapy I was ten when I found out my mom had stage four throat cancer. Eight months later, my mother divorced my father. I'm not one to feel sorry for myself, but I can definitely say that was a difficult year. My mom sent me and my older siblings to therapy to deal with the stress of her recovery and the fall out from the divorce. My siblings went for years, but traditional therapy did not connect with me. Fortunately, my therapy was soccer and my therapist was Wayne Williams, my coach. When I was eleven, I tried out for a local club soccer team that consisted of all the top players in our area. That was around the same time of my mother's diagnosis and my parents divorce. With years of consistency, training, hard work, and dedication, we are now the eleventh ranked team in the nation. But importantly, I didn't realize then how we would grow to be a family. Nor did I realize that this team and Wayne would help me to find happiness in such an awful situation. Wayne Williams has coached me since the fifth grade. He is the person I respect most in the world, not only because he knows how to get the best performance out of me as an athlete, but because I regard him as a second father. Don’t get me wrong I love my family, and I am thankful for my mom bringing me to every practice and tournament, but I wouldn't be the person or player that I am if it weren't for him. That is because he is available to give advice, spend extra time with training, and be my source of confidence when I didn’t have it myself. In ninth grade, I competed for a spot on the Olympic Development Regional Program (ODP), and I was rejected. The following year, Wayne encouraged me to try out again. I didn’t want to take his advice, not because I didn’t trust him, but because failure was a foriegn concept to me. Nevertheless, I swallowed my pride and listened to his directives to enhance my fitness
and soccer skill which led me to become more confident. That year, I traveled to Boca Raton, FL and Costa Rica as a part of the ODP Region 1 team. After that, I realized that if this man never gave up on me, then I shouldn't ever give up on myself. Throughout my soccer career, I’ve learned that families are more than blood. Without Wayne, I wouldn’t be half of the person I am today. He helped me grow, not only as a soccer player, but as an individual as well. This is my final year of club soccer before I go off and play in college. My team and I are headed to Florida in July to play in the National League Championships. More importantly, my mom is cancer free, and as for my parents, I have made peace with their decision to separate. Therapy has come to an end for my siblings, however, for me, soccer will always continue to be my “therapy.”