Futbol [soccer] is my life. My brain spends 95% of its thinking power on a ball you kick with your feet; the other 5% is spent on girls, food, and sleep. I can’t even imagine where my life would be without this sport. It is what my life is shaped around. It has taught me how to deal and interact with thousands of different profiles and people – White Black, Muslim, Christian, loud, quiet, humble cocky– the list is limitless. The field is my canvas while my brain is the blueprint and my legs are the brush. I express myself through this game; anger, elegance, and flair are all personified. I love to play, and I mean really love to play. The game’s on Sunday. It’s Monday and my head’s already there thinking about what moves am I going to try. I want to score, and an assist wouldn’t be bad either. All these thoughts are racing in my mind like a hamster wheel until the day of the game.
This sport is my life. I play for the absolute highs and for the absolutes because that’s what life is. I can’t even imagine or fathom the thought of living without it. So far Isaiah Karel Harrison’s novel has been futbal-focused, and has had many chapters written. Yet time is still writing more and more and more.
Are we practicing in a hard-floored gym? This was my initial thought when I stepped into my high school soccer practice at BCS. A bunch of unfamiliar faces– some kids were towering over me, while some were even shorter than me. When I met Coach Q, I was struck by this unusually young and swaggy coach. When I think of a soccer coach I think of a guy who is in his mid-40s or 50s hard-nosed, and not fly. Coach Q squashed that perception.
Anyway, we played, and half of my teammates still hadn’t heard my voice. I’ve always been shy. It’s who I am. some people read it as cockiness when in reality I’m just kind of awkward. That part of me has diminished due to being on this team. With each practice and game, I started to feel more comfortable and more at home. We practiced and played everywhere, and I loved it. I went from this shy kid to the soccer team captain, in complete contrast.
This team has welcomed me and has quite literally been a second family to me. My entire friend group is and was on the soccer team, which I am thankful for. I’ve never been good with approaching people and starting conversations. With BCS being a small school, it was hard to try and make friends with people who went to the same middle school together. Without the soccer team, I really don’t know who I would have been friends with.
Looking back, it has been a ball that I chase and kick into a large net that has made me who I am and has helped me with things that aren’t related to sports.
