Nicholas Jost
Mat Wenzel
July 21, 2019
ENC2135
Personal Narrative
As a team, we stood on the sideline and put our hands over our hearts during the national anthem and walked out onto the field one by one as our names were called. There was a lot of tension between my team and the rivaling team since this was the district championship. I, as well as my whole team, wanted to make history at our school by winning this soccer game. The national anthem felt like it went by in the blink of an eye, as I was analyzing the other team. As I ran to my position and heard the starting whistle, I had never felt more nervous in my entire life. Playing a defensive position was very tough because your team looked to you to make sure the other team does not score. The pressure was intense because not only was the team relying on each other, but the entire crowd was going crazy throughout the entire game, which only makes the players want to win so much more for the attention of the fans. It was hard to even look up at the crowd, fully knowing that half of them love you and half of them hate you. All I can hear from the crowd are chants like “Let’s go blue” and, of course, the classic “DEFENSE, DEFENSE, DEFENSE!” Thankfully, I was able to ignore my 80-year-old assistant coach yelling “What the hell is wrong with you?!” as he usually did at our games at every single player.
The first half of the game was just brutal. Both teams came within feet of scoring a goal multiple times, but it just seemed like no one would ever score. By the end of the first half, the score was 0-0 and the game was looking in favor of the other team, since they had maybe triple the shots on goal that we had. It was one of the roughest 45 minutes of my life, both physically
and mentally challenging. I felt like the player from the other team that I was guarding was trying to showboat for the crowd. The player was extremely quick on his feet, and he had very good ball-handling skills. It was not easy to keep him from scoring for that long. Anyone paying attention could tell how overworked all of the players were. Due to my fatigue, I was unable to start the second half of the game and I just had to rest so I could regain energy to play. Shortly after the start of the half, maybe 5 minutes in, the other team scored a goal. I could see the utter disappointment in my teammate’s faces and in the faces of both of my coaches. At this point in the game, I did not feel like we were going to win.
My coach said, “Nick I need you back in there, buddy. Are you ready?”
“Yeah, coach. I’m ready,” I replied.
I felt a little upset from the sudden deficit we were at, but I was not going to let that distract me from still trying to win. I could feel a pit in my chest as I took the field again, and it did not even compare to the feeling of running back out there while the entire crowd was watching you. The second half was not much better than the first. The player I was guarding was now verbally taking jabs at me, which truly got under my skin.
“Bro, you guys suck,” he said. “It’s not easy playing a real team, is it?”
I decided to be the bigger man and not reply to his foolish comment. This was a turning point for me in the game. I would do anything in my power to ensure our victory over this hostile team. With very little time left on the clock, it started to rain a little. I looked up to see the crowd start dissipate. The dirt on the torn-up field now turned to mud, which is never easy to play in.At this point, we were extremely determined to score, despite the conditions. I could tell by the look in my coach’s face that he expected something incredible to happen.
“If you want to stay and watch the rest of the game, you are welcome to stand under the pavilion by the concession stand!” boomed the loud voice over the speakers.
Time was ticking away quickly, and nothing was happening. However, with 7 seconds left on the clock, a player from the other team fouled one of my midfield teammates, Markus.
“Ref come on, that’s a foul!” shouted Markus.
Markus was joined in his shouts at the referee by our team’s parents who were shouting statements like “Kick him out of the game,” and “Open your eyes, ref!”
A chill went down my spine and the hairs on my arm raised as I waited for the referee to raise the whistle to his mouth and call a foul. As soon as it seemed like he was not going to call it, I turned around and heard the ear-splitting whistle blow. We got a free kick from about 30 yards away from the goal, which was insanely lucky for our team. My coach called on our most reliable shooter to take the shot.
“Go ahead, Webb. Bury that thing,” he shouted from the sideline.
It could be considered a miracle, that my teammate, Caleb Webb, shot the ball from the free kick spot and scored a goal, off of a deflection from the goalie’s hand. I could not believe my eyes, it seemed like something out of a movie. In an instant, we went from heartbroken to optimistic. I had never seen a group of people more excited for anything. My entire team rushed the field as the final whistle blew and tackled Caleb to the ground. We were back in the game, and we were going to penalty kicks. We had a serious team discussion before our kick-takers took the field.
Our coach said, “I’m proud of you guys no matter what the scoreboard says at the end of the game. But you guys are more experienced in PK’s than anyone else in this county. Now get out there and end this thing.”
He had a good reason to be so proud too. Our school’s soccer team had never made it to the district championship before. It was definitely a very touching speech that he had given.
“You boys turned this team from nothing to something in just two years. I will never forget this team that I’m looking at right here. I could tell this team was going to do great things as soon as I saw you all as freshman. Now go out there and leave everything you have on the field and win that freakin’ trophy.”