Soccer: My Entire Life's Obession

I’m in love with soccer. There is nothing more relaxing than grabbing a bunch of friends, a ball and heading to a field to play for hours on end. When I was 3 years old, I received my first soccer ball and it became one of my favorite toys in the world. I would wear a lot of soccer jerseys growing up but also just grew to fall in love with the sport itself. It consumed me. Nothing was more important that playing on that field. Nothing. I remember it pretty clearly but when I about 10, I missed a very important game because we had school on a Saturday. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was letting my teammates down and that I have helped them if I was there. Fortunately, they won and that feeling went away but my desire to stay on that field for as long as possible never wavered. I joke with my mom about it now but I would always play with injuries and never gave myself a break. I tell her that it’s the cause of most of my pain now in my ankles. I love the anticipation of a big game and the build up that came with it. Practices became more intense and you had to push yourself to be better every single day. With it came the need to prove myself to the coach to let me start or to keep me in the game even if it was in a deadlock. Nothing beats the passion of having a great save, tackle, shot or goal. You crave it, you feel something that you never feel again until you do the action again. When I was 13, I played in the final match of the season between my team and our division rivals. Whoever won the match would win the division and the bragging rights. In one of the last plays of the game, I chased an opposing player from one side of the field to the other and tackled him, getting the ball in the process. I cleared the ball and the whistle blew. The game was over and I was so overcome with emotion, that I started to cry. Because soccer was more than a game to me. It was my everything. I loved playing, running and just having the ball at my feet. I will never forget my last high school match. We may have won but for it to be my last game a part of a team made a very bitter pill to swallow. I was never able to be a part of a team again and since my ambitions changed, I didn’t want to play in college. And yet, soccer is still a huge part of my life. Every weekend, I will be up to watch my favorite team play or stay up late to cheer on the Mexican national team as they play international friendlies. I continue to play with friends and my love for the game never wavers. I still do a lot of things better with my feet than I do with my hands. My love for the game of soccer will never change.