On this Thursday October 26th, I decided to take part in the soccer club game down in the gym. At first my intentions were to just go and watch my friend play but after I got there his team had to bail on him for some reasons I won’t get into. After his team bailed he found some kid waiting to play on the sidelines, and then picked up another kid off the losing team, but he still needed two more players. After looking at telling me “C’mon bro you gotta play” I told him I would, he stuck me at Goalie. But…. We still needed one more player, we gave Ahmed a call but he wasn’t in school, so we called Illan the only other kid we knew who played soccer. Within minutes he came to save the day and we had a team of five, basically the bad news bears thrown together and I guess somewhat ready to play. The game started and I was inside the goalie’s net, excited and laughing because the other team was so determined and serious, I was just there for some good fun and a learning experience. The opposing team came on strong, driving hard kicks towards the net, I let a few get by but my team was also putting a few in, the game was tied 2-2. The opponent kept pushing forward and I was throwing my body on the ball, beginning to break a sweat. In my mind, I couldn’t stop thinking “Damn, this is a lot harder than I thought”, but the whole time I was having fun experiencing a new sport with friends and class mates. At the end of the day I had a blast, interacting with a new club, new friends, and getting closer to my school.
