As my 13th MESAC came to a close, I flew home from Oman in a state of nostalgia reflecting on my relationship with the sport. It started when I was living in Indonesia in kindergarten when my friends and I would play imaginary soccer during recess. I still don’t know why, because I never really enjoyed watching sports. Nonetheless, playing soccer during recess was always a blast, even without a ball. When I moved to Abu Dhabi, I happened to make friends with a lot of European kids who were born wearing the jersey of the team they were destined to support. I never really understood that culture, but I was more than happy to accompany them to the try outs of the local club team. It dawned on me once we arrived that I had not actually played soccer before, but I would not be deterred. Although I had essentially zero experience with a ball, I was fairly athletic, so I could run the fastest of anyone out there. In fact, I might have been a gymnast had there been lessons for guys in Indonesia.
I did not make the team that year, but thanks to the practice I got playing every day during break and lunch, I managed to make it the next year. In fact, I have not been cut from a sports team since. Still, when I got there I was that fast kid that could barely kick a ball and ended up having to try every position (except center mid and center back) for a year before I made my school U14 team in 6th grade, where the coach decided I would be a good right back. I spent that year and the next learning how to play the position, until 8th grade when I managed to make the JV team. The game is a bit harder at that level, but I managed to keep up despite my friends and I being among the youngest on the team. I also ended up with an MIP and a recommendation from that coach to the varsity coach. I scraped my way onto varsity freshman year with two other very talented freshman, and had one of the most intense seasons of my life. The level of play at varsity compared to JV is incredibly higher, and I got an unprecedented amount of gameplay due to an older player being injured. Being that young was very stressful, but it taught me the work ethic and mindset necessary to learn new skills rapidly. We managed to win MESAC that year, the credit of which I will not take much of, because really at that point I was just doing the basics of my job. There are so many micro and macro aspects of the game I learned that year and the year after that.
Sophomore year I was introduced to the best left wing I have played against to date. Adam Mezqueldi from DAA was gifted in every physical and technical aspect of the game and when your job is to never let him get the ball past you, you learn quick. He happened to be a really nice guy too, I went to Bitburg, Germany with him and a few other guys for a college showcase. We placed third sophomore year, which was a disappointing outcome considering some of the talent we had. A lot of that talent was lost the next year, and because I was among the most experienced players on the team, it was time for me to step up. Even though 11th grade is the usual grade for varsity I needed to learn how to be a leader, which was something I was much less adept at. That was a different kind of struggle because I am not a much of a hype man, in fact quite the opposite. I tend to be a pretty calm guy on and off the field, and volume isn’t really something I was gifted with either. After a fun and friendly season we managed to secure second, which was better than some people might have expected. I couldn’t really figure out how to be more of a leader using what I had, but that started to change my senior year.
By the start of my senior year, I had established myself as an excellent right back and overall skilled player. I was trying out different positions as well, to see if I could support the offence as effectively as I did the defence, but those roads didn’t lead anywhere crucial for the team so I focused more on my leadership abilities. I quickly realized that standing up and addressing everyone was not a method that worked well for my team or myself, and started exploring ways to help the team by talking to people alone. What was surprisingly effective was actually looking the right person in the eyes and just telling them to be quiet (nicely of course) and focus. That was something I got a lot better at throughout the season and helped shift the team mindset during practices and before games. I also found it much easier to lead by example, something I learned during volleyball the previous season. I felt a somewhat accomplished even before we played the finals in MESAC. We had played a great tournament, and earned out place in the finals but the atmosphere in the team was unlike anything I had ever experienced with that group of boys. As we warmed up in astonishing silence, I heard my coaches saying to each other “this is different. I can feel it.” In all our heads, in all of our heads we knew that whether we won or lost was up to us. All it depended on was whether we put in 150% from kickoff to the whistle. I think every single person who played did exactly that, we attacked relentlessly and effectively in the best performance I have ever been a part of with that team. It ended in a sweeping 3-0 victory which felt like quite a satisfactory way to end my soccer saga.
That gold medal holds more significance to me than any others because it represents my own success in being able to turn almost nothing into something very significant. It represents guidelines I can use for the rest of my life academically and professionally, areas wherein there are plenty of new things to explore.
Achievements
- Coaches choice award grade 11
- Coaches choice award grade 12
- MESAC gold medal grade 9
- MESAC bronze medal grade 10
- MESAC silver medal grade 11
- MESAC gold medal grade 12
"It's hard to beat someone who never quits" – Unknown