Practice Makes Perfect

As I walked into my first practice, I watched other people taking shots on the goal and doing much better than I ever could at the time. I first began playing soccer for Synapse in 5th grade. It was my first time playing soccer on an actual team. I couldn’t kick effectively, dribble more than a few feet, or save any goals consistently. I occasionally got lucky and saved a ball or managed to dribble some of my teammates. My ultimate goal was to have fun and learn a new sport.

As I walked into my first practice, I watched other people taking shots on the goal and doing much better than I ever could at the time. I went on through practice, doing warmups and practicing soccer skills that I probably should have done better at than I did.

I was thinking that I needed to improve my skills as I walked out of SportsHouse on that fun-filled day.

I was still thinking about that when I walked in for the next practice, and I practiced harder than most of the other players on the team. My teammates might have had more skill with the ball, but I was putting in much more work than anyone else during the practices.

I steadily improved as time went on, through practice and luck, learning new skills such as saving goals, scoring goals, and playing games that, though they mostly ended in losses, were still great opportunities for me to learn what I was doing wrong and how to fix them. I might have been improving but still couldn’t catch up to anyone else’s playing skills.

I had people talking behind my back about…, but I still tried. I managed to keep a cheery persona around others, but inside I was growing more and more disappointed about my lack of skills with the soccer ball. I gained more skills as I practiced with my team, but I still couldn’t manage to do the important things like diving, blocking, catching, dribbling, and kicking effectively.

Over the summer before and the year over Zoom, I continued to practice with a private coach, called Martin. He had previously been employed at Sportshouse running soccer games at birthday parties but now had agreed to go in and help coach me. He had also coached at Woodside Priory High School. I practiced with him three times a week, learning new warmups, drills, and skills. I had maybe more fun during these private training sessions than any other time that I was playing soccer. We would have music playing and have a soccer ball out, and he would take shots on me in goal. Each practice was a new and fun experience for me, and memories of those experiences would proceed to drive me through the Palo Alto Soccer Club tryouts.

I managed to dive and save a ball for the first time while practicing with him, and we both had been ecstatic. I even managed to save some more difficult and powerful shots than I had ever done before. My skill set continued to grow. My friends at school were some of the few who recognized my improvement, and they congratulated and supported me. I was still getting picked last for lunchtime soccer matches, but I was satisfied with my current skill increases and my friends’ attitude about it.

I tried out for Palo Alto Soccer Club this year and got accepted at the tryout. I had made textbook perfect saves, dived quite a lot, and even managed to do an accurate punt, possibly for the first time. My teammates were all supportive of me and said that I had good skills, considering my lack of previous experience. One of my Palo Alto teammates even proclaimed after our first few weeks of amazing practices, “We’re going to have the BEST SEASON EVER with you.”

To which I responded, “Thanks to you as well.” This was a great improvement from years previously when I couldn’t dribble, catch or shoot, or really do much of anything with a soccer ball. Before we held first place for most of the season. Now, we are in second place in the soccer league, and we have had a truly spectacular season so far with only two games left to go.

As I look back on it, I find out that maybe the people who had laughed a few years ago had a point. My soccer skills as I remember them were completely and utterly atrocious, but I’ve come a long way from being a 5th grader without any experience whatsoever to myself as I am now, a starting keeper on a Palo Alto Soccer Club team.

What I learned from this experience is that even if others say that I’m not good at something, I can improve at anything if I put my mind to it. I’ve found that with a lot of practice comes perfection, and that with that mindset, I can achieve anything I could ever want.