Personal Experience of Connecting with My Football Team

When I played traveling soccer for the Watertown Soccer Club (WSC) my team’s name was the Wolverines. Throughout the time I was on the team memories developed that I still have to this day. I bonded with many teammates with one of them ultimately becoming my best friend. In the beginning it was very odd and we were successful for a little bit then we took a face dive. After that we got some new coaches and new players that set us on track to succeed.

After our first coach was dismissed from the club my dad came back and coached us once again and we got some new players. It was hard to adjust to these new players since we were still adjusting to each other since we had only been together for a year. Despite it all we did do better however it would be the next season before we really took off.

We were now to the age where we played on full sized fields and with a size five ball. It wasn’t very hard to switch to them although. By now we really had an understanding for each other and the way we played the best. We had a glass ceiling but in the past couldn’t get that notch in our belt that would say we were better that most: winning a tournament. For some reason we just couldn’t win in tournaments. Any game that wasn’t in a tournament we would dominate. Well now it was different we were going to end our woes. After we got that first tournament win every game we played in had us as the victor.

We were in Madison when we took our fall from grace. It was the finals of the MAYSA Cup a tournament held once a year that was hosted by the league we played in. The opposing team the Regent Sabers was from Madison. During the pregame warm-ups we still had the thoughts of when we beat them 2-0 two weeks before. Both of our goals were off penalty kicks but we didn’t think that they were that good. Apparently we were wrong because out of nowhere they scored two goals on us to make the score 2-1. Luckily we were able to score another to push the game into overtime. After a full overtime we were still tied and went into penalty kicks to decide the winner. Part of our inexperience in the situation really hurt us. After the penalty kicks we had lost the game. It was very hard to cope with the feeling, especially when we were given the trophies that said runners up and watched the other team receive their trophies. I felt as if the whole tournament was a bust since we couldn’t win in the finals.

As a team we took it as a very valuable learning experience and went on to walk all over the tournament the following year. After all my days of playing soccer I can say that I had highs and lows but will always remember that tournament where we worked so hard but fell short and how we worked hard to eventually achieve that trophy that said champions.