I thought I was done with club soccer when I quit after eighth grade. With schoolwork piling up as I entered high school and my hesitance around continuing to play competitive soccer, it just didn’t seem worth it. My love for the sport began to fade, and my ninth and 10th-grade soccer seasons didn’t feel very special.
But at the end of my sophomore year, I was approached by then-junior Ben Adams who, wanting to get away from the pressure of club soccer himself, had this crazy idea to start his own soccer team for fun. It seemed kind of insane, but, hoping to improve my skills, I accepted the offer.
Everything from creating the jerseys to organizing the practices was led by a bunch of high school kids. Thanks to Ben’s sweet-talking, we managed to get into one of the most competitive leagues in the state. By the first practice in the grueling summer heat on Silcox Field, it already felt way different from other clubs I had played for. Coach Martin, the head coach of St. Mark’s Soccer at the time, had agreed to coach the club, so there was an immediate friendly atmosphere on arrival. The competitive stress of club soccer that I was expecting wasn’t there. Most of us didn’t even know each other, but we all had something in common – we all wanted to have fun.
In our first game of the season, nobody seemed worried about the result. Of course, we wanted to win, but everyone was more focused on simply enjoying the game. We still competed fiercely and won, but had fun as we did it.
Due to some outside circumstances, Martin couldn’t coach the team after August, so after the first couple of games, we were left with no leadership. We had entered for the Plano Labor Day Tournament, so with nobody to coach, we looked towards the tactics of none other than Ben Adams himself. It was ridiculous. With a parent sitting on our bench just so we were eligible to play, our new coach, “Gaffer Ben” as we called him, would sub himself in and out of the game, playing and making changes whenever he was on the sideline. None of us had any expectations, and we were competing against some of the best teams from around the state. Completely fueled by the comedy of the whole situation, we narrowly scraped through the group stage and somehow reached the finals on the third day of the tournament. Though we lost, the amusement that came from it was more than enough.
Sometimes, the best thing to do is just have fun. Over-competitiveness can take away from the true joy of doing the things we love to do. Find that thing you feel passionate about, whether that be sports or a subject in school, and figure out why you love doing it. Because sports are not just about competing, but about doing what you love to do.
As Ben and the rest of the seniors on the team graduate, the torch is being passed down to me to lead Reform United, and my goal is to continue to provide more than just a soccer club. When I joined, I saw it as an opportunity to get better. But I gained much more than that – I made core memories, unexpected friendships and had the most fun I’ve ever had playing the sport.
