Soccer is a very popular sport for both girls and boys. Some people find out about soccer from school teams, physical education (P.E), and possibly from their family members. Perhaps their sibling, dad, or even mom played back in their day. But how do they actually find their passion? Freshman Luis Lopez said, “Well, it all started off with my dad, I saw him as my inspiration. When I was around seven years old, I won my first trophy, and I started liking the game more and more. When I saw professionals playing, I had a passion to be one of them and play in the big leagues.”
Playing soccer can also make an impact on your life, but how? “Soccer has impacted my life by helping me build a stronger and better relationship with my stepdad, because he is the one who taught me how to play soccer and encouraged me to follow my dreams,” said freshman Luis Abarca Escobar. “When I was young, I started playing soccer for fun, but over time I started to fall in love with it,” said freshman Miguel Guzman. There are so many different ways soccer can impact your life; these are just a couple.
In soccer, it is important to have a good relationship with your teammates. If you don’t, then it might be a tough season for most of you. “We bond with each other by making TikToks, eating together, and hanging out with each other,” said sophomore Brianna Rios. Having team chemistry is also very important in the field. “I think team chemistry is very important because it allows you to build a connection with your teammates and it allows you to get to know each other’s playing styles,” said junior Isabel Calvillo.
Making sure you and your teammates are motivated is another very important thing in soccer. Lopez said, “Well, during losses when we are losing 2-1, 2-0, 3-2, we come together and we talk about the mistakes we made during the game and talk about how we can all do better. It is never just one person who should take the blame, maybe like several players, or even the whole team. We mostly always keep our heads up, telling one another that we all did a good job and we couldn’t do more for our team.” As much as having a good relationship with your teammates is important, so is having team chemistry and being there to support and motivate yourself and your teammates during the tough games.
When being in soccer or any sport in general, it is important to mentally and physically prepare yourself. Physically preparing yourself is important because you could cramp up during the game, and it could result in an injury. Mentally preparing yourself is just as important because if you have a negative mindset, then you will most likely have a bad game. Most people like listening to music to get hyped up, and others prefer praying for their own safety and their teammates’ safety. Freshman Marlene Guillen Ortiz said, “I pray to God while I ask my coach about what I need to focus on, before I head out to the field.” Junior Chris Morris and Rios both said similar things; they both said that they like to listen to music to prepare themselves before a game.
Most of the time, players think they have all the important skills mastered, but there is always something they could improve on. Sophomore Maliya Trammell said, “I would say I need more work on my aggression, and I also play very timidly; I don’t pressure the ball enough like I should. No matter how good a player is, there is always something new they could learn or improve on.” Mrs. Hamrock, the girls JV soccer coach, said, “The most common mistakes kids have while playing soccer are the foot skills and endurance.” Mr. Ceita Da Costa, the boys Varsity coach, said, ” The biggest mistake players make is only wanting it when it’s in front of them. That out of sight, out of mind mentality. It’s easy to say you want something. It’s easy to chase the dream when it’s in front of you, but what happens when you don’t have team practice? Am I working for it? When the coach isn’t yelling at me, am I pushing harder? When someone doesn’t drag me to it. Am I going to do it?”
If you would like to come to one of the soccer games to support our Eagles, watch out for soccer at OHS this spring! Both boys and girls teams will be playing starting around March.
