The Story of Effort

    A small soccer team of twelve girls climbed onto the bus headed to a game against one of the leading teams in the district. They were laughing, talking, enjoying each others company, but had no intentions of winning.
    Clearly, not one of them was ready to play those girls and so as they lined up on the field and the referee blew the whistle, everything but soccer was running through their heads. The balls flew and the score board climbed.
    The team was getting clobbered and they jogged reluctantly back to their position with their heads down in defeat. The game finally ended with a score of 13-1 and the twelve girls hung their heads and crawled back onto the bus, embarrassed.
    The next day, they showed up to practice with the cloud of defeat still hanging over their heads and each girl felt as though this was how their team would be all year. In just two days, they would be on their way to play another stronger, better team. A team that had beat the girls who had just put twelve goals in between their one goal.
    Coach sat them down and said, "You were physically ready. Physically, you could've beat those girls, but mentally... not one of you was ready." And every single girl knew he was right. There hadn't been enough effort on that field that night. Not enough devotion, desire, drive. A thousands words that hadn't been there, summing up into one word. Effort.
    Those girls practiced that night with that thought circling around in their head and before they left the field they made up their minds. They were going to start making an effort. They concentrated their thoughts on the game before them. They focused their free time with the imaginings of doing their jobs to the absolute best of their abilities. At practice, they threw themselves into every drill with the intention of preparing themselves for the following day, and when it arrived they were ready.
    The bus ride up was quiet, reverent. Each girl recalling her job and walking herself through the steps that she had to take in order for it to be done correctly. When they arrived, they were ready. This time, because of injuries, a team of 10 girls took the field. They had no substitutes and they prepared themselves to play a full 40 minutes of soccer before half time.
    A mist was falling around them wetting the grass, strengthening the players, and they walked out. The ball was kicked, but instead of playing the game to get through it. Each girl flung themselves at the ball as though it would be the last game they ever played. The first half they played with skill and effort. When they left the field the score was 3-2. This was the team that had beat the team they had played just two nights ago. Just two nights ago they had been gazing up at a score board reading 9-1 as they left the field at half time, and now only one goal stood between those girls and a tie.  A tie with one of the best teams in the county.
    They ran straight back out into the rain. The same 10 girls with the same amount of heart (maybe even a little more). Nearing the middle of the second half, it was evident that their skill and ability wouldn't be able to carry these girls any longer. The score was 6-2 and all that could save them was their effort.
    They could turn around and watch the ball fall off the foot of the other team and roll into the goal or they could take the ball onto their foot and charge it down to the goal. In the last 10 minutes of the game those girls had nothing left, except their effort, and each one of them spent the very last drop of it on the field. Devoting every ounce they had left to the position they had to play and they were carrying the ball on their foot when the clock ran out.
    They left the field still losers in the eyes of onlookers, but in their hearts, they knew their was more to it, because their had been a change in the hearts of every single one of those girls. They looked towards their next game, not with dread but with determination; ready to put fourth even more effort, and anticipating the day when that small team of girls brings home a win, out of sheer effort.

Until Next Time,
    Katherine Rose

Soccer

    I have been participating in AYSO soccer for a long time now, I guess this would be my fifth season. AYSO stands for American Youth Soccer Organization. This year I will be entering into high school sports and I plan on playing soccer in the fall.
    My number this year is 12 and that's the same as three other people I know! My team is pretty cool and together we make up the Nuclear Leprechauns; awesome right?
    I suggested the unicorns, but that didn't really fly with most of the boys. However some of the girls were in agreement with that. I mean, what's not to like about unicorns?
    We have only lost one regular game this season. At least I'm pretty sure that's it, except tournament games, which we lost both.
    The uniforms aren't extremely appealing this year. They are striped. I'm not exactly a huge fan of stripes, but they serve their purpose.
    The other day Jane had a game and Claire and I walked around and watched some of the other games going on. I can't be sure who won and who lost most of the games, because we skipped around a lot. I do know that Joan's team lost. My Mom told me that.
    I don't really like watching soccer, but I sure do like playing it, and I plan to keep playing it for a very long time.

Until Next Time,
    Katherine Rose