The Big Game

Preparation is crucial in the art of success. The way I planned for the Provincial finals, almost three years ago, proved to me that I could prepare myself properly for anything in life. Before the soccer finals, I constructed mental and physical plans so that I could succeed that Saturday afternoon.

Weeks prior, our team found out who we would play in the Ontario Cup finals. It was London City; a team whom we had lost to 4-0 much earlier in the season, so we wanted revenge. At each practice, fitness session, and lifting workout, I pushed myself because I wanted to be at my best. I wanted to leave the field that Saturday as a champion no matter the result of the game. During every sprint, I blocked out the pain and fatigue and ignored the soreness in my legs. My determination made me pay no attention to the discomfort of my panting breath as I ran the last kilometer in my five-kilometer run. Every time I worked out I wanted to do my best, and giving up was never an option. On the days I didn’t give 100% I was angry for letting myself down but let me tell you, those days did not often occur.

The big game was getting closer, almost a week away, and I started thinking about that earlier game against London and recalled each of their four goals in my head. It was important to remember that each goal scored for and against our team was the responsibility of the entire squad and not just myself, as a defender. As the game was approaching, I continuously pushed my limits by working on things I knew I had to improve on. Being average was not for me; I wanted to be extraordinary instead of ordinary, so that meant that I had to put in the extra effort every time.

It was a few days before the game, so it was crucial to have good eating and drinking habits. I made hydration very important; I continuously drank water all day, including at every meal. I eliminated the fats in my diet and replenished my body with the correct proteins and carbohydrates. I elevated my feet when I slept, to get the blood out of the most important part of my body for a soccer game. Before I would fall asleep at night, I’d imagine how I wanted to play in the game and how I would personally contribute to my team’s victory.

The night before the game was very important, so I made sure I ate a good dinner. I had spaghetti and meat sauce, with Caesar salad on the side, and I ate it all, even after I was full. I knew that every last bit of protein in my body was needed, especially for the last minutes of the game. Later that night, I got into bed early so that I could have a good nine hours of sleep. I was in my bed and tried to fall asleep, but the pressures of the game were beginning to really weigh on me.

It was the morning before the big game, and I started with a solid breakfast and lunch, which were always important for a good performance. My breakfast consisted of whole-wheat toast with peanut butter, and then for lunch I had a bowl of chicken soup with a bun, which would be enough to sustain me for the game. As I drove to the field, I focused on the task ahead. I told myself, don’t let the striker turn, win every header, be vocal, and stay on your toes. However, I knew I needed to calm down and relax, so I eventually stopped psyching myself out. That would be where I showed my heart and determination to win.

The locker room was roaring with the loud beat of Kanye West’s Stronger. The only noise was the chorus saying, “Harder, better, faster, stronger” because each girl was envisioning the game and concentrating on her duties and responsibilities. I wanted to win, we wanted to win, and we wanted to win this for each other. That was where I needed to show my passion and drive, and where I needed to prove to myself, coaches, teammates, and parents that I was born to do this. I had to lead by example, starting from the first second to the last second of the game. I closed my eyes, relaxed my body, slowed my breathing, and visualized the game the way I wanted it to end. It was time to step on the field and time for the whistle that begun the game. Preparation was complete, and now it was time to perform.

When I was on the field that Saturday afternoon I felt confident in my abilities even though the game was tough. As the game was slowly coming to an end with a tied score of 0-0, it was essential to take care of the ball at every play and during every second. I was defending one of the top forwards in the province who had numerous college scouts watching her play that day. With a couple of minutes left, she received the ball at her feet from her central midfielder around the 25-yard mark from our net.

All I heard in my ears was my keeper yelling, “No turn Lisa, no turn!” Meanwhile every London parent cheered her on and encouraged her to spin past me.

Our keeper’s words were not necessary because I had told myself the same thing before the game and was telling myself the same thing during that play. Don’t let the striker turn and that was what I did while tight on her back as she shielded the ball from me. When she attempted to turn, I poked the ball out of her feet and I proceeded down the field. I passed to our central midfielder who continued the attack. At that moment, one of our strikers made a darting run diagonally across the field, and the midfielder placed the ball at the striker’s feet who ran with it. She took one touch on the ball and took a shot, and the ball landed in the back of their net. Our team was finally winning, and during the huge celebration I felt a little more relieved because we were ahead by a goal. There were only a few minutes left but once we heard the final whistle we all cheered and yelled because we had won the game. Our team had pulled through and succeeded in beating London City 1-0.

The preparation was enough to succeed. The drive and determination proved to be enough, not only from myself but also from the entire squad. I did what I practiced and prepared myself for one of the most important moments in the game to help my team to victory. Not every soccer player can say he or she is a provincial champion. I was not defeated because I proved to myself that anything is achievable with hard work and perseverance. It was not easy, the pain and fatigue was real, but so was the heart and passion to win. The higher I set my goals, the higher accomplishments I could achieve.

Just like Wayne Gretzky, a man from my hometown, said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” He was right; I succeeded because I never stopped trying. Champions are proven through their preparation and determination and not their victories, but it never hurts to add another win to the collection.

A Birthday Wish

I abruptly woke up from the bright, white sunlight suddenly striking my tired green eyes. Most Monday mornings I would normally just groan, curl up in my purple polka dotted comforter, and reluctantly get up, but this morning I got up instantly.

Right after my mom opened the curtains she yelled, “Morning birthday girl, happy birthday Amy!” She then proceeded to wake up my sisters so that they could celebrate this beautiful day with me.

I jumped out of bed, brushed back my long blonde hair from my face, and smiled as I ran to my closet to get my clothes I’d picked out two days before. I pranced around in a light green, sleeveless dress that went just above my knees. It was covered with pretty pink strawberries and giant strawberry buttons. Since it was hot outside I wanted to be flowery and full of bright colors. I wore fuzzy, purple socks and a big blue ring that could easily slide off my finger if I wasn’t careful.

When I was in the kitchen, all dressed and ready for school, my sisters and I talked about how we were going to spend my birthday. We planned adventures for after school such as digging for worms in the backyard and climbing on the monkey bars; this would be my first time on them because I was now old enough. As we were excitedly discussing our plans, my mom snuck into the kitchen carrying my Cinderella birthday cake, complete with six pink birthday candles. My mom, my dad, and my two sisters all sang “Happy Birthday” to me, each with a particularly off tone voice. I stared at the cake, which I was allowed to eat every year for breakfast on my birthday. My two sisters and I smiled for pictures on this Monday morning, with each of our faces and teeth clearly smeared with sweet, chocolate icing.

“Time for school,” my mom said.

As soon as I arrived in my bright, fun-colored grade one classroom I announced the news of my birthday to anyone who would listen. I received high fives and “Happy Birthdays’” from almost every one of my classmates. They were excited to be around the birthday girl; some even gave me a few homemade birthday cards. All this excitement was calmed when our teacher, Mrs. Robinson, told everyone to sit down. I grinned to myself thinking what a great day it was going to be. I couldn’t wait for all the presents I would receive when I got home from school.

Mrs. Robinson interrupted my daydreaming of presents when she called me up to the front of the class. I skipped up there with ease, loving the attention and smiles I received. There were a few cheers and screams as I made my way to the front. I stood bouncing up and down on my toes with a huge grin on my face, waiting for my favorite song to be sung to me and then I saw them.

Sitting at the front of the class were two little girls, Jennifer and Kristen, staring at me, both with bold brown eyes that read a look of complete annoyance. As the class started to sing they sat in their expensive clothes, with perfectly done blonde hair and just looked at me with hateful eyes. The class sang as loud as they possibly could, each student trying to be the loudest one, but these girls just snickered and sneered at me. I even saw Kristen whisper to Jennifer, “She thinks she’s so great. She actually thinks her strawberry dress looks good.”

I was instantly humiliated and embarrassed by being up there directly in front of them. It was as though with every note that was sung and every long second I stood there, the girls’ stares made me feel like I was shrinking. My body felt like it was fading away, like snow melting on a hot winter afternoon. I couldn’t figure out why they looked at me with complete hatred and annoyance.

All I could do was pray for the song to end just so I could get out of the girls’ sight, but the song droned on and all the students remained completely oblivious to the fact that I felt like I was about to cry. When the song finally ended I hurried back to my seat as the students whooped and clapped. The cheering ceased moments later as Mrs. Robinson told the class to settle down once again.

It was time for math. This made me feel like crying even more because I hated math and always needed help. About a half an hour into the beginning of the lesson I was even more frustrated and upset than before. All I could do was think about how bad my birthday was going. Why were Jennifer and Kristen so annoyed with me? I don’t think I ever said anything to make them hate me so much. Why were they like this on my birthday? Was it just me they don’t like? This confusion did not help me feel better about the math. Mrs. Robinson recognized that I, as well as a few other students, needed some assistance, so she decided to assign math buddies to improve our skills.

I closed my eyes and prayed to be paired with anyone but Kristen or Jennifer. It was then that I made my birthday wish, without any candles or a cake at hand and wished for them not to be my math buddy. I crossed my fingers and wished as hard as I could. I repeated the wish again and again in the back of my mind, praying and hoping it would come true at that very moment.

Mrs. Robinson began to call out other partners. “Mary and Cassandra will be together. Joel and Kelly are partners. As well as Kristen and Stefan.”

That meant that it was still possible to be stuck with Jennifer. I continued repeating the wish in my mind; I wish to not be math buddies with Jennifer. I wish to not be math buddies with Jennifer. I wish—

“Jennifer and Amy will be partners,” Mrs. Robinson said.

At that moment, it was obvious that the birthday gods had let me down. This was a disaster! We were now going to be math buddies for the rest of the year. Jennifer couldn’t even look at me without being disgusted, how was I supposed to be partners with her? This wasn’t going to be good for my math mark either because even though Jennifer was good at math, I knew she wouldn’t want to help me.

The look of disappointment and slight frustration on Jennifer’s face was almost a mirror image of mine. Even though she looked annoyed, she slowly walked over to my desk away from Kristen. The first moment was very uncomfortable, when she took her seat beside mine. It was obvious that neither one of us wanted to be sitting in that position. Without knowing what to say or do, I said, “Colin’s glasses make it look like he bought them in Mars from aliens.” Jennifer just looked at me like I was a nuisance. What was I supposed to say? She did not want to sit beside me, let alone have a conversation with me.

“I like playing hop scotch at recess; I noticed you’re really good at it. Do you think you could teach me how you play so well?” There was no reaction to my question. It was clear I bothered her in everyway. I needed to break the ice and I needed her to talk to me if I was ever going to figure out what her problem was. I had to think of something that she would want to talk about.

“Did you watch the new Arthur episode last night?” Instantly, after I asked this simple question, Jennifer’s eyes lit up.

“Arthur is my favorite show,” she said. “I’ve seen every single episode and I own every book. D.W. is my favorite because I am just like her; I bother my brother all the time but my baby sister still gets all the attention.” This was just the start to the first awkward conversation, but it ended up growing into a bigger one.

“My favorite color is purple too,” I said.

“What about ice cream? What’s your favorite flavor?” Jennifer asked.

“Cotton candy for sure. I get it every time.”

We didn’t talk about anything too exciting; we asked each other our favorite food, which boy in the class we thought was cute, and how many brothers and sisters we had. I also found out her favorite sport, song, movie, bedtime story, and animal. Before we even noticed, the math lesson was over and it was time for recess but we had gotten no math accomplished. We did, however, learn how many funny faces we each could make with the numbers on the math sheet. Jennifer was a pretty fun girl, and I hoped that she thought the same about me since she had actually gotten to know me.

Recess that day was horrible. Kristen was extremely jealous that Jennifer was hanging out with me, and that day Jennifer and I both discovered how rude Kristen actually was.

“Jennifer and Amy sittin’ in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage.”

Kristen sang this hateful song for the entire recess and almost put me in tears because of how mean she was being. I didn’t know what to do, but Jennifer handled the situation.

“Kristen, do not talk to Amy or me like that. I like Amy; she is a nice friend and doesn’t make fun of people all the time. We laughed and joked all math class today. I’m sorry to tell you this but you are a mean girl and I don’t want to be friends with you anymore. I hate how you treat people badly when they don’t deserve it all. Goodbye.”

Jennifer walked away from Kristen and said to me, “I can’t believe I was ever friends with her. She is a mean girl.”

Recess was fine after that because Jennifer showed me how to play hop scotch and I finally learned how to do it right. As I was playing with her I realized that I was happy that my birthday wish didn’t come true because then I wouldn’t have met her. We hung out as good friends with Kristen completely out of the picture. That was the way I wanted it to be because Kristen was mean and Jennifer was nice. My sixth birthday ended up being one of my favorite birthdays, and not just because the Cinderella birthday cake was the best cake ever.

Tasting the Silence

She’s resting,

on the coast of the soothing river,

and the peaceful flow of water develops a current

so repeatable and endless.

The rough shore of broken, evergreen trees and shrubs

creates ripples through the water,

so calming and surreal.

The air

gives her rosy cheek a gentle draft,

along with a separation from the hot summer’s wind

with the cooling rush of the river.

The perfect breeze amongst the leaves

travels through the air

with comfort and ease.

The beauty

of a clear, blue sky glimmers,

so effortlessly, along the tides of river.

The midnight blue of the dragonfly contrasts,

flawlessly, the glossy sunflower.

The sound

of the blowing trees,

chirping birds,

steady waves are disrupted

by an unfamiliar disturbance.

And then, amidst all of this serenity

the loud beat of motorcycles

suffocates the silence.

The Beauty of White

As early morning light appears

to shed its whiteness over

the crisp, dewy earth,

remember.

Think of lilies at Easter

or the soft white petals

of a daisy in Spring.

Envision a bride

adorned in white

as she prepares to join her groom.

Picture the purity

of freshly fallen snow

at dawn on a Winter morning.

Dream of a white stallion

as it gallops along

warm, white sands

on a tropical deserted beach.

Imagine rafting along

rushing, white-water rapids.

Or just relaxing

with a glass of refreshing

ice-cold milk.

As morning light appears

it whitens

the glowing earth.

Remember,

the light

leads to happiness

and an infinite bliss.

Creating hope

for eternity

and a graceful life

beyond.

Patient Love

Him and her,

together as one soul, mind, and heart.

Living as life-partners,

distressed if ever apart.

The life they live is simple,

they talk, make love, and connect.

Even after twenty strong years,

they rarely show disrespect.

The couple lives in harmony,

like music at Sunday mass.

They tell each other everything,

including stories from the past.

Their love was never ordinary,

but to them it was perfection.

Their vulnerable souls mature,

increasing the deep connection.

His touch is soft and gentle,

destroying past emotional pain.

Her smell is truly breath-taking,

like the morning after a big rain.

They sacrificed their freedom,

promising commitment to the end.

Their love will always be remembered,

even in Heaven where they’ll ascend.

They’re each others’ angels,

walking in the light together.

The values they share with their mate,

confirm their love will be forever.

The Nerd

Physical

- He is wearing a loose grey shirt, with reddish brown hair

- He is very skinny and seems kind of uncomfortable in his outfit

- He is wearing running shoes because they are quick and easy

- He eats his food nervously and wonders if people are watching him

- He carries his books like someone is going to swipe them out of his hands

- His jeans are loose just like his shirt because he probably doesn’t really know how to dress himself

Instinct

- He probably hasn’t really had true heart to heart conversations with a lot of people because he likely feels like he cannot trust anyone

- He is likely close with his parents but not his brothers and sisters

- I bet he hasn’t had a lot of girlfriends but still has friends

- He isn’t likely a partier but probably drinks a little bit

- He cares about his school work enough to say no to a girl or his parents if they ask for a favor and he is busy

Imaginable

- High confidence in his intelligence

- Believes he is better than anyone like if he is put in a group with people that aren’t as smart as him. At that time, he will be annoyed with the jock that is his partner

- If he was told to correct his work or to change something he would be offended because his work is the best

- The only person that can judge his work would be a teacher

- He is not a person to share his work with other people because he takes great pride in it. No one is allowed to copy it or use it because it is his own work and no one else will understand it

A tree and my father

The way the trees blow in the wind, so smooth and effortless. They are gentle, laid back, and calming. There is not a lot of energy behind them but it is very continuous and carefree. They aren’t angered and wild, instead usually relaxed and tranquil. This describes my father’s mood. He is always excited to try new things, and rarely contradicts ideas. He isn’t here to argue but rather always calm, cool, and collected. You will rarely see him snap and quickly change emotions. However, like every human being, there are moments when you get mad. This reminds me of storms and drastic winds that occur maybe a couple times a year. Otherwise, trees are usually easy-going and peaceful just like my dad on most days. He is always there, year around, to provide assistance. The leaves of the trees blow off in the fall and same with the snow in the winter. It is still always moving and ready to help and provide a comfortable home. This is just like my dad, at any time, he is available to be comforting.