Twenty-two players on the field each fighting for a common goal: to win. Eleven players on each team, each have to rely on every single other person to do their job to win, because each team is only as strong as its weakest player. Everyone there has a level of confidence, it could be small, could be big. Confidence is the biggest part of those twenty-two players, and the reason that team usually wins. I had no confidence compared to the other twenty-one people on the field. But to even play on that field, I had to make the team.

“No Coach, not yet.” See my mistake? not yet. That is the mistake. That is what I said during the ladder drill when I hadn’t lost yet. Right after I said that I lost. That was the fourth day of five for soccer tryouts. When I walked home with my friends it kept eating at me, like a vulture eating a dead animal. I couldn't get enough of it. I couldn’t figure out what I did wrong but I knew I did something wrong, but what? The fifth day was here, I drank enough water to have energy for tryouts, and had the perfect balance of being full and hungry so that I didn’t feel sick in the middle of the tryouts. This was my last chance. I knew that I had two bad, and two good days so far. This would have to be my best day yet, no, this would have to be a perfect day. I could feel it as I got dropped off, the hunger in everybody’s eyes. It almost felt like I had no chance at making the team. I took a deep breath and focused. I had to want it more than anybody else there. We first did a dribbling drill, it was an easy drill, but it showed the coach your control of the ball. The second, is the ladder drill. I had to kick it up a gear, to show that I could do it. I quickly rose through the rankings, and it was my last match. 

“Beck, have you lost a game yet today?” The coach said again. 

“No Coach, I haven’t.” That is what I said to him right before my last chance. Every possibility ran through my head as the game went on. It was a 1v1, and we tied. The tiebreaker was whoever could pull back the ball the fastest. The first time we did it, we tied. Another tie, it was getting stressful. I heard the coach yell “GO!” As loud as he could, I knew I won because it startled the other person and I won. That was that. I had not lost, but now it was my last chance, the final scrimmage. We got put into teams of five, and we had three minutes five on five games. I got put as right back, I was out of position but I had played defense a few years ago so I could somewhat hold my own. We started with possession and I got the ball.

“Down line!” I heard my right-wing shout, he was longing for the ball, I sent it to him and began to sprint up from back around him and we did a give and go. I had the ball at about halfway. The ball had just a little backspin from the soft pass back to me and I had the perfect opportunity for a shot. So I shot it. Dink! Thud! Is what I heard and I saw the ball bounce from the crossbar down. There was enough spin for it to go in, but I almost missed, which could have lowered my chances of making the team. It did go in though, so I had a bit of a confidence boost. I had another opportunity for a shot and I was directly in front of the goal with two people on me. I hit it to my left foot quick and rolled over to get one person off of me, and then I shot, it had a lot of spins. The shot went from right to left and the ball had fit perfectly in the bottom left corner. So I tied up the game, it was four to four. One minute on the clock. The opposing teams’ left-back hit a bad pass to the wing and I received the ball. There were three people in between me and the goal, so I took a chance. I felt no risk, we could make a comeback if I lost the ball, so I took the first one on. I did a foundation starting with the right foot, it ended at my left, and I tapped the ball very quickly after to meg them. I faked a shot for the other one and I felt the sweat drip from my hair to my nose, I could feel the pressure on me now. I didn’t know what my chance of scoring was but I knew I couldn’t shoot it around the last defender. He came at me with a little bit of weakness in his stare. His eyes showed that he just wanted the drill to be over. It was 90 degrees, blazing hot and he looked like he had been drained of all life from his body. I would have been that way if I had known I would make the team, but I wasn’t confident I made it yet. I sprinted past him and he jogged after me, so I had a fast break, but I did have an awkward angle, and my teammate had a perfect shot. Two options, that was what my last choice would be. That could decide whether I make or don’t make it. Pass or shoot. I was almost parallel to the goal and was too fast to stop. I did a pullback and flew forwards about five yards. I sprint back to the ball before the defender could get it. I set sights on the goal. I know I have to hit the ball in a fairly short amount of time. This is my chance to make it. In half a second I am ready to shoot and then I hear someone sprinting to me in the distance. I have to shoot now. BAM! The ball goes right at the post. I see my teammate rushing toward the goal because it will miss. That was it, I hadn’t...

“I almost stole your goal there, luckily I saw that it was going in.” My teammate said. It had made it in, he dummied it. He let it go in between his legs and didn’t steal the goal. A few days went by and it was currently Sunday. The last day of tryouts was on Friday and I had just received a message. My friend had told me he and two other of our friends hadn’t made the team. I was disappointed and realized that I probably hadn’t made it myself. I had a whole conversation with myself, arguing if I had or hadn’t made the team for about an hour before I heard my phone’s ecstatic vibration from my pocket.

Ring! 

Ring!

“Hello?” I had forgotten that the coach was going to call and tell you if you made the team or not. I remembered right after I had said anything. 

“Hi, I just wanted to say thank you for trying out.” Right after I heard that, I thought that was it, I didn’t make it.

“As well as letting you know that you made the team and the first practice is on Monday.” 

I had done it, during the final minutes of tryouts I had overcome the thing I was the worst at, being confident. I had learned a vital lesson about confidence, you have to at least have the confidence of everybody around you. On Friday I had some confidence, and even now, on Sunday, I was still unconfident that I had made it. But in the moments I was confident when I scored those goals, that is when I made the team.