My heart is going thump, thump, thump sweat is dripping down my forehead to my neck as we are warming up to start our championship game. My head is racing with thoughts like “What if I get hurt?”, “What if we lose?”, “Am I going to start?” The coach yells, “ BRING IT IN!” as we are all desperately waiting for the referees to come check us in we get the starting line up, luckily I am starting in my favorite position, center midfielder. The referees walk over check us in and then the whistle is blown for captains. Coach yells, “ Salma You’re captain.” as I’m walking up my heart is racing faster and faster, as I realize that the pressure is on me to lead my team to victory, we shake hands talk for a short minute and then the referees say, “ Ok we are starting in 30 seconds so have your team on the field.” I run back as if there would be a vicious dog trying to tackle me from behind. I reach my team relay the information and then the cheer countdown begins “10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 LEGACY!”


I look around and see kids running up and down the field, siblings taking shots at the empty goals. Parents screaming their lungs out cheering on their kids wishing them good luck. I hear the whistle and snap back into the game. I yell, “ On your toes ladies” and then I see the ball roll passing from one side to the other, from team to team to see who can gain possession. My team finally gets possession and I receive a perfect pass I look up and see my left forward open I go for the pass and when I see her touch the ball I sigh, a sigh of relief ,I made a complete pass she takes the shot but it goes right to the keeper's hands. You hear the parents say, “Oh nice try, better luck next time.” The halftime whistle is blown and we walk of the field feeling less confident than we did at the beginning.


The coaches talk to us for a few seconds on the things we did well and also the things we could do better. Although, this talk had been different from the other talks we’ve had before because this time instead of the coaches talking to me and my teammates the entire time we all knew what we had to do, so we processed the information they had given us which allowed us to regain our confidence. We saw the referees walking back towards the field so, we once again started our cheer, “10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 LEGACY!” I get subbed out so I can have a little break and go back in refreshed. As the whistle is blown we instantly gain possession of the ball we start communicating, yelling, “Here I’m open.” We make good passes and get the ball up to the goal, but out of nowhere a defender comes out and takes the ball away. I yell from the sidelines, “Get it back ladies,” the coaches see my eagerness to get back out on the field so I get subbed back in. Once again we immediately gain possession I receive a pass and I’m ready to take the shot when all of a sudden a defender pops up from behind and kicks my right ankle. I go from being fine to being on the floor to rolling in pain then to shedding tears and screaming in pain, I soon become angry with myself because I realize that by being hurt I can no longer play my heart drops and I am determined to come back into this game and score.


I’m on the bench icing my ankle telling my mom to let me go back in, but she keeps on insisting that I sit out. That day I was actually prepared and had a whole bunch of ankle wraps and athletic tape in my bag so I made a deal with my mom that if she wrapped my ankle well enough for me to be able to walk on it without pain shooting up my leg I could go back in and play. Once my ankle was wrapped up and ready I told my coach that I was ready to go back in and he looked at me with a face like are you sure and all I had do is nod. I’m back in the game and I am determined to win this game even if afterwards I can’t play because of putting to much preasure on my ankle. I receive a pass look to my left see the perfect pass opportunity I go for it hoping that the referees won’t make yet another unnecessary call. She receives the pass and crosses it to the other side as soon as I see Citlalli the other forward take the shot I get to scared to look so I look away and then I look up just in time to see the ball hit the back of the net. The ball has gone in! The ball has gone in! The crowd is going wild!


A couple seconds later you hear the game ending whistle. We all run to the center of the field and start hugging, we had just won our first tournament as a team. As soon as we are done congratulating each other we do our cheer of appreciation for the other team and then get in line to shake hands. When were done the coach calls a team huddle and gives us all our medals we take a couple group photos and then we are dismissed to go home. I will never forget that championship game because of the lesson it taught me about how to step up to the plate and be a team leader.