Madison Rotti
THE LAST GAME
When the day had finally come, I woke up ready to play the game of soccer one last time. As soon as I got to the fields, Hailey, Julia and Ali ran over to me loading me with hugs. With quivering lips, we then had a conversation about how we were in disbelief that our last game together was here. We wanted to make it the best game we had ever played and no matter what the end result was, we would know that we played our hearts out. As I stepped out onto the field to start the game, I stopped to take it all in. I had always admired the parents who cheered for the team before the game had even started. Right before the whistle blew, Hailey and I would look at each other across the field and give a nod, which in our heads meant, 'we got this'.
We were playing against a team from Connecticut for the championship title. I knew they were going to be good but I knew we were better if we played to our potential. The first half flew by but the score remained zero to zero. Second half came around and my stomach started to fill with butterflies because I knew that if we tied we would go into overtime and possibly end in penalty kicks. I was playing striker (up top) so my team would kick the ball over the top for me to run onto. There was only about 10 minutes left in the game and I knew we had to score or I would have another repeat of my worst nightmare. Ali sent me a through ball and I was able to catch onto it. There was on a girl on the other team drenched in sweat, practically breathing down my neck in her last effort to get the ball back. I decided to take the risk and take the quick shot. The ball flew through the air in slow motion and swooshed into the back of the net. I had scored and suddenly, for once I wasn’t thinking about being upset soccer was ending but how thankful I was to have played the sport.
The final whistle had been blown and my soccer career was over. I wouldn’t have wanted it to end any other way. As I went over to hug my friends, tears filled my eyes. I was so proud of not only myself but of all my teammates. We all gathered around to take our final team picture. Everyone’s parents were sobbing as they realized it was all over. I gave my coach one last hug and he told me how he loved coaching me. We then thanked each other for the amazing experience we had shared over the years. Bernie was my hardest good bye because I knew that the chances of seeing him again were slim but one of the impressions he made on me was the willingness to persevere and to never give up on the things you love.