Alrashidi 1 Mohammad Alrashidi Dr. Cocchiarale Engl-102-A 12/10/2018 Give Up my Studies for Soccer Family, friends, and teachers have all influenced my life, but the most important thing I have cared about and has affected my life since my youth is soccer. Soccer has made me healthier, happier and interested in something. The best soccer team, in my opinion, is Barcelona. I began playing many different sports until I went to high school. During high school, it was hard for me to find something that I was going to be great at such as basketball, ping pong, and swimming. Since I began playing soccer, I found myself enjoying it more and more everyday. I played soccer in many tournaments and I did a great job in most of them. For a time, I thought about leaving high school and just continue to play soccer with the international team of Kuwait. I wanted to become a professional player, and learn skills such as nutmeg and score hat tricks like Lionel Messi. I also wanted to escape studying. From that moment, I became a very big soccer fan. Hard time At thirteen, I was hanging out with my cousins and friends on a cold and rainy night, and asked them if they wanted to play soccer, but they did not because they thought it was a boring game. I decided to take my ball and play alone. I remember I was so wet because of the rain. I could smell the wet sand that I was playing on and although there were thorns in the sand that Alrashidi 2 hurt my feet, I never stopped me from playing. Brian Doyle, in his collection of essays called Hoop, says “or here’s a wonderful redolent crucial part of our Catholic childhoods that we do not talk about much and maybe we should; the sweet spicy sharp stinging scent of the gymnasiums in old Catholic schools, with their slightly sagging stages on which the Christmas pageants were held” (9). Remembering the past and when we were kids is a wonderful thing. Doyle remembers where he was playing and the finer details of the place which makes it more magnificent. However, playing alone was not as fun as with other players because there are no opponents to nutmeg or dribble past. I practiced to score from behind the goal as Messi did, which took me weeks of training to do perfectly. Every time I trained, I become faster and stronger. In addition, I was better able to control the ball and that made me better than my friends at playing soccer. And so, I trained myself to play free kicks. Doyle, says “start slowly and lazily just flipping the ball into the basket with either hand from a couple of feet away to get loose. Then lazy hook shots with your strong hand from five feet away. Then hit at least seven of thirteen hooks from the lane” (7). Doyle shows how he started to train lazy and slowly and uses his stronger hand to shoot, it reminded me of when I started to kick the ball with my right foot. It is difficult to score a goal with your right foot, so I decided that I would play with my left foot and discovered that I am a left-footed shooter. All of the difficulties practicing… Escaping Studying Every night I played soccer I felt more love for the sport. I do not miss any Barcelona team match. One night before a physics exam I told my mother I was going to study with my classmate at his house, but it was a lie. I went to watch the Classico between Barcelona and Real Madrid Club at a cafe shop. It was a cold day to be outside and my idol Messi was at the highest level of playing during that game. He scored two goals against Madrid and led Barcelona to a 3-0 Alrashidi 3 victory. After I returned home my mother asked me if I had studied or not, so I told her I did. I actually failed the physics exam and my mother was upset yet she never found out that I was at the cafe shop instead of studying. I did not take much interest in studying because I was lazy. I told my mother to enroll me in the Fahaheel Kuwait Club, which was close to our house. I went to the club every day from 6 pm until 9 pm. I started exercising with beginner players and felt I was weak but it was fun doing what I love with new people. I remember our coach Ali Ahmed was angry and serious most of the time. He would make us run around the stadium for an hour before we could even touch the ball. This sport has affected my health in many ways. For example, I used to smoke hookah and from being busy playing soccer I completely stopped smoking so that I would not affect my lungs and overall health. Doyle introduces his coach “The best basketball coach I ever had was a brief man named Mr. Teevan. Mr. Teevan might have been five feet tall but he was a brisk brusque amused quick - witted firm - minded man” (26). He believes that Mr. Teevan is the best basketball coach because of his strength. This reminded me of my coach, Ahmed. Whenever he talks he raised his voice saying this is not only a game or just kicking a ball, it is something you needed to fight for and to never give up while losing a game. I learned from him not only to fight for the ball but to fight for the troubles I would face in my life. Nutmeg While I fought for things in my life, I would also fight for not getting nutmeg in soccer. In Kuwait, we call it “chicken’s egg” whenever you get a nutmeg because when an opponent kicks the ball through your legs, it is like when the egg slips from the chicken’s legs. This is a humiliating thing to any soccer player and the crowd laughs at you. I play defense most the time and that puts me in a position where the strikers will always face and they do not mind Alrashidi 4 humiliating me in front of the crowd. There are many ways to stop my opponents from attacking. The first step is trying to block the ball before the opponent gets it by sliding or simply getting it before he has it. Second is tackling. If neither of them work, you would hit your opponent and let him get a foul. In one essay, Doyle talks about a coach who gave important advice. He explained “how the proper technique is to position yourself between the opponent and the basket, and crowd up against your opponent close enough that you are sure he is stuck or rooted there behind you. Then you spread out your arms widely but innocently, without smacking anyone in the kisser, and cocking your elbows slightly as warnings against incursion or trespass into the space you thus create in which you or a teammate can snare the rebound. Then, the most important part, boys, the crucial part, the secret of the thing, is that you crouch down low, as if you are about to sit down awkwardly on the pot, and you hold that position as long as necessary, and the genius of this crouch”(39). He talks about how to box out in basketball in great detail. As in soccer when I face my opponents I focus on the feet of my opponent until he opens them and I play the ball between his legs. After a move like that I am happy because I’m not the one who got nutmegged. Conclusion Over the years soccer has become very important in my life. Since the beginning it was a sport which I was very good at and excelled at. I would train and practice no matter what the weather or if I had anyone to train with. Getting better at the sport and my competiveness kept me motivated. Barcelona soccer team became my favorite because of my idol Leonel Messi. Apart from becoming very passionate about the sport I enjoyed the benefits that came along with it such as escaping studying. Studying was never something I enjoyed and playing soccer Alrashidi 5 allowed me get away from that. It also made me healthier as I quit smoking hookah. Overall soccer has had a positive impact in my life and has become one of my greatest passions. Work cited Doyle, B. (2017). Hoop: A Basketball Life in Ninety-Five Essays. University of Georgia Press.
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