My name is Eva and I play soccer on a competitive u11 team in Santa Clara, California. My team is called the Sparks, and I first started playing for my team in the spring. Before I played on the Sparks, I played on a great recreational team. Unfortunately, after the 2011 fall season was over, some of the other girls had to leave the team for other activities, such as swimming, ballet, and other competition teams.
Since our old team was breaking up, some of the girls were going to try out for competitive spring soccer and my coach encouraged me to try out too. I was really nervous and afraid I was going to make a mistake. I was so freaked out, I sat on the sideline and didn’t go onto the field until the very end, but then I realized that I really wanted to be on the team.
The next day was the last day of tryouts and I still felt scared, but my mom said, “I’m not making you try out. If you want to do this, get out there and do it. Otherwise, let’s go home and get warm!”
I ended up making the team, which was super awesome because I really like playing soccer. More about my team later…
Somebody who has really influenced me is Bianca Henninger, the goalie for Santa Clara University. The first time I saw her play I was amazed because I had never seen anybody play like that before. Since I was a goal keeper I really wanted to watch her play the whole time. In my opinion Bianca Henninger is the best goal keeper I have ever seen!
The Santa Clara Broncos are my favorite team, but I also love the US national women’s team, especially Alex Morgan and Hope Solo. Santa Clara is a great place for people who love soccer because of the great college teams but also because of the Earthquakes. I saw the Earthquakes play LA Galaxy this summer and it was cool because I got to see David Beckham score. Luckily the Earthquakes still won!
Some things I’m looking forward to this summer are the Olympics – the soccer, of course. I’m also looking forward to my team soccer camp and tournament in August, and the start of the Broncos fall season.
Next time: What it’s like to play competitive soccer…