My Soccer Days

Like every Arab kid, growing up I spent most of my free time playing soccer with my friends. Once I came to Canada I heard that you can sign up to play for teams in an organized league, often referred to as "house league." For house league there are no tryouts, but rather anyone who pays the fee can play. As a result of that, the teams for most part have a great variety of players, ranging from the fat and slow, to the graceful and skilled.

I played house league for two seasons and a half. During the third season we had our yearly tournament, in which I played harder than ever in my life. We ended up winning the tournament, and at the end of the medal “ceremony,” the coach of the city’s soccer team (who was scouting for players) came up to talk to me.

The coach complimented my hard work and skill, and then he asked me how I felt about playing for the city team. My immediate answer was YES. I had always wanted to play for the city team, which unlike house league, offers much harder competition, and promises more challenging tournaments.

I played two years for the city team, traveling to tournaments all over Ontario, competing on the best fields of the city, playing and practicing with the best soccer balls, and of course running my ass off. During my first season we won the league, going undefeated for the whole season.

Sadly though, our coach left us, and the replacement was a lazy coach who cared more about smoking and drinking coffee than coaching. The result was me and 2 other players quitting the team, which eventually led to other players calling it quits. That was the end of competitive soccer for me; all I have left are the memories, some pictures and the trophies pictured above. Nowadays, I play soccer with friends whenever time and weather permit, and I also play for a recreational team during my university study terms.

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while now, you would have noticed that I mentioned soccer quite a bit, hopefully this post explains why.

P.S I'll scan my team pic sometime, and post it here