State Soccer 2009

I time when I was at my best would have to be during my junior year of highschool. I went through quite a few changes during this time in my life. My mom and brother had recently moved to Sioux Falls, SD, and I went to live with my dad and his new family in my hometown of Spencer, IA. The idea of living in a totally new envrionment was not exactly appealing to me at the time, but I had to make the best of it. During this year of school, I learned a lot about myself and how to become more independent.

School became more challenging due to the level of difficulty in classes. I learned how to balance schoolwork, sports, and home life significantly better than what I was used to during my first two years of high school. During this time, my relationship with my dad, step-mom, and step-siblings became a much stronger bond. I learned a lot of life lessons through my dad that I likely would not have learned. I also became more involved with activities in school.

When spring time came around, soccer season was ready to get into motion. The previous year of soccer, our team qualified for state and took home a 3rd place trophy; this year we were going for it all. Many of my teammates and I started training for the season in early February. We hit the weights and started conditioning in the early mornings. When the season began, I knew from the start that it was going to be a good year. Every team we played, we "walked over". When we made it to state, the familiar nervous butterflies erupted in my stomach; however, when the game started, my confidence was high. We played through the next two games at state with some crazy performances. The first game was one in a penalty shoot out and the second game we ended up winning due to a first-half performance. The final game was by far the most tiring of them all. Somehow we ended up winning and becoming State Champions for 2-A soccer.

Throughout all the experiences I had my junior year, every single detail helped me to become the person I am today. I am thankful for the experiences I had, and would never change anything. I hope to continue making a promising future this year at Iowa State based on everything I have learned since then. I know that if I strive to do my very best, anything is possible. College is a big deal to many people-or at least it should be. By making it to where I am today, I can only hope that I stay on the right track to becoming a successful individual.