Wiz Khalifa wrote the song that decided my high school jersey colors: black and yellow. My fourth year of high school soccer kicked off this past Friday with a friendly against a midtown Atlanta team.
The girls’ game started at six. My game was scheduled for seven thirty. The team bus left from school at five and drove up to the concrete and turf stadium that huddled under the glare of Atlanta skyscrapers a few miles away. We arrived just after the girls’ game had begun. My team took seats on the concrete bleachers and cheered on our girls… and of course ragged on the teammate whose girlfriend was playing.
First warmup of the season
At halftime my team took the field for a quick jog, and then spent the second half of the girls’ game warming up on the small patch of grass of to the side of the field. Everything felt routine, despite this being the first game my team had ever played together. After our pregame motivational talk and lineup, the team trainer taped and padded my ankle (thank you to the players who mangled my ankle at practice.)
As a tradition, my coach always starts all seniors. Generally, most players take the bench for the older kids. It’s tradition. Not this year. Coach walked up to me in the locker room and whispered, “Get
Most of the JV team showed up to show support
yourself ready. I’m gonna start you out at right back.” I had been getting ready since the bus left and Lupe Fiasco had started playing in my ears. This year is the first year I started, first year that I played the entire game, and the first year I had a crowd of people scream my name in unison when I approached the stands to grab a ball that went out.
The pictures will let you know who won. The score when the game ended was 2-0. The 2011 season has begun and I’m ready to fuck shit up all the way to the state finals. This is our year. I came out, made varsity, and I’m starting on the soccer team with the most state championships of any team in any sport in the division. What’s next?
-Ben
No keys, push to start
Brad,Robert,Ben
AWESOME BEN!!! Way to go, man! Wish I coulda popped on down to cheer y’all on!
Peace <3
Jay
thats whatsup man! good stuff
LOL! oh my actual god, just goosebumps reading that – you awesome wee fella!
well done – after all your hard work, sounds like you well deserve it.
have a good un,
Staggie G
(whose not so awesome Staggies ended up drawing with fecking Stirling 0-0… bad times)
Good job man! Did you played with your anke not at 100%
The colors of the jersey are really nice!
Good luck for the next games! In my country we say “Well begun is half done”
Nice job!
I’m pretty sure I ran by the stadium as y’all were playing…
That’s a pretty ominous comment, but thanks for the compliment.
-Ben
Ha – sorry, didn’t mean to sound creepy at all. I just figured out which stadium it was – it’s on my regular running route, down by the park.