In my younger childhood I never fully acknowledge that I ever really had a disability, part of the reason was because of sports. Sports have always been my equalizer with other people; they’ve always just made me feel more normal and accepted. But there have been a few different things throughout the years, including accommodations. When my parents first signed me up for a soccer camp at the age of 4 they knew right from the beginning there was going to have to be communication between me and my coaches. And so that’s what they did. With every new coach or team my mom would always make sure the coach understood my disability and my abilities on and off the field rather than the disabilities. The first accommodation I ever remember was allowing me to wear a leg brace on my left foot for support from the age of 4 to about 7. I can’t remember much about it but do remember that it was never a problem with the league or anyone else. As I grew older I start to show more differences to other players my age including speed and ability to do things like stretching a certain way. My youth soccer coaches, head Coach John Wolley and assistant coach John Steeh, A.K.A Agent 1 and 2, who coached me from the age of 6 to 13, really help shape me as a player. They did so much for me and helped me reach my full potential on the field. This included finding the right position for me which for a few years was goalkeeper and I loved it and was good at until the goals got bigger and I was too weak on my left side to dive properly, I also had to stop when I could not get a goalkeeper glove on my left hand anymore. Despite some stretching accommodations I was always expected to do exactly the same and as much as everyone else on the field, even if that meant coming in last on most of the running and fitness drills. And I will admit that some of the stretching accommodations didn’t work at times and I did end up with a few more pulled muscles than necessary.
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| 2006 (age 10) |
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| 2009 (age 13) |
Going into high school co-ed soccer my Freshman year and leaving the two coaches I had built a relationship with for 7 years was the hardest part of this for me. I knew that it was just never going to be the same ever again and weather that meant less playing time or being treated differently, I was not sure. Freshman year was the only year I played co-ed soccer as I could never connected with my coach and struggled through the season. But this was also my most important season of soccer in my 12 years of playing. Most of the kids in the league were playing because they were not committed enough to play high school soccer and I realized I was in the wrong place. It was then I realized my real passion for the game of soccer. I decided that no matter how hard it was and whether or not there was going to be accommodations; I deserved to be playing high school soccer. This still required a meeting over the phone with the school athletic director about if this was going to work for me; I think he thought I was much more disabled than I actually am. But as I expected there were no accommodations at my high school try outs, which led to an injury that took me 3 weeks to fully recover from, which meant that I didn’t play much during the 3 days of try outs. I had a pretty tough time with my Jv2 team mainly because we went through 5 different coaches during the season, YES 5 DIFFERENT coaches during a 3 month high school season! But the coaches were all great and made sure I was playing my best and comfortable on the field. High school soccer is much, much harder than any other team I’ve ever been on, so yes, more accommodations were needed for me including new ones like being able to be subbed out when I get tired and being able to switch to different parts of the field if needed.
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| 2010 (age 14) |
Another really big part of be being able to participate in high school soccer is commitment, Not only in soccer, but in school too. I have realized that I’m not fast and I’m not the most skilled player there is and so I try to make that up to my team and coaches by staying committed to them and the team itself. When I’m on the bench I always remember that no matter how big or small of an impact I may make in the game, my team needs me in one way or another, and I try to look at it the same way in practice too, even if it only means staying after to help put balls or cones away. As I will be a junior next year I must make junior varsity or varsity. And while all I want to do is play soccer, I do realize that might mean different roles for me. My school is a very highly comparative soccer school, and even making junior varsity will be struggle for me next year. So this might mean less and less playing time and more of a supporting type of role on the bench, which I am okay with as I do mature and understand that even how much I want it I will never be a professional soccer player, but I do hope to always have soccer in my life, especially in the next 2 and a half years before I graduate.
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| Training in January 2012 |
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