Sports are a battle in which two opposing forces compete in order to declare who's the better player. My sport is soccer, everything I do revolves around the beautiful game. Just recently, I played in a game in which we had a very tough game. However, no matter what obstacles get in your way, you should never give up.

It was a cold, windy, autumn Thursday night. The game started like any other, we began with our warm-up. The music was blaring, the rain was just lightly drizzling, like a faucet that wouldn't stop leaking. At this point and we all thought that it would soon cease. The referees had called for captains, my partner, Kobe, and I jogged to the center of the pitch. We were the away team, so we called the coin toss in the air. Kobe told me to call it, I called heads, and it landed with the tails side facing up, the opposition got ball first. I shook my head and just laughed, I had a 50/50 chance and it felt like I always called it wrong. We shook hands with the opposing captains, hands dripping from the rain, and returned to our respective sides. We then lined up for the starters to be called out. I waited impatiently, I never was good at waiting for the game to start. I heard 5 called out, and name soon after, I felt the blood rushing through my body, I was ready to play, ready to win. I shook the opposing coach’s hand and took my spot on the field, right in front of our goalie. It was moderately raining now, and the referee had blew his high-pitched whistle. The battle had begun between Cortland and Auburn. Play was boring with very few attacks on either end for roughly fifteen minutes. Then our opposition came at us and with one clever touch, their striker slotted the ball past our goalie. Cortland was up 1-0.  Everyone’s heads sunk, as though we had had already lost the game. Soon after the opening goal came, Cortland was coming back at us.

The ball was lofted over my head and their number 9 volleyed the ball into the top corner past our goalie. 2-0, to Cortland. At this point, even I started to get a feeling that we might lose. However, with 5 minutes left in the half, Kobe chipped a ball into Devon’s run which we put away, easy finish. The score was now 2-1, Cortland, and we had hair reached the break. Our Coach was actually steaming with anger due to us letting in two goals early on. The rain fell on his bald head, and almost instantly, vaporized. He put a fire into us, which he never had a problem doing, he always knew what to say to get us pumped up and ready to win. We lined up for the second half, the referee’s high-pitched whistle went off again and the second half was underway. Very quickly, Kobe took the ball and wriggled through not one, not two, not even three, but four defenders and all that was left to do was put the ball where it belonged, in the back of the net. For an experienced forward like himself, this was no difficult task for him and he hit the left side of the goal. We were back into the game, 2-2. Cheers from the team celebrating blurred out the noise of the crowd and the other team. And once again, very quickly, we won a corner. Joey, our young midfielder, steps up to take it, and he places a ball into the box. Then, Emmet, our even younger forward, gets his head on the ball and it’s in the back of the net to make it 3-2, Auburn. The rain was coming down hard at this point, like a faucet on full blast. I played Kobe a ball to run onto in the corner and he got to it and hit a low cross into the penalty box and Devon, who was waiting in the box, passes the ball into the back of the net, we finally had a nice cushion between us and Cortland, 4-2. Although we had our heads down at one point, we never gave up and the game finished 4-2. The win at Cortland extended our record to 4-0, bringing us one step closer to sectionals.

All in all, soccer isn't the only place this message can be applied. This is just my example, but I've found the message holds true for almost anything in life. My team’s obstacles included the rain and the other team, but other obstacles could include a bully or illness or whatever it may be in your life. However, no matter what the obstacle may be in your life, just remember that no matter what obstacles get in your way, you should never give up.