Written by Japheth Garcia, 4th grade
Illustrated by Livi Wethington, 1st grade
Hi, I am Japheth. I’m 9 years old and my BIG talent is that I play soccer. I try to play soccer every day, but I don’t call the sport soccer…I call it Futbol. I started playing Futbol ever since I could walk. I always had a ball near me. Although I wasn’t on a team, I always kicked a ball around for fun. Then, when I got really interested, my dad signed me up for the city league. My dad and I practiced all summer long. When the season was finally about to start, there weren’t enough coaches so I couldn’t play. I still kept practicing as much as I could, and when I finally got on a team, I was already trained so I was one of the best on the team. Practicing helped me a lot. I know this because in my first game I scored all of the goals for my team, but we still lost 3–4. I always wondered to myself why I was glued to the game and what got me glued to the game. I always came to the same conclusion; it was because I always had a ball around me, but also because all my family played it even if we didn’t have the right equipment. I grew up playing with my friends, cousins, sister, and parents…basically everyone. I did very well in my first season. I was the top scorer on my team, and by that time practicing made me very good at dribbling and shooting. My second season, I had a really good coach, but my team usually messed up. He put me as a midfielder to pass the ball back, to the side, and up. I could pass really far up the field to a teammate and they would score. Although we lost most of our games, we could keep a good fight against everyone and we wouldn’t lose without one. That season, the creator of the league was going to coach for the city team called Sportstutor United. We went against their team in the tournament and in the first half I scored a goal and tied them. That made a big difference, because their team was the
best in the league. We lost the game, but it was a good battle. Since he saw that I made a difference in the score and he was going to coach for a team in United, he told them about me. The team didn’t have many players and asked if I could play for them. We agreed. Every time I do something I try my best, because I don’t know who’s watching. Practicing got me where I am, and so I try to do it as much as I can. Although I may not like practicing, it is a key to becoming the best player on the team, so I always tell myself, “Try your hardest because you never know who is watching.”