I had the opportunity to play my sport for my senior year. I wrote this after my last away game as a high school soccer player. This feels like a fitting time to share because the future is so unknown, so we have to live every moment to the most.

What do you do when it is all over? Move on with your life they say, this was only four years of it. But what if you don’t know how to move on yet/don’t want to yet?.
When you have played a sport for all of your life, the thought of losing it is terrifying. While with the team, you have had some of your best and worst times. They know all of the corny jokes and all of each other’s life problems. You may fight with them sometimes and you might not want to practice, but it goes so fast.
Just yesterday, it felt like I was a little freshman being a ball girl for the varsity games never thinking that I would be out there.
Enjoy all of the times you have done stupid stuff with your team, and all of the success you have had with them. Even all of those times you hate your coach for making you run or ripping you a new one at halftime; they have your best interest in mind.
Also, trust your teammates, they want it as bad as you (most of the time). Go into every game like it is your last. Practice every practice like you will never be able to again. And don’t skip out on all of the team bonding because that is where the team learns to trust each other.
Don’t be scared of the upperclassman- they want to play just like you. They also know what you are going through, that was them at one point. They will make mistakes and so will you. It is not about how many times you fail, it is about how you bounce back from those failures.
Don’t be afraid to take that shot. What’s the worst that can happen? You might miss it. Well, at least you took the chance that it could go in. Right? Also, who cares if you’re not the most talented on the team. Talent is not everything. It does not matter if you have the most talent in the whole world, if you don’t want it, someone who does will go and get what they want.
Something that really hit me from senior Justin Tristani’s profile was his message to his team.
Freshman: listen to the upperclassmen
Sophomores: don’t tell the freshman what to do
Juniors : don’t wait to be seniors
Seniors: enjoy every last minute of it
All of my high school career, I have wanted to be a senior, and now that I am I want to be a freshman again. I want to do every last sprint, play every last game, and spend every second with my team that I can, all over again.
So to all of my fellow athletes: play every game, and practice every practice like it is your last. Because in a blink of an eye you will be wishing the same exact things I am right now. (Writing after my last away game against Franklin Regional 10-9-19)

Knowing that after your last game you may never play the sport you love again is scary, the unknown is scary to everyone.
It’s the beginning of the end
After every season it is hard to continue to live without your sport, but when you don’t have another season to “beat that team” or “get them next time” it just hits differently.

Love,
senior soccer player Lillie Leasure