As I sit there staring straight ahead at my house in front of me I listen, as I hear kids in the back of the bus complain about how bad their teammates are. “He’s the worst one on the team.” I also hear someone say,” I hate this team! Everyone is terrible.” I was wondering if they were even apart of the team. They had no idea what a team really is. A team cares for each other no matter what they always have each other’s back. They especially wouldn’t talk bad about one other. When a team plays as a family they play for each other, and when a team plays as a family they will play better than they ever would have separated. A team treats their teammates better than almost anything in this world. As I reflect, and see how all of my memories and moments of joy have affected in my life, I cannot see how I ever could have gone without them. I see the happy and the sad moments though. A team is with you through the light and the dark, and just like a family they will never leave each other’s side. A team is a family.

          I was on my 2004 soccer team in the most fun and grueling tournament of my life. We had breezed by some of the best teams that we have ever and found ourselves in the finals! We were playing the hometown team from Lexington and they were no joke. They had outscored every team that they had faced by considerable amounts. Our team was ready though; we stuck by each other's side and got ready to play. We played our hearts out and pulled out the win! I remember the cheers from the fans and most of all my teammates as we ran to the center of the park to receive our medals. We chant together, “We are the champions my friends!” What really struck us hard was when the man asked for an MVP from our team. We all looked at each other for a while and decided there wasn’t an MVP, we all won it together. We all played our own part in the victory and we all wanted each other to win the MVP because just like a family, we all wanted our teammates to do well. When a part of a team it is like a family in almost every single way. We fought for our family, not just ourselves, and we all played a part to get the job done and win the tournament. After that victory the rest of the season was fairly easy. We knew we would not face a harder team that year than the one we had just beaten in the finals, and always kept in mind why we played. We play for each other. When I had the family culture with a team it seemed like everything was my way and nothing could stop me, but when something did stop me, there was nobody I’d rather be with than with that team.

          The number one rule as a team is to stick up for your teammates. Whether we were down or up, we always played for each other, and like family we stood up for each other. My 2005 soccer team was in Louisville for our toughest game of the year. We had all prepared for this game knowing how hard it had been last year in the 2015 State Cup. We all had all rode up together in a super nice car and we were all ready to win this game! As we showed up the other team was staring us down as we walked in, but we didn’t care, this team didn’t faze us at all. They all thought our team was going to be a pushover and that they would easily beat us, but little did they know we came to play.

          Right off the beginning whistle the game was very physical. Both the teams hated each other and both wanted to win just as bad as the other. In the middle of the second half a boy from the other team and out of nowhere shoved down a player from our team right in front of our bench. While they just stared at their teammate we immediately went to go and check on ours. We knew the player from the other team had done it on purpose, yet the referee didn’t call it a foul. We went over to the other team and had a little scuffle, but we had to move on and win this game. I came over to my team and said, “We do this for Mason, nobody messes with our brother!” The whistle sounds and here we go again.  As we begin to play I remember last year when they beat us one to zero, and rubbed it in our faces, so when they said we didn’t deserve to be here, it just fired me up even more. We ended up winning the game, but instead of immediately celebrating we rushed to our teammate who had been hurt earlier and made sure that he was ok. . We knew that our teammate was more important to us than anybody else that we know. He wasn’t only teammate, he was our family, and nobody messes with family. We never heard from that kid who had hurt our teammate again. We all take care of each other the same, just like a family.

          Imagine having to move from where you live right now and travel 1,111.6 miles away from your hometown that you’ve lived in your whole life, and having to leave all of that behind. That’s exactly what our newest teammate from Texas had to do. It was the summer of 2017 and we were all ready for the Region Cup. We had waited the whole spring season for this tournament and we were finally going to get a chance to compete with the best in our region! I remember the moment our new teammate walked in the training facility. Everyone was so confused and nobody knew what to do or say. Our coach had come over and talked to us about how our new teammate would be playing with us this weekend at Region Cup! Our new teammate was super nervous and really didn’t want to mess up his first shot with the team. Knowing how nervous I would’ve been in his position I came over and welcomed him to the team. Whether my teammates liked it or not, we had a new edition, and we were going to use him. My teammates and I helped him slowly come into the team and he wasn’t nervous at all after one practice! I knew he was ready for this weekend. Even though he had only been there a week; he was already becoming a star and bought into our methods and found his way into a new family. We had rolled through the first four teams in the tournament and we had made it to the final four. Our teammate got really nervous and everyone could tell, even the other team! This game was practically the finals because nobody on the other side of the bracket was good. The other team took advantages of our nervous teammate and started shouting things like, “Why are you even here kid? You’re the reason your teams going to lose!” Our teammate was about to give in until our team started to stick up for him. He gained confidence as the game continued moved on and we eventually won! We strolled through the finals with ease only because of how good our teammate was. He only played as good as he did because we accepted him into our team with open arms. This affected him more than me though. He’ll always remember that day because it is the biggest win he has ever had, and he still plays with us today. 

          When you join a team, you immediately have a new family. There are many times in my life were I needed the comfort of a family and had to go to my team for that when my actual family wasn’t there at the time. A real team will treat you like family no matter what happens, and they will always be there for you. If I ever had to go away from my team or live without them I would be nowhere near where I am at today. They have helped me live out my life happily and have never let me down on purpose. My team has given me a new sense of confidence and a second home because home is where your family is, and our team was together all the time.

          As I look to the future I could never see myself without a team by my side. I know that one day my team will have to depart one day, and I will hate the day that they do, but I will also cherish all of the memories that we have made together. I will remember my team the rest of my life, for it wasn’t just a team, it was a family.