my story with soccer
When I was about eight years old, I started to develop interest in playing soccer. At the time, most of the boys in my class were part of the elementary school's soccer team, however, no girls showed any desire to play. Most of them even thought it was weird I wanted to. After all, it was common to expect boys to learn how to play, but not girls. My mother encouraged me and I decided to join to boy's soccer team, since they did not have one solely for girls.
On my first day of practice, an older boy kicked a ball towards the goal and it ended up hitting me in the stomach, causing me to fall and hurt myself. A lot of people continued to insinuate I should quit, repeating the notion that soccer was a sport for boys. I did not quit, however. I went from being a terrible player to practicing indoor and outdoor soccer four days a week throughout middle school, gaining valuable soccer skills. In addition, the girls from my class slowly began to join me and eventually a large amount of girls began to enjoy the sport.
I was a member of my school's team until ninth grade, where I quit the team to focus on academics and other school activities. Even so, playing soccer is still one of my favorite activities and I would like to get involved with it here at Emory. I think my story portrays an essential part of the reality in what many refer to as "the country of soccer": It is the country of soccer mostly for boys. Even though Brazil has a national women's soccer team, it is not nearly as important to most soccer fans as the national men's soccer team. In a way, soccer helps reflect several problems in Brazil, including those associated with gender and roles children are expected to fulfill as they grow up.
On my first day of practice, an older boy kicked a ball towards the goal and it ended up hitting me in the stomach, causing me to fall and hurt myself. A lot of people continued to insinuate I should quit, repeating the notion that soccer was a sport for boys. I did not quit, however. I went from being a terrible player to practicing indoor and outdoor soccer four days a week throughout middle school, gaining valuable soccer skills. In addition, the girls from my class slowly began to join me and eventually a large amount of girls began to enjoy the sport.
I was a member of my school's team until ninth grade, where I quit the team to focus on academics and other school activities. Even so, playing soccer is still one of my favorite activities and I would like to get involved with it here at Emory. I think my story portrays an essential part of the reality in what many refer to as "the country of soccer": It is the country of soccer mostly for boys. Even though Brazil has a national women's soccer team, it is not nearly as important to most soccer fans as the national men's soccer team. In a way, soccer helps reflect several problems in Brazil, including those associated with gender and roles children are expected to fulfill as they grow up.