Slice of Life: 11-5-14

    My heart beats and stomach tightens as I trot on to the well cut grass, preparing for the match. Pre-game jitters are a common occurrence not just for me, but everyone else on my team because we all are aware of the importance of the games we play. My cleats shift smoothly through the blades of grass, making an interesting and satisfying sound that I know all too well. I always remember the small gap in time when our warm-up ends and the game begins, in my world it feels like a gap in time.

    I have played and enjoyed the game of soccer (or football) for as long as I can remember, and it has become a very large portion of both my lifestyle and my personality. It is times like this (the gaps in space and time) that are the strangest part of the game for me, because I have a feeling of both nervousness and excitement. I am nervous to let my team down, but excited to preform well- as if mind is preparing itself for both situations and planning what it would do in each of them. I get to my position on the field... in front of the defenders and behind the attackers, where I truly feel at home.

    I feel the ten other players on my team surround me, forming little triangles and shapes between them, which is needed to be a good attacking team. Everything that we need to play a game is slowly forming as we are coming to the end of the gap in time. We have the kickoff- a good thing for putting the opposition under pressure. The ball is placed on the spot. Two of my players stand over it. Slow motion turns to fast as finally the game will start. The scream of the referee's whistle cuts through the air, and we have officially reentered the space-time continuum.