I believe in my captain’s armband because it represents that with perseverance, I will always be able to reach my goals. Over the past few years, I have gone through thick and thin to obtain my armband. Many people have doubted me, and many people have supported me. And although this is the case, I feel that most of the work was done by me. I have been the one that has persevered through my personal difficulties of high school, and I still have reached my goal of becoming a captain.
Ever since I was a freshman, I have always dreamed of being the captain of my high school’s soccer team. On the day of the very first practice, I instantly noticed the leaders of the team. They were with the entire team, socializing and talking of the new school year. It was obvious that they were both outgoing and respectful; they portrayed the true characteristics of a captain. The moment that I got out of my car, they walked over to me and introduced themselves. They were quite friendly and seemed that they wanted me to feel welcome. I immediately fit in with the team. I was already making friends on my first day.
Throughout the first season, I began to grow a connection with the team, and especially with the captains. I started to look up to them, and I observed their qualities. I started to dream of becoming one of them. I made it a goal of mine to be a leader of the team. I did not want to be just a leader though, I wanted to be a captain. I had my eyes set on my goal, and I was not going to settle for anything less.
As freshman year passed, I continued on trying to make an impression by surrounding myself with a respectful group of friends. Although my skills in soccer were not even close to the best, in fact I was one of the worst on the team, I still tried to improve my social skills. I did realize that just being friendly was not going to be good enough. As a result, I practice every day during the summer between my freshman and sophomore year. There was not a day that went by when I did not touch a soccer ball. Over the course of a few months, my hard work had definitely paid off. I had gone from one of the worst on the team to better than half of my teammates.
During the season of my sophomore year, I knew that I was getting better. I had improved so much that many of the players approached me and were surprised of my achievements. I felt that it was time for an improvement in my leadership skills. Now that I had a decent amount of talent in the sport, I finally had people noticing me. I took advantage of this by continuing to improve my skills with the ball and becoming more vocal than ever. During my freshman year, one of the captains told me that a good leader should always be able to communicate with their teammates. I used this as a motivation to improve my leadership skills.
Finally, over the summer between my sophomore and junior year, I tried my hardest to become one of the team’s leaders. I spoke to the captains about setting up team exercises during the break, and I vocalized my intentions for the following years. I emphasized that I was going to try as hard as I could to become a captain. When my junior year came around, I started acting like a captain, even though I had not even obtained my armband yet. But when the voting day came around, I unfortunately had to go to work. I was extremely nervous, as I had spent the past two years planning for that day. When I was getting ready to leave, I received a text message from my brother saying that I had become one of the captains.
In conclusion, I do believe in my captain’s armband because it proves to me that with perseverance, I will always be able to reach my goals. I have persevered over the last two years, and I have finally reached my goal of becoming the captain of my high school soccer team.