Laugh It Off The Field

It was the first winter soccer session this year. If I remember correctly we were playing against Poland’s soccer team that night. We were playing very well as a team, were were passing very good. Were were up by a couple points, and in the second half of the game. We worked the ball up the field to their side. One of my teammates managed to get the ball to Poland’s right side corner. My teammate was able to perfectly chip the ball over the goalie in front of the goal, as I began to run in to volley the ball. Volleying is a move when you kick the ball out of the air to pass to another player or shoot. I was running to the goal the ball was was coming right to me. The ball was just a few feet from me, I swung and missed the shot. As I was taking the shot my arm was sticking out, then ball then deflected off of my hand and it went right in to the goal. I felt so embarrassed, my face instantly went beat red. I than turned around to see that every one was looking at me, a lot of my teammates on the field and on the bench started to laugh. I even laughed some too after I realized what I did. After that we scored some more and won the game. At the end of the game a carried the joke on by saying ” I felt bad for the other team because they were losing badly.” The next games after that, when ever I got on the field my friends and teammates would say “Keep your arms down.” Looking back at it my friends, teammates and I will laugh at it. Ever since then I have not hit the ball in to the net with my hand. Me laughing made me realize that it is just a soccer game and there are many more games to come. It has also pushed me to become a better player. I believe one of the best ways to get better at soccer is learning from your mistakes. If you make a mistake just work hard and fix it. Now when I crash on goal for a corner kick or throw in I will keep my arms to my side. I feel that laughing at failure is a way to make people feel better to them self . I used laughing as a way to make it a joke so my friends and teammates would think of it as a joke. Its also moves the failure along, which helps it turn in to a joke. After awhile people will eventuality forget about it. It also helps people move on and not stay on the topic. I also feel that people laugh to make them them self feel better. I feel that it makes people feel better that they have the same reaction as their friends and teammates. Who know you and your friends will reflect back at it and remember the good times you played soccer together. There was also some teammates that were not laughing and they thought it was not funny at all, They were actually mad which I understand, they thought I only did it as a joke, but it was just an accident. The teammate that was angry takes soccer very serious, and he let me know. He talked to me and he told me to use my head or chest next time, I told him it was a mistake and he understood and now we are good. I also think that it is good for people to not laugh at a mistake because sometimes it is to to be serious, because if some one thinks it is a joke. People could be more apt to do it a gain because people think it is funny or a joke. You also want to take it seriously because some people take things very serious and you do not want to ruin things for other people.

Photo by K.Okawa on Foter.com / CC BY-NC