Essay by Tayler H.

As long as I can remember, everyone has always been greedy. All anyone wants is money, and more money. I’ve been taught differently. Instead of obsessing over money and all the small things, I’ve learned to take life as it comes to me. I’ve also learned that there’s so much more than money out there, and that’s not something that’s important to me. Just because people have money, doesn’t mean that they are happy, and I’d so much rather have happiness than money. Instead of money being the most important thing in the world to me, I take the smaller things in, and don’t take anything for granted.

***

The bell rings at 2 o’clock, everyone running and screaming because school is finally out. Everyone’s getting ready to go home, except for my team and me. I’ve been waiting to play soccer all day. I go into the locker room, and I get out all of my equipment. I take out my cleats, untie them, and place them on my feet. The colors red and white blind my eyes more than you can imagine. The stains show from the game before, and they remind me of how hard I played, and how the glory felt after beating our rivals.

I start with changing into shorts and a tee-shirt, wondering if I should put a tank top underneath because it could get very warm outside, and I might be wishing I had a tank top on instead. Rolling my shorts up carefully, evenly, so they’re not down to my knees. Then, I slip on my shin guards, still damp from the sweat they poured out like a rainfall on a Sunday morning. In the last game from working incredibly hard and giving it everything I have. After that I pull clean, fresh smelling socks over my shin guards, and hope that today’s practice is easier than the previous practice. Lastly, I put my right foot into my cleat first, then the left. My cleats are what I admire the most. I love my cleats, and they’re the ones that keep me going when I feel like I can’t go anymore.

***

It was a Wednesday afternoon and we were playing our rivals. The tables have turned, and we beat them last time we were matched up against each other, but that doesn’t mean anything. Anything could happen in this game, and we have to prove ourselves. The game started at three-thirty and we were on our toes from the second the game started to the second the game ended. We came out on top in the first half, with Brianna Tabin getting the first goal, Tayler Hersom with the assist. The first half ended with the South Hadley Tigers winning 2-1. In the second half, Olivia Lauren scored another goal, to put South Hadley up 3-1. We ended up beating our rivals three to one. Winning felt better than anything in the entire world, it felt was like we won the division.

***

My cleats, quite frankly are the most important thing to me. They carry me on and off of the soccer field. The colors red and white cover them, but white overpowers the red, making it hard for them to not get dirty. However, the dirt and the grass stains only show the pain and glory from the game before.