As long as I can remember I’ve always had a fond love for the game of soccer. However, I did try many sports during my adolescence; basketball, volleyball, softball, and dance, were pretty strong contenders, I just didn’t enjoy them like I did soccer. Recreational soccer was where I started off, as most children do. After a couple years I moved up to a spring select team which was technically a middle ground between recreational and club soccer. Around my 5th grade year, I got up the courage to try out for my first club team and I ended up making it. I was so extremely excited. I spent around 3 years with this team before everything went downhill. Every year my coach’s attitude towards me would get worse. My father quickly became his assistant coach so every time him and my father would disagree he would decide to take it out on me. There’s a difference between a stern and positive way of teaching and an aggressive and negative way. The positive ways encourage the athletes to improve, no one can properly improve if their coach doesn’t believe in them. In my case things we’re always bad for me when my two coaches would argue and it wasn’t fair to me because it was staggering my development. Eventually, my father had enough of my coach’s treatment towards me and believed it wasn’t fair to me so he decided to step down. Unfortunately, things would only get worse from this. My coach for some reason resented my father for this, this is his personal bias and does not give him a reason to treat me badly for his circumstances. Luckily for me, I had been approached by another coach who was interested in having me play for him. This was very nerve racking because the only club team I had ever played for was the one I started with. Taking a big step like this took a lot of confidence from me. The timing just so happened to be a couple weeks after my father had quit coaching and I had to move over to the new team in a certain time frame to be able to play. This was a tough decision, leave my closest friends and toxic coach, or leave for a good coach with all new people I barely know. As much as I loved my teammates, I had to do what was best for me. I chose to go to the new team, and I’m so grateful that I did because this was possibly the best thing I could’ve done for my soccer career. Not only did I begin to excel in my position, but I actually felt supported by my coach. My current coach’s ways of coaching are so much more positive and he puts his players over anything else. He helped me grow as a player so much that I ended up committing to play at a Division III school. Playing soccer in college was always a dream of mine that I had lost sight of because the toxicity of my previous coach. Though, my current coach helped me realize that my dream is still achievable and he helped me reach my longtime goal and I will forever thank him for that. Essentially, losing your love for a sport could come from toxic coaching, I learned there is nothing wrong with doing what is best for you especially in an athletic standpoint. Receiving this scholarship will help me pay for my fees at the school I committed to and support my academic success.