Two weeks ago there was an Intermediate Boys Soccer Tournament for the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board. Well, I had the opportunity to be on the intermediate (grade 7 and 8) soccer team of my school and I played center back. I love playing defense in soccer and it is fun to play on that position. Our starting defense lineup was me, Allan (grade 8), Quentin (grade 7), and Niko (grade 8). It was a great defensive lineup because Quentin is always very fast, Niko plays premier soccer, and Allan plays rep soccer. Niko and Thomas were the star players in our team. I cannot name all other starting lineups, but I can assure you that our team had a great talent!

During the day of the tournament, we all had to arrive at school at 7:30 AM. I rode my bike to school early in the morning on that day and got there on time. Every player arrived on time and we boarded taxis to the tournament venue. We all met in one area where we had to put all of our backpacks, lunch bags, and shoes. All teams were separated into 4 groups: Pool A, pool B, pool C, and pool D. I forgot what pool we were in, but know that other teams in our pool were: St. Veronica, St. Pauline Vanier, St. Lorenzo, and St. Kevin. The toughest rival was St. Lorenzo. Our first game was with St. Veronica and we started with the ball. St. Veronica had very poor defense and most of their shooting were not on target. It was an easy matchup and we ended up defeating them 7 to 0!. We demolished them and I was so happy winning our first game.

Our second game was against St. Pauline Vanier. This team was better than St. Veronica. One of their player was very fast and I tried doing a slide tackle at him, but I was too late!. My defensive partner tried also to block him but unfortunately, he brought him down in the box. A penalty was awarded to St. Pauline Vanier. I said to myself “miss, miss, miss ….!”, but sadly, he got it in. It was now 1 to 0. The first half ended and our coach told us to not give up and to keep our heads up. She gave us some tips on how to deal with this team and some corrections on some areas that we did not do well in this half. I knew we could still win it. We had enough time to make a comeback and we were all motivated to win, so in the second half we were unstoppable. Our team scored three goals to win the game and we played amazing defense and offense. Our next opponent was St. Lorenzo.

Now we had nine goals combined, so did St. Lorenzo. My friend Niko showed me a person from that team who played for a very good academy team; and as St. Lorenzo was warming up to face us, I saw that most of their players had great soccer skills, so that made me anxious. I knew we could still beat them, but the majority of my teammates were already sensed the defeat!. Our third game started with the low pace because each team was trying to study the tactics of the opponent. Sadly, they got into a fast break and player from Niko’s premier team scored. I was devastated and so angry with myself! This team was very aggressive and they played a dirty game. I was so mad that I tackled someone aggressively and he started swinging, but luckily I did not get a yellow card!. One of my teammates was kneed to the stomach and he had to sit on the bench for the rest of the game. We ended up losing one to zero, but we could still move on to the next stage so longer as we beat St. Kevin, but if we lose that game, we had to pack our bags and head back to the school. St. Kevin was not a strong team, so I knew we could definitely beat them. We started the game and this team had a player with a small figure with great dribbling and passing skills, but we played good defense on him. We were the first to get a goal so it was one to zero, but St. Kevin came right back and got a header in the net in a corner kick!. It was now one all. Then, we got two additional goals to win the game. Everyone was ecstatic that we got the big win and we moved on to the semi-final.

Our semi-final opponent was Our Lady of Peace and they were way better than St. Lorenzo. They demolished every team in their pool and they had a star player whose name was Kyle. He plays on Niko’s premier team and he was the star player on this team. He was tall and fast, and he got a lot of goals for his team in the preliminary round. Obviously, I was terrified.

We started the game and as soon Kyle got the ball he sprinted as fast as a cheetah and bodied most of our players, but he didn’t get a goal. In the next move, my friend Thomas kicked the ball towards the opponent side, but their tall goalie caught it. He then blasted it high into the air and it went right to Kyle who did a full sprint and passed each of my teammates and scored. It was one to 0. Whenever the goalie would get the ball, he would just blast it straight to Kyle and he would score. I tried my level best to prevent the ball going to Kyle, but it was not enough since they had a blowout win and beat us five to zero!. Kyle scored four goals and I was so sad that we lost, but I was happy that we made it to the semi-finals. We had to pack our stuff and head back to the school. Overall, I had a great experience and I would be happy to participate in many more school sports events.

The lesson is to give your very best at everything you do.

Josiah Damian