Bend it like Bosley and Blackwell

When I first began soccer, I use to cry ALL THE TIME because I felt I was disappointing my team.  It took me a while to accept my own capabilities and make fun of my premature skills on the field.

In this video I made for a class, I poke fun at what it means to be a good soccer player and a bad soccer player. After being called the bad player on the team,  I think I know what  it takes to be a bad soccer player...

Soccer Don'ts

 I made a mistake by eating yogurt on an extremely hot day.  Needless to say my body paid the price for it.  Just take a look at these pictures. It is a perfect example of what NOT to do in soccer.

1. Standing not helping... your teammate should know you are there as an option if she needs it

2. . I'm not aware of my surroundings, alert or prepared. I am standing there with my hands on my hips. That should  tell you the kind of mood I am in on this game day.

3. You can't see in this picture, but there were a lot of us in that corner. It would be hard to make a play because we are so close together.

4. This is just a sad picture. All of us are just standing, not even trying to play.

My only good action picture of the day...

Taking care of your body

I am a working student athlete. I have a lot of responsibilities that can be taxing on my

body. There were a few times when I would have classes, a soccer game and work all in one day. 

The only problem was I didn't know how to take care of my body. 

I did not know how much I didn't take care of my body, until I started playing soccer. I REALLY did not know how much I didn't take care of my body, until I started working.

 Just going from one activity to another my body sometimes would be running off of nothing: no food, no sleep, no hydration. 

To take better care of my body these are the four tips I follow:

1. Make sleep a priority

It’s ok, to give yourself permission to sleep, even when you have a million things to do. Trust me, your body will thank you for it. 

2. Eat well.

Eating well means feeding your body what it needs. Food is fuel. We need it to keep going. You don’t need to have full blown healthy meal.

3. Listen to pain.

Pain represents damage to our bodies. The longer you ignore it, the more it will come back to 

haunt you later.

4. Slow down.

 I always end up taking on way too much and running around to get everything finished. I can probably  do this sort of thing for a couple of days, before I am exhausted. My body, can’t handle that! Our bodies, can’t handle that!

So take care of your body by: sleeping, eating and resting.

Third Game: Team Bonding

getting ready for La Roche

After the events of our second game, we were in need of some deep team bonding. Half of the team wanted to quit and one player had already quit.
Though we had finally talked about our team issues, we needed something to bring us together. And that something was La Roche.

Before the Game
The game day for La Roche started with us getting into a party bus to travel.

Needless to say we were excited. We were ready to blast some music and dance. Though, the coach told us not too...he wanted us to get mentally prepared for the game.

Excited to be on Party Bus

How could we do that listening to music? So instead we talked and laid around on the bus. Our talks were incredibly funny and insightful. When we finally got to La Roche campus we were all in an upbeat mood.

During the Game

LA Roche was the game that defined our future games. 

getting ready 

We were playing together and we weren't yelling at each other. We trusted each other. It felt as if all the pressure we had on us the first two games were gone. 

We were starting to understand each other on and off the field. Now, we didn't win!

 La Roche has really good soccer team, it would have been impossible for us to beat them...but we were able to give them one of our best games we have ever played. 

After the Game

We went to a "Mama and Papa" type restaurant and that's when the

Team Bonding 

real fun began. We couldn't stop talking. We talked about food, instagram, majors, classes, soccer, buys, etc.

Going against La Roche made us closer. Everything about that day: the drive there, playing the game, getting food afterwards and the drive back.

The whole day brought us closer together. It made us bond.  It gave us a team unity.

At the end of the day I was so comfortable with these girls, I did something I wouldn't do unless I'm comfortable with the people around me....DANCE!!!  Take a look below!

Something That Caught My Eye: Guantanamo Bay

This video caught my liberal heart's attention. I became curious about  Guantanamo Bay and started reading every article I could find on the internet. I was shocked by some of the things I found.

Many of the detainees claim they did nothing wrong and committed no crime. They are victims of being in the wrong place at the wrong time...Afghanistan.

The president has promised to close Guantanamo Bay, but the only thing that has been done is the closing of the diplomatic office charged with resettling inmates.

Obama blames congress - congress have made it hard for Obama to stay true to his promise. He wanted to transfer all of the detainees to a prison in illinois, but congress passed a bill that made it hard for officials to transfer prisoners anywhere.

Most of the detainees still in Guantanamo Bay are now on hunger strike. They have been complaining that the army have been giving unjust treatment in their guarding duties.

1. Shooting them with rubber pellets
2. having their Korans mistreated during an inspection

Is it possible? Yeah! Don't you remember the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. Human rights violations were committed against prisoners by military personnel and the CIA. The prisoners were physically and sexually abused, tortured, raped, sodomized and killed.

Yes, this may be different because Guantanamo Bay deals with terrorists and I know some may say many lives were saved by information gained at Guantanamo Bay. But is it worth it? Is it  worth losing the american morals and values? Is it worth possibly making innocent men into terrorists.

I don't think so. What do you think?

Second Game: All Hell Breaks Loose

Resentment and issues began to fester after the last game.  There was this uncomfortable feeling in the atmosphere that no one dared to speak of... we just kept going through the motions as if we all got along. For a while, it seem to work.

Teammate Ana playing dirty

It worked so much that in the second game, we actually started to play as a team.We were able to keep the final score at 6-0(an improvement from our last game). 

It was unbelievable, we had ignored our team issues and begun to play like a team. Was that possible? Was it too good to be true?

We worked so well together during this game, the coach decided against having a team meeting to discuss our issues. 

He decided to quick. 

Right after the game, all hell broke loose. We were all sitting around a circle on the field waiting to leave

Player number 17 was complaining about lugging all the soccer equipment off of the field, while we all sat on the field.

I do not take good action photos

In her defense, she was considered an "injured" player, but her complaints irritated one of the players. 

By the time player number 17, had come back to collect other soccer equipment she was mumbling under her breath. I don't know what she was mumbling..but player number 00 had enough. 

"If you don't want to do it, leave the shit right there" Player number 00 said in the nastiest tone possible. 

We all looked at her in astonishment.  Player number 00 was the most optimistic and positive girl you will ever meet and she was being mean. 

"Like seriously, shut your mouth," player number 17 fired back

"don't you tell me to shut my mouth,"player number 00 said

Teammate Kiersten giving it her all

 While some teammates, including myself, tried to calm down the situation. Other teammates got into it as well, defending player number 00.  And before you knew it , we were in the early stages of having a downright brawl.  The girls who wanted to fight were ready to go . 

Player number 17 was not backing down. The coach and our team captain(who is also number 17's best friend) came to her defense, yelling at the rest of us. 

Number 17 was not reprimanded in any way, which left some of the girls feeling some way. Their perspective was no matter who started the fight, EVERYONE involved should have been reprimanded.  Until that point, it was pure speculation that the coach played favorites, but this event solidified our concerns. 

Defense players holding off  WCCC's  offense

The fact that me and two other girls were trying to stop the fight by neutralizing the situation and then you had the coach adding to the fight by screaming in people's faces, didn't sit well with me. 

There's a difference in being assertive and aggressive. And we needed someone to be assertive. We already had so much aggression going around...did we really need more? 

Needless to say tensions between the team were elevated to a whole new level

IT's OFFICIAL: I AM A MCSLAVE

This is my first job EVER!!!! I know it's sad, because I'm 20 years old. I have been sheltered my entire life. After working ONLY five hours the first day, I was exhausted.

I now have a new appreciation for my parents and the value of a dollar.

One thing is for sure, my kids will be working as soon as they turn 16.

Something that caught my eye: Save Lockey's Dad

The Auden Family

I was surfing the web when three words caught my eye: Save Lockeys's Dad The words hit home for me.  Too close to home.

The Auden family is the typical American family, whose lives have been affected by terminal cancer.

Me at age four

Nick Auden, Lockey's dad, is fighting terminal cancer. He is being denied an experimental treatment that could potentially save his life.

When I was a kid, no more than four years old, my dad got sick. My sisters and I were told the "kid" truth, that daddy was feeling "tired" and needed to rest somewhere else that will make him feel better.

When I grew up I was told the "real" truth. My dad needed a kidney transplant and they didn't think he would get one.

My dad showing me off

My dad later told me, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to watch me and my sisters grow up. We all were so young at the time. My oldest sister was six and my youngest was two.

He feared missing out on our high school graduations, walking us down the aisle and being there when we have our own kids.

 Dad lived to see his girls grow

Thankfully, my dad found a kidney donor.

But not everyone is that lucky.

I know Nick Auden has to share the same fears my dad once did...that he won't be around for his three kids.

So please sign this petition and save Lockey's dad.

First Game: United we stand, Divided we fall

With only a week of practice together, our soccer team was thrown into its first game.

To put it simply, we were not ready.

I don’t mean just skill wise – not ready.  I mean team wise – not ready.
There was no bond between us. No unity.  No camaraderie.

Any athlete will tell you the importance of team bonding and unity.

2013 Women's Soccer Team: why did I wear glasses

Teams that often end up winning in sports are those that work well together.

How were we supposed to win a game together if we couldn’t cooperate?

The tension between us, left the team fragmented into cliques.  We were separated by new players, old players and competitiveness.

So going into our first game there was a division amongst us – especially with the EXTREMELY competitive girls.

The intensity they had for the game rubbed some people the wrong way…including me.  It felt like everything I did was wrong to them.  It didn’t help that my soccer skills were premature.It really didn’t help that before the start of this game the coach decided to put me as forward, when I have always played midfield.




We played against Thiel College

So, now the coach expects me to start scoring goals. No pressure!
Don’t get me wrong, I understand why he made me forward, but it didn’t help my case with the competitive girls. Now it was my job to make sure we scored points...

Needless to say, when I stepped out on that field I was full of anxiety.

The first ten minutes were fine, it's just what came after that that wasn't...there was no communication with our team. We weren't talking on the field. Except screaming and
yelling at each other when we did something wrong.


 Teammate Jessie icing her foot

Not surprisingly,  the other team scored a goal.

Frustration set in. We became irritated  with each other.

And the other team could see this and used it to their advantage.

Which made one goal become two goals, two goals become five goals ,and five goals become eight goals.


Even though we were losing, I honestly believed we were all working as best as we could during the game.

Well, I guess I was wrong! A teammate of mine, came up to me 20 minutes before the game ended  and told me "You need to start getting the ball"(like I don't get the concept of the game).


The combination of the heat, my exhaustion and my sensitive personality made her suggestion come off a bit "bitchy".

I probably would have been more receptive to what she was saying,  if I hadn't been running around on that field for almost 90 minutes in the blazing heat.
I understand she is competitive and has this adrenaline for the game...but don't depreciate my role on




What can I say? I was tired

the team.

My body was running on zero. All I wanted to do was collapse.

But I kept pushing myself and now she was telling me my effort wasn't good enough.

And If she didn't think I was doing anything before, I was definitely not going to do anything now.



After the game

 Yes, I know its was petty and childish.  At the time I didn't care.

The last 15 minutes I did not run across the field. I just counted down to the mintues when it will all be over.

The time went by quick. The final score was 12-0. As usual we were all irritated with each other and we fragmented back into our cliques.

I guess whoever said that quote was telling the truth: united we stand, dividend we fall.

And boy did we fall.