Even as a young child, McKenna Weliver loved her time with soccer.

   I loved it. Now it’s wasted time: endless training, exhausting heat, and unmotivated teammates. Having spent almost 11 years of my life dedicated to soccer, in one short season, my love for it diminished to almost none. 

   Sports have been a passion of mine and a part of my life since I was young. The thrill of being able to compete has always interested me, but the negative language of coaches has begun to get in the way of my love of soccer. 

   Being either a hit or miss, a good coach will encourage players to perform at their best while still uplifting and treating them equally. Between school and club sports, I have had several bad coaches that, at the time, ruined my love for soccer.

   The first club coach of my athletic career was a bleak man who had a favorite player. The constant praise and approval of this player was repetitive. At a mid-season practice, while punishing specific players for talking, the coach never commented on her speaking during directions and instead would often insert himself into her conversations. 

   The coach’s persistent degrading dialogue and disconnection with the rest of the team made it difficult to enjoy the sport. 

   Pushing through three seasons with this team, I assumed every year my experience would get better, but to my dismay, it didn’t. What a surprise. 

   A teammate confirmed my perspective. “Bad qualities a coach could have been expressing obvious favorites, initiating down talk behind the player’s back, and making players feel like they aren’t worthy of the spot on the team. These qualities have affected my experience by killing my love for a sport I’ve played since I was three and removing any athletic confidence I’ve ever had,” Jr. Hannah Hovinga said. 

   Once that season ended and spring rolled around, I wondered what my following soccer season would look like. Deciding to finally quit my previous team, I found myself with more opportunities. 

   August came with soccer tryouts right around the corner. Having to decide between school volleyball and club soccer was fairly difficult, but in the end, I decided against soccer. Skipping soccer tryouts, tryouts for volleyball came about, and I was cut. 

   Being left with no sport to fill my time, I became anxious. My parents and I decided that reaching out to various soccer teams to try out late would be my best bet. Fortunately, I was able to join a new team as a part-time player. This meant I still attended practice but only played in games where players were absent. Though disappointed with the circumstances, I appreciated that I could play. 

   My new coach welcomed me with open arms and allowed me to become a better player, meet new people, and find my love for soccer again. As a result, I decided to continue playing with this team for my remaining years in club. 

   Despite my controversial experiences with soccer, joining indoor track in December has been one of the best decisions for me mentally and physically. The organized and competitive atmosphere allows me to pre-season train for soccer in the spring.

    As a new contender to track, I was nervous I’d fall behind, but Coach Currens, a previous college athlete, welcomed me quickly. 

   Aiding the team in growing individually, Coach Currens positively impacted my experience in sports and increased my self-confidence as a competing athlete. A current player on the team, Dexter Ruhl, speaks on his personal experience with this coach. “Currens influenced my track experience by making the sport more enjoyable and allowing the team to feel accomplished over any goals. The way he runs practices allows for work to be done while having it be fun at the same time. He’s a great coach because of how he builds a relationship with you no matter how fast or slow you are.” Jr. Dexter Ruhl said. 

   As I said, my current participation in track has resulted in an unexpected love for the sport. This leaves me with the difficult decision of whether to play soccer or run track in the spring and depicts how my future as an athlete may look.