Growing up, I played soccer with boys. Of course, there were other girls playing with me as well, but mostly we had a team made up of boys. I never knew anything different. Playing the game with boys was all I knew from when I started playing at a young age to my senior year of high school. Playing an often aggressive game like soccer with boys who were bigger than you was never easy, especially in high school. It was hard to transition from playing rec soccer to high school soccer because suddenly all the boys had hit puberty and grew to be six feet tall and weighed 180 to 200 pounds all in muscle. With me being 5’1, this was a huge difference and a big one at that. Although I grew up with these boys, it was still scary to be playing and practicing with them and often we would play against boys who were even bigger than the boys on my team, so that was very nerve-wracking, but all of this has taught me important lessons and has made me tougher in the end.

The most important lesson I learned by playing soccer with boys is that girls can do the exact same thing that boys can do. Right now, this lesson is such an important thing to understand throughout our society. Just because a man mostly does a job or activity, does not mean that a woman cannot do the same job or activity. Playing soccer with and against boys was almost always an extremely hard task. Being able to keep up with them or go up against a boy who may be bigger than you was never easy, but also possible. Often, I was put in the same position that a boy had just played. To me, playing soccer with boys has taught me and the other girls on the team that they can do anything a boy can do, sometimes better!

When playing with and against boys, it will obviously come with a lot of injuries. Almost every girl on my team received some sort of injury while playing on the team. I received at least two concussions while playing soccer, but every one of us always got back out there and continued to play. The next lesson I learned was to always get back up no matter how bad it hurts, playing with boys also taught us to tough things out and to never quit. To me, this was a great lesson to learn because not only did I use this lesson while playing soccer, but also throughout my life. When things may not be going my way, I have learned to just get through it and go on. When life knocks me down, I have learned to just get back up and power through it, this lesson has been helpful with my new journey through college.

I also learned very well how to stick up for myself. Playing with boys often brought up various complications, but this taught me to never back down from a boy especially if you are right. Being a girl does not automatically mean you are wrong, so whenever given the chance to give my input somewhere, I always did. Along with the many different complications that come with playing with boys is that there is some unwritten rule that they must be in charge. Why is this a thing? Whenever given the opportunity, the girls on the team would always try and take control and I always thought this to be rather empowering, to rewrite that unwritten rule and let a female take charge.

Although playing with boys was often proven to be a difficult task, I cherish every moment that I shared with them on and off the field. I can often find myself looking up to them as somewhat of role models due to their constant dedication and hard work put in towards the sport that I also dearly love. We may have gone our separate ways once our senior year ended, but growing up with these boys engraved a huge bond that will last a lifetime. Throughout my time playing soccer, these boys always stood up for me and the other female players and helped us all through different difficult times throughout our lives and I will forever carry our special memories around with me wherever I go.