I woke up on the 14th of February in 2016. It was a beautiful, sunny day. It was Sunday, which meant that it was the day to play bubble soccer with my classmates. I got out of bed, grabbed some peach yogurt, and turned on the TV. Around 11:00 o'clock I got all my clothes on and put my shin guards and cleats on. I filled my water bottle with water and ice cubes. My dad and I got in the car, as we were picking up Cooper and Max.

Max said, “I am ready. Let’s go kick some butts!”

We started driving to the MJCC bubble. When we arrived, we were the first there. I grabbed my cones out of the back of the car and set them up so we could warm up. While we were doing quick sprints Isaac arrived with Eli and Beck.

“What up Isaac? Ready to wreck some fools?,” said Max. After them Ben and Max Eldien and everyone else arrived. Ben’s dad, the coach, arrived with Ben. I went up to Ben’s dad and said ,“Hey Ben’s dad, can I play goalie today because I am an amazing goalkeeper?”

Ben’s dad said “Ya of course Ethan, always looking for new amazing goalkeepers.”

“Well I am definitely the right person. I am a fabulous goalkeeper,” I said.

“Okey dokey,” Ben’s dad said.

“Team, Ethan is going to be the goalkeeper for the first half,” Ben’s dad said. As the game started, I hopped on over to the goal to prepare.

The game finally began. I was lightly bouncing up and down ready for whatever was going to come at me. That whole half no one scored on me. I got eleven saves. I felt like no one could stop me.

And then the coach said “Ethan you need to be on the field.”

I responded “Coolio.” The whistle blew and the second half began. About half way through the second half the opposing team got a lucky goal scored on this garbage goalkeeper that went in for me. If I was in goal I would have easily saved it, but I was not and I had to get a goal back for my team. The next minute I outran three people and put a banger into the top right corner. The game was tied one to one and it was coming down to the final minutes. I decided to pressure their defence to try to make them mess up. I decided that it would be a good idea to run up to the guy who can kick the ball really hard and use one of my body parts to block his kick. He got the ball passed to him and I start running toward him. He tried to clear the ball out and then bam it whacks me in the face. But the ball reflected off my face and gave a perfect pass to Max Leland who then blasted the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal. I had won the game for my team. Unfortunately, I was still on the floor in a huge amount of pain.

My team carried me off screaming in my ear “we won, we won!” They laid me on the bench while my dad examined me. I had a huge ball mark on my right cheek. After about five minutes on the bench I was able to get up and walk to the car. Still in horrible pain my dad drove me home. My mom checked me out and asked me questions.

After a good thirty minutes she said confidently “Yup, it is definitely a major concussion.” My mom did not let me do anything for a whole month. I was not allowed to go to soccer practice, martial arts, and could only watch TV for thirty minutes a day. I also had to stay home from school for three days. And since I was only ten and could not do anything, one of my parents had to stay home with me until I could go to school. This experience taught me that I should analyze my opponents and decide if what I am going to do is safe. I should also not go full out on a rec soccer team. I have to think about the consequences of getting injured and how that will affect my sports and my education.

 I am now 13 years old. I am still active in soccer and injuries still happen as not all of them can be preventable like what happened to me at the Bubble that day. I am still willing to take risks to score a banger, but I now avoid putting myself in unnecessary circumstances where I could get hurt.