Braeden Harper

Mrs.Meyers
English 1
09/22/16

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The UNCG Experience
It was a hot summer day and both Heritage Soccer teams (varsity & JV) are lined up to get onto a
bus. We were going to the University of North Carolina Greensboro, for a soccer camp. As we all
got onto the bus we quickly noticed that the vehicle was not air conditioned. This made the two
hour drive the longest two hours of my life, and it didnt help that I didnt know any of the upper
classmen. Once we all piled off the bus like we were a pack of cows being herded, we had to
check in and pick our roommates. My roommate was the varsitys goalie Darwin, he was a junior
so it was a little awkward at first, but we acquainted each other pretty fast. After everyone
unpacked all their things we had to get ready for our 6:00pm practice.
We had to walk to practice, actually we had to walk everywhere from the field to the
cafeteria. The walk was almost as rigorous as Frodos journey in The Lord of The Rings, and
when we got there we were already sweating, but we got straight to business. We split in to two
groups (Varsity and Junior Varsity). I went with Junior Varsity with all the other freshmen. The
pitch was nearly perfect. They even had free Gatorade stations right next to the field, but I didnt
come for the free Gatorade I came to improve as a player. That practice was established how to
defend when the opposition has multiple players in the center of the field and out wide. To help
us learn that new tactic we had drills that taught us how to properly win the ball. You do that in
three simple steps; 1.) Step is when your team loses the ball and the closest defender steps or
applies pressure to the attacker with the ball. 2.) Contain which is when you get your center of

Braeden Harper
Mrs.Meyers
English 1
09/22/16

balance and shield the ball one way. The 3 and final step is to tackle with your foot closest to the
rd

ball, so if you miss the tackle you still have momentum to keep up with the attacker. In addition
to that we had 1v1 drills and a scrimmage. Im not going to lie but I did not play well what so

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ever in the scrimmage, but in my defense they did put me as a defender and I usually play as a
center attacking midfielder (CAM).
At the end of the practice we all walked to the dorms, just to leave two minutes later to
walk another half a mile to get dinner. We all got dinner from the universitys lunch hall. Oh my
god the food smelled amazing, once you walked through the door you could smell it. There were
so many different options; there was pizza, salad, pasta, and so much more. We waited in the
buffet lines and when we got our food we found seats and talked. I had to get the pizza it looked
so good. The pizza was cooked to perfection, the cheese was melt to the point where it was
almost sliding off the slice. Then the crust add a crunch to wrap it all up. It was about 8:45pm
when we left the food court and started to walk back to the dorms. When we got back to the
dorms we had some team bonding time. We decided to play the gentlemens game, its a game
where you have to do certain signals and if you mess up you get a punishment. We were having
so much fun that we didnt even notice that the floor below us could hear our laughter. The

Braeden Harper
Mrs.Meyers
English 1
09/22/16

funniest punishment was when jimmy had to put an Oreo in his pants and run down the hall and
if the cookie fell he had to eat it.
Our third day we had an intense schedule, we woke up at 5:45 to eat breakfast and on a
full stomach we went to our 6:30 game. The JV team won that game 6-0 and the Varsity game
was about to start so the whole JV team sat on the bench. The Varsity game was close they won
3-1, but we didnt see the whole game since we had to play our games against Broughton, and a
high school from Greensboro. The other team wasnt that talented so our coach allowed the
freshman and non-starters have more playing time. He also played some of the starters in
different positions to see everyones strengths and weaknesses. After the game both teams
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watched the All-Star game, which was a game where all the best players from each high school
play in one game. The stands were packed with all the kids who werent elected and all the high
school coaches. Heritages representatives were Landon, Gabe, and Trevor. Gabe and Trevor
were on the navy team while Landon was on white. All the players were so talented it almost
seemed like they we were watching a professional game. It was a great game, but in the end
Landons team lost 2-1.
Its the last day of camp and we had a 7v7 to win. Over the whole time at camp we were the only
high school that had both Varsity and JV teams to be undefeated. It was like we were invincible
and nothing could stop us. The JV team started off great, we won our first two games 4-0 and 3-

Braeden Harper
Mrs.Meyers
English 1
09/22/16

0. Then that all changed when we played Sanderson we lost 1-0 in the dying seconds. That
lose was like taking candy from a baby, but this time we were the baby, and the candy was our
hard work and success. Due to that game we came in second in the tournament. That showed us
that any team can beat any opponent any day, and its all about whose more mentally prepared.
Since we came in second place we didnt get anything at the medal ceremony, except an
honorable mention. It was hard watching Sanderson take our trophy that we should have won,
and they all looked at us with their smirks. This got my team so furious it was like a bomb of
anger was about to go off. We all calmed down because we knew we could beat them in the Cap
8 (our league) which is what really matters. After the ceremony we all had to drive back to HHS.
In the end, I had a great time meeting new people while playing my favorite sport.