Star Soccer Player

Last night after school I had my first night of soccer practice for the year. I’ve been playing soccer since I was eight years old, but now that I’m in high school it’s getting pretty serious. My school is nationally ranked, and I was recruited on a scholarship to join the team, so there’s a lot of pressure on me to perform well since I’m their star player. Because it’s been a while since I played, I was expecting to be rusty. But I wasn’t expecting to have lost my skill altogether. I don’t know what happened to me, but it’s like I can’t see the ball properly anymore. It would get passed towards me and I’d swing my leg and miss it completely.

When I told my coach what was happening, he suggested I visit a behavioural optometrist near me. Apparently, he’s seen something like this in another player before, and it ended up being an issue with the functioning of their visual-motor system. I freaked out when he said this, but he reassured me it was a simple fix. Although I wanted to continue with the training session, my coach told me to sit out and relax. Playing before I need to feel completely comfortable, so that I don’t experience any unnecessary stress.

The first thing I did when I got home was tell my family all about what had happened. When my parents heard this, they immediately booked me in for an appointment at the best optometrist clinic Bayside has. My sister started laughing (rude) and said she noticed a little while ago that I tend to squint a lot, as though I can’t really see what I’m reading. I told them there was no rush, and that I was still able to read and write, but they insisted. I think they’re concerned that I’ll lose my scholarship if I can’t play soccer properly soon.