My Best Season: My Introduction to the Law of Attraction

I still remember that bus ride back to Trotwood as if it happened moments ago. It was Fall of 2008 and my soccer team were competing in the high school conference tournament my junior year. It was my first time representing my high school in soccer as I was previously playing in youth leagues before where high school rules prohibit playing for both a league and a high school team. That alone made me excited for that season, but it was also the final season I would enjoy with a lot of the same teammates I have played with since I was in third grade. We had high hopes that season, posting a respectable run during the season with a team mixed with longtime players like myself and first time footballers. And then we crashed out in the first round of the tournament in one of the worst games I’ve ever been a part of in terms of team performance. Then came the bus ride home…

I remember sitting in the second to last row on the right hand side of the bus, slowly unwrapping my wrist tape in disappointed silence. My longtime teammates John and Justin sat across from me and in front of me, respectfully. They also sat there left in stunned silence, and for me, there emotions carried in the atmosphere like a fog. It was their senior year and last chance to make a mark and help revitalize our school’s soccer program that we helped bring back after it was done away with due to problems from the past. Instead, we just rode home on that dimly lit bus on a dark, rainy night without anyway to reassure each other that we gave our best.

I personally wanted more out of myself for them, I felt like I owed my longtime friends and teammates that much. I remember looking at John, who was our team captain and just making three promises that I wasn’t sure I could keep or believed in: 1.) I would inherit his team captaincy my senior year and lead the team how he did, 2.) I would score my first high school goal, which was a challenge as a played central defensive midfielder, and 3.) I will become recognized for my efforts in that season. John looked at me and told me not to do it for him, that I need to want it for myself more than anyone else. We shared one final conversation as teammates where we thanked each other for all the memories on the field and in life as friends. That conversation changed my life…

Trotwood-Madison High School Rams 2009 soccer team, I’m front row, second from the right wearing the number four jersey

I went into Summer 2009 on a mission during the preseason. The returning players and I worked to get the team that’s represent our school my senior year and established a summer practice schedule on our own time as our coach went on vacation before she was to begin the real preseason practices. I don’t think I ever pushed myself like I did that Summer. I began for the first time studying the greats of the game, namely Pep Guardiola, former player and then coach of my beloved FC Barcelona. As a player, he played the same position as me and displayed similar attributes I had. The one thing he could do that I hadn’t learned yet was the ability to control the game. I wanted that and I worked hard to be able to influence games even if I wasn’t scoring goals. As a placebo effect, I chose to wear his iconic number four for my senior season. I think Coach Sterner recognized my efforts that preseason early on. My reward: She named me the captain of the team. Promise number one fulfilled.

As a team in 2009, we exceeded expectations that even I personally had. We for the first time in a long time were actually getting a ton of support at home games, including one electric game in which I will never forget from the crowd’s reaction of me dribbling past a few defenders by the sideline as if I was Leo Messi myself. That energy seemed to infuse a ton of confidence and passion in our squad and our winning record that season displayed that. My game had elevated: I. was in the best shape of my life, controlling the tempo of matches, seeing the field and anticipating the flow of the action, and finding ways to help improve my teammates as they did me. For me personally, it was my most complete season athletically and in terms of really channeling my potential. In our biggest win of the season, a 10–0 home blowout, I finally scored my high school goal by nutmeging the goal keeper off of a counter attack. John came home from college to see the game and I made sure to point to him in the stands after the goal. Promise number two fulfilled.

The postseason came and I was hungry for redemption for last season’s tournament heartache. Like last season, we crashed out in the first round but my emotion to the game was different. Unlike before, we made the other team earn their win, fighting until the very end to get that elusive tournament win. The better team walked out the winners but the effort we showed in that game and through out the season left me proud. Of course I would of preferred to make a run through the tournament, but the game has its ways of laying down the chips. The bus ride home was not one of sorrow, but more of validation.

I still had one more promise I still had to keep and actually before our last game, I achieved it. After our 10–0 win in which I scored, my high school’s fall sports coaches voted to name me athlete of the week. Of course that was a minor award, but as a soccer player coming from where I’m from, you didn’t get any recognition and that was enough for me to feel like I succeed. Even with all three targets reached, I continued to give my best effort that season. As a result, the rewards amplified.

My coached pulled me from lunch into her office to reveal that I, along with the only goalkeeper I’ve ever played with and longtime friend Malcolm were the first players in around 10 years from our high school to make the all-conference team. Seeing my name on the website left me speechless, because even though I believed in the work I was putting in, the stigma of my school’s soccer past led me to believe nobody was really paying attention to us despite our Cinderella season. I got a letter in the mail from the city of Trotwood informing that they’d like Malcolm and myself to appear at the next city meeting to be recognized for our accomplishment (I didn’t attend for a reason I can’t recall and regret not going). If being on Cloud 9 after all of that wasn’t enough, my high school gave me the ultimate honor of naming me that season’s MVP at the fall sports award ceremony. I value that award more than any other because ultimately it came from the very people I worked so hard to represent to the best of my abilities. Promise number three fulfilled.

Malcolm and I (right) being reward our medals and certificates from our high school conference for making the 2009 All-conference team of the season

So how did I make such a turn around and keep my promises to John and myself. Well, even though I wasn’t aware of the concept at the time, I immersed myself in the Law of Attraction. The Law of Attraction is a philosophical theory that one’s negative or positive thoughts will bring about like-wise experiences. I visualized myself for one year doing all that I promise I’d accomplished. I essentially reversed an old maxim in that I only saw these great things because I believed them and that they were mines if I strived for them. And the thoughts weren’t enough, as I expressed earlier, I put in all the work necessary to achieve them and without my efforts, my hope was nothing more than just that. My challenge to all of you is to picture all you want to achieve, to see it vividly, then plan and act your way to them. Visualize. Strategize. Actualize. We are all simply the sum of our thoughts, so think accordingly.