Living+The+Dream

= __Living The Dream__ =

Christian Ramirez graduated from the Palo Alto High School in Palo Alto, California. Christian, captain of his soccer team, led his team all the way to the state finals and won 2-1 on penalty kicks to a high school out of Los Angeles. After the game he was talked to by the head coach of the LA Galaxy and offered a contract for the 2013 season. Before he was offered a contract, he was also offered a scholarship to Stanford University and UCLA. Expected to go to high school, Christian made the biggest decision of his life by deciding to go straight into playing professional soccer. His parent like most other parents, wanted Christian to go to college, but were disappointed by their son's decision. This is the story of that one day that changed Christian’s life forever.

One month ago, the Palo Alto High School boy's soccer team traveled by bus all the way to Los Angeles for the State Championship game. The team was flooded with sports reporters asking questions when getting off the bus. One question asked towards Christian was, “Christian, Where do you think you will be attending college next year?”

He didn't answer the reporter because focusing on the upcoming game was the only thing on Christian's mind. Other players on his team were also asked the same question, but they knew where they were going to college for the next four years. “I will be attending Stanford.” the goalkeeper Tim said and “My talents will be going to UCLA.” the co-captain Jason said. It seemed like everyone had decided besides Christian.

While entering the Home Depot Center, home of the LA Galaxy, Christian and the rest of the Palo Alto team were overwhelmed with the amount of people that came to the game. It seemed like almost of of Los Angeles was here to watch them play. Fans from both teams where there supporting their teams while also wearing the teams colors. Everyone could clearly see the Palo Alto fans for they were all wearing blue while the opposing fans were all wearing red. Most of the team began talking and waving to all the fans, but not Christian. In his mind, he was saying, “I'm going to have to step my game up if these guys won't focus.” Before the game was about to begin, Christian noticed box seats with men holding clipboards. “Those must be the scouts,” Christian thought. The scouts in the box included college and professional. The coach for the LA Galaxy, Bruce Arena was there hoping to find a good young player he could recruit for his team next year. “I know they will notice me, but I just have to make sure of it.” Christian thought.

As the first whistle blew to begin the first 45 minute half, Christian passed it to Jason who began to dribble the ball forward. Jason dribbled past the defenders and got it all the way to the end line. Christian knew when and where going to cross it, so he began to sprint towards the penalty spot. Right as Christian predicted, the ball was crossed headed right for his head. “This is going to be easy,” Christian said out loud while jumping for the ball. What he didn't see was the goalkeeper beat him to the ball, catch it, and punt the ball half-way down the field to start a counter-attack for his team. “This is going to be easy” the goalie said imitating Christian. Christian, being the smart soccer player he is, knew that if he did anything to the goalie, he could easily get a yellow card or even a red card and get ejected. With this being the state championship and having college and professional scouts watching the game, he decided to ignore the goalie and focus on playing his game. The game played on with nothing too exiting in the first half besides a yellow card for each team and a few shots on goal for each team. While entering half time, the game was tied 0-0. In the locker room, the head coach of Palo Alto told his team they could win the game if they believe. He said, “This game so far is in our favor. If we keep it up they will most likely collapse somewhere, and that is where we will attack. We know we are a good team because if we didn't, we wouldn't be in this situation right now. Everyone just needs to take a deep breath, calm down, relax, and we will win this game.” Everyone is pumped up right now, including Christian. There is only one thing on his mind right now that one thing is to win.

The second half begins and both teams look up for the cup. Each team is working hard, winning their share of 50/50 balls, and running through tackles. It is basically a coaches dream what their teams are doing, but also a nightmare if the other team is doing the same thing. The second half turns out to be the same as the first half in that neither team scores. Also like the first half, each team gets plenty of shot on goal, but there are no yellow cards like the first half. With time winding down, both teams do not want to go into overtime, for the mental and physical damage is too much for them to handle. Christian on the other hand, wants overtime because he is confident that he will dominate because he has prepared for situations like this. He is more fit and therefore can run for a longer period of time unlike the other team. What most players didn't want to happen happened and the game was headed into two 15 minute overtimes. The overtime periods weren't golden goal, which means that one goal doesn't end the game.

5 minutes into the overtime, Christian is driving towards the goal. Just outside the box, one of the players on the other team slide tackle Christian from behind. Christian pleads to the referee, “Sir. That has to be a card. He took me out from behind.” The referee then pulls the player over to give him a talk and pulls out a red card! The stadium erupts! Half cheer for the player getting sent off, while the other half boo at the referee for making that call. A red card doesn't only make the player leave the field, but the team has to play with one player for the rest of the game. It also gives Palo Alto a free-kick right outside the box. Jason the co-captain of Palo Alto, and also the best free-kick taker knows that it is his kick to take. Christian steps in though and grabs the ball before Jason can grab it. “What are you doing Christian?” Jason asked. “You know coach wants me to take this kick.”

“I know he wants you to take it, but he also wants to win the game.” Christian said.

“Hurry this up before I call a delay of game on you,” says the referee.

Christian decides to give Jason the ball, but doesn't go to far away. Jason takes the ball, puts it where the tackle was committed, and backs up getting ready to take the kick. The referee blows the whistle to signal the kick, and Christian runs up and takes the kick! Jason starts screaming at Christian, until he realizes Christian scored. The ball was perfectly placed over the wall and into the top corner of the goal. The goalkeeper dove the right way, but the shot was too powerful an too accurately placed for him to stop it from going in the goal. Christian celebrates by running to the corner flag and taking his shirt off. The referee gives him a yellow card for excessive celebration, but Christian doesn't care because he is still waiving his shirt around like he won the lottery.

Everybody gets back into their positions for the kick-off, but they are still celebrating in their heads. No one hears the referee blow the whistle besides the other team because of the roar of the stadium. The other team drives straight through Palo Alto's defense because they are wondering why they are playing. They get all the way to the top of the box when they finally realize that the game started. Everybody is freaking out trying to get back to stop the breakaway, but they are too late. The goalkeeper tries comes out to make an effort, but gets chipped and scored on. Christian walks furiously over to the referee and began to argue. “This is a joke, right? You can't be seriously telling me that you blew the whistle to start play?”

The referee responds, “Do you want another yellow card or I suggest you stop talking?” and gets no response from Christian. Play continues with another kick-off and the end of the first half in overtime with the score now tied 1-1. The second half of overtime goes by in the blink of an eye with the score still tied 1-1. This means that the winner of the state championship will be determined by a penalty shoot-out. The eleven players on the field line up at half in order of shooters. The first and fourth shooter are usually the best penalty-kick takers and in this case, it is Jason and Christian. Jason is the first shooter while Christian is the fourth shooter. Palo Alto wins the coin flip and decides to shoot second to put more pressure on the opposing team.

The first player steps up for the other team makes their penalty-kick. The shot was low and to the corner, which is what a good penalty-kick should look like and the goalkeeper dove the wrong way. Jason steps up and also makes his penalty-kick, but this time the goalkeeper almost saved it. He actually got a hand on it and tipped it into the goal off the post. Even though there were fans from both teams, after the kick was taken the whole stadium seemed to be cheering. Some fans saw the kick go in while other saw it hit the post. When the instant replay was played on the jumbo tron, the fans for the opposing team felt embarrassed and not loyal because they cheered for the wrong team. As the next player walked up to take the penalty-kick, Christian knew that he was nervous. He was saying to himself, “I just know he is going to miss it. The way he walked up to the penalty spot was slow as if he never wanted to go there.”

The goalkeeper was positioned in the goal more to one side than the other as if telling the shooter to shoot to the more open side. The shooter took the challenge trying to shoot it in the more open side, but the goalkeeper was one step ahead of his and made the save. The player walked back to his team cursing and beating himself up because he knew that he let his team down. The second player for Palo Alto walked up calmly and waited for the referee to blow his whistle. Even though me was a left-footer, the shooter walked straight behind the ball trying confuse the goalkeeper. As the whistle was blown, the player ran up to the ball and hit it with the outside of his left foot and into the goal. It was a risk taking it with his outside, but it clearly payed off because he put his team up one int the shootout.

Now it is up for the third shooter of the opposing team to score and hope for a miss from the other third shooter to tie the shootout at 2 goals a piece. He makes his shot, but his hope goes down the drain when Palo Alto's shooter gets lucky by scoring off the post and into the net. Christian turn is up after the fourth shooter for the other team takes his kick. As the opposing player walks up to the penalty spot, he know that if he misses his shot, his team has no chance at winning the shootout. The thought stays in his mind the whole time until he takes the kick and misses it! Now it is up to Christian to decide the game. His team is winning 3-1 in the shootout and he can end the shootout and the game with a goal. Christian talks to himself and prays a little because of his religious background as he walks up to take the kick of his life.

The goalkeeper, trying to make a save to keep his team alive, stands on one side of the goal like before. The side he wants Christian to go is towards the right side of the goal and it is not the side Christian wants to go. Before a shooter steps up to take a penalty-kick, they always want to know where they are shooting. They also do not want to change the place in their head because they will mess up the kick. Since the side he is being told to shoot on is not to Christian's liking, he doesn't shoot there. Instead, Christian goes for accuracy on his shot with a little power and shoots into the small pocket of space in the lower left corner of the goal. That is where Christian mainly shoots his penalty-kicks because he is right-footed and can shoot there more easily. The ball gets perfectly placed and slips past the unsuspecting goalkeeper. He had done it! Palo Alto has won the championship!

If Christian went crazy when he scored the goal in overtime, there are no words to describe what happened after he scored the final penalty-kick. Just like his last celebration, Christian ran all the way to the corner flag and got tackled by his teammates. Everyone was going crazy, including the coaches who were running on the field to join their players. After everyone gets off Christian, Palo Alto fans join him on the field and lift him on their shoulders to the presenting of the trophy. The trophy is presented to Palo Alto by soccer superstar David Beckham, who now plays for the LA Galaxy. As David hands the trophy to Christian he says, “ Hopefully some day I will be lucky enough to play alongside you.” Christian wasn't sure if he really meant it or if it was just to be nice so he replied, “Thanks. Me too.”

The whole team is on stage taking turns holding and kissing the trophy when a woman comes to the microphone and say, “Can everyone please be quiet?” Everyone quiets down, but no one knows who this woman is until she introduces herself. “Hello everyone and congratulations to Palo Alto on winning the California state championship. Myself, the commissioner of California Athletics, would like to present the MVP trophy to not only than the man who score the goal in overtime, but the man who also won the game and who has a great career in front of him. I think we all knows who that is. Christian Ramirez come up here.”

As Christian walks towards the stage and up the stairs, the crowd erupts into cheers and whistles. When Christian gets up to the stage, the commissioner gives him the MVP trophy and whispers in his ear, “Congratulations. You have really earned it.” Christina replies, “Thank you and may I say a few words on the microphone?” “Be my guest.” replies the commissioner.

“These last two hours have been some of the greatest hours of my life and my teammates lives. I am just thankful that we got here to show California what the High School of Palo Alto is made of. I would lie to thank my coach and teammates because without them, we wouldn't be in this situation right now. Also, I would like to thank my parents for supporting me through out my high school career. I love them very much and without them, I wouldn't be here giving you this speech today. Now let's bring this trophy back to Palo Alto where it belongs!” Christian says. The crowd agrees and cheers as the team leave the Home Depot Center to get on the bus that will drive the team along with the trophy back to Palo Alto.

Christian is the last to get off the field and on his way to the bus some mysterious stranger grabs him and pulls him aside. “Let me go!” Christian says.

“It's okay son.” replied LA Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena. “I'm only hear to ask you if you would want to play for the LA Galaxy in the 2013 season. I know that you may not have an answer now, but that's okay because you should probably discuss this with your parents tonight. Just to be clear, the contract I am offering you is a 3-year contract, which means that you will have to play with the team three years before moving to another team, if you choose to. You will receive the maximum amount of money a rookie can receive in their first year and we will negotiate years two and three depending on how you play in year one. I know this is a lot to think about, but we need you on our team.”

Christian knows his decision while Bruce Arena is still talking to him. Immediately after Bruce Arena stopped talking, Christina replies, “Yes! Absolutely yes! I would love to play for your team next year.”

“Let me mail you your contract so your parents can look at it and so that you don't miss you bus. I am glad you made the right decision and the quality of our team will be top of the leader board next year. We even have a chance to win the MLS Cup. Goodbye now.” Just as Bruce Arena is finished talking, he disappeared into the shadows of the Home Depot Center.

Christian sprints for the bus just as the bus begins to pull out out of the parking lot. When Christian gets on the bus, everybody asks where he was. Trying to be confidential about his new contract he says that he forgot his cleats on the bench. The only thing Christina is thinking of on the ride home is how to break the news to his parents about his deal with the LA Galaxy. The boys were told that they would get dropped off at the high school and get picked up by their parents. What they didn't know was that the whole town was waiting for them to get off the bus. They held their own celebration at the stadium, showing off the trophy and Christian’s MVP trophy. Christian’s parents are in the crowd, but he can't even bear to look at them.

After the celebration, Christian walks over to his parents who congratulate him about the victory again. He thanks them and tells them that he wants to got home. Christian doesn’t tell his parents at the stadium because others would hear about his contract and he wonders what his parents reaction will be. He also doesn’t tell them in the ride home because he is afraid that they might get into an accident. When he gets home, Christian finally breaks the news to his parents. “I need to tell you something that I should have told you awhile ago. While is was at the stadium, I talked to LA Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena and he offered me a 3-year contract.”

“And?” his parents say simultaneously.

“I took the contract. This means that from the 2013 season to 2016 season, I will be on the LA Galaxy. The contract is being mailed and you will need to sign it as my guardians.”

“I thought our decision was that you were to go to college at wither Stanford or UCLA! I thought that we would always talk to each other before making life changing decisions!” Christian’s mom said getting upset. She began to scream at Christian while his father tried to calm her down. Christian couldn't take it anymore. He stood up and walked straight out the door while his parents were arguing. He didn't know where he was going, but he knew he had a life with the LA Galaxy.

To be Continued...