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I was first introduced to soccer in first grade. My dad had found one of the many local recreational youth soccer teams that had an open spot for a player and asked me if I wanted to play. I don't really remember, but know my shy-self I probably rejected the idea at first. But I ended up going to a practice and instantly fell in love with the beautiful game. Fast forward a few years and I tried out for a competitive team and made it! Practice was a lot more intense, and games were no longer played just for fun. Any player can tell you of the keep away drill. It's a simple drill, but it can teach players valuable skills. The drill was simple: players would make a circle/square and at least two players would be on the inside. Their goal was to get the ball, while everyone else's was to keep passing the ball to keep it away from them. At first it would start as a fun warm up drill, but after the coach would create punishments, like if the team with the ball lost it, they would do push-ups. Another punishment was that the team with the ball was able to play a pass in between two of the defenders (this is called a split), the defenders would do push-ups. After we heard that punishment, all we tried to do was split the defenders. We found out that you can't just play the pass whenever you want; sometimes you have to pass side-to-side in order to create an opening for the split. We wouldn't know it, but the drill was training us for specific situations. The drill would help us see the same openings, or patterns, during an actual game. I understood that sometimes you had to go sideways, or even back to create an opening. And I got really good at seeing gaps in between defenders for a split. This was the dynamic pattern theory at work. I knew whenever the defenders were out of position, and there was a gap in between them, it was the perfect opportunity for the split pass.

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One of my favorite drills/game is called power finesse. It was a favorite drill for probably the whole team which is why we only got to play it rarely, usually as a reward for a hard practice. It was easy to play. The game went like this: someone would start as the goalie, and the rest of the team would line up about 20 yards away. Our coach would be next to the goal with all of our soccer balls. She would give the first person in line a pass and they would have one touch before they would have to shoot it. After they shot that, they would get another pass, this time closer to the goal and would again have one touch before they would have to shoot. If the player made at least one of their two shots, they went into goal and the goalie would go to the end of the line and wait their turn to shoot. If a player failed to make at least one shot, they would go behind the ball and their job then became getting any balls that went behind the goal. The game would usually become really competitive, and there would always be at least one really awesome goal that someone would score with their first shot, but a lot of the time, we wouldn't score with our first shot because it was farther out and the only way to score from that far would be with power unless you perfectly placed your shot. The second shot was usually easier because you were closer, but if the person in net made a good save, you would be usually be out because that would be your last chance to score. This game relates to Fitts' Law and the Speed Accuracy Trade-Off. For the first shot, you would need to put more speed on the ball in order to beat the keeper from a distance. But this would usually cause the accuracy of your shot to dramatically decrease. For the second shot you got, you would focus on accuracy since you were closer to the goal and you didn't need to put as much power behind the ball. Here's an example of what would probably happen if someone went for power on the second shot instead of going for accuracy.

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Whenever I got upset or was just bored, I would kick the soccer ball against the stairs leading up. I would try my best to kick the ball as it came back to the floor before it hit the ground. I would do this for minutes on end, and little did I know that it was actually really helpful to do. I didn't realize it until I took this class and learned about transfer, but I was actually improving my skills as I just passed to myself. Kicking the ball against the stairs was actually pretty fun because the ball didn't bounce down back to me the same way every time. Depending on where on the stairs the ball hit, it bounced differently giving lots of variety and it made me think a little longer before I kicked it back up. The skill that I was working on is called volleying. A volley in soccer occurs whenever a player kicks the ball while it is in the air. The Identical Elements Theory of positive transfer explains why I was pretty good at volleys during practice and in games. Volleying the ball against the stairs and reacting to the bounces helped me improve my volleying skills in game-situations because you never know when or how the ball will get to you. Sometimes if you're in front of the goal and a teammate passes you the ball in the air, you have to kick it before it touches the ground because of the defenders that are closing in on you. Since I made it so I had to kick the ball before it hit the ground when I kicked it against the stairs, I was improving my volleying skills in game-situations because skill was almost the same. Volleying is a difficult skill because you have to time your kick perfectly to make contact with the moving ball in the air. Hitting a well-timed volley is one of the most satisfying things because the ball usually has a lot of power behind it, and it usually swerves a lot in the air. Volleys are also pretty satisfying to watch,

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I've played pretty much every position throughout my years of playing soccer. In the earlier years, the teams I played on usually didn't have a specific person who played goalie, so every player would get a turn to play; it didn't matter if you wanted to play it or not. At first, I didn't really care and I wouldn't really complain when it was my turn. But the more I played, the more I enjoyed playing in that position. As I got older; however, I had to decide which position I wanted to play, and I was a decent goalie, but I was a better outfield player. I still played keeper every once in a while and I'm still pretty decent. Freshman year I was on an intramural soccer team and we had made it to the tournament. The first game was a tight one. The other team was a bit better than us and were taking shots all game long. I was playing keeper because nobody else was comfortable and I had a pretty good game keeping the other team out. The game ended 0-0 and we went into a penalty shootout. I saved two penalty shots and we scored enough to move on. The next game I didn't play as well and we ended up losing. Playing goalie is a lot of pressure, but it's a lot of fun too. I've played enough in the position to know how important eye-head coordination is when attempting to save shots from the opposing team, especially if their shot is not straight at you. The vestibulo-ocular reflex is important to understand because it allows you to move your head and your eyes at the same time in order to do something the eyes excel at: tracking of the ball. So when a ball is flying past you, your eyes stay tracking it while you turn your head towards it. Here are some examples of the eyes tracking a ball and the vestibulo-ocular reflex doing its job.

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HEROIC GOALKEEPER SAVES | De Gea, Lloris, Leno | Premier League Compilation

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I still remember the best game of my youth soccer career. We were playing a team from Beaver Dam. I remember clearly and vividly eating a rice krispie treat in my dad's car as we got to the field to warm up for the game. The first half wasn't our best game, and by halftime we were losing 2-0. Our coach told us the same thing she told us every time at halftime: the score is 0-0, lets go out there and win the second half. We upped our game and were on the attack when one of their defenders committed a foul just outside of their goalie box. Our coach yelled over from the sideline and told everyone she wanted me to take the free kick. I put the ball down and tried to focus. Their defenders made a wall 10 feet away from the ball. They were pretty tall as I could only see the top of the goal. The ref blew the whistle, letting me know that he was ready for me to kick the ball. I aimed for the right upper corner and ran up to kick the ball. I wrapped my foot around the ball too well and I felt like I had failed as I saw the ball go towards the middle of the goal. I stood there expecting the keeper to make the save, but as he put an arm up to block the ball, it flew right past his hand. Goal. It was 2-1 and we were back in the game. Minutes later, we were on the attack again. The other team committed another foul, but this time it was in their box which meant we would get a penalty kick. My teammate who was fouled picked up the ball and walked over to me and told me he thought I should take it. This was a lot of pressure. I reluctantly took the ball from him and put the ball on the pk spot and took a few steps back. The ref blew his whistle, again signalling to me that he was ready. I took a deep breath and aimed for the bottom left corner of the goal. I ran up to the ball and kicked it with the inside of my foot because that was more accurate than than just whacking the ball with my laces. I watched the ball roll quickly toward the corner. The opposing team's parents celebrated for a few seconds as the ball kept rolling into the grass behind the goal. But then they saw the ref blow his whistle and point to the center circle signalling a goal. There was a hole in the net and the ball had gone through it. My team all rushed to me and celebrated, but the game wasn't over yet. Before the end of the game, we managed to grab another goal and ended up winning 3-2. If I was asked today what was going through my mind as I scored the goals, I guess I would explain using the Stages of Information Processing. In both instances, the ref's whistle was the stimulus. After the stimulus I chose where I wanted to place my ball, or chose my response to the stimulus. After that, I entered the response programming stage where I prepared and initiated my response which was kicking the ball in the specific way to get it where I wanted it to go.