Cleats logo

MY FOOTBALL: neighbourhood street football

Part 2

By Charlie DoukasPublished 4 years ago 8 min read
Like
MY FOOTBALL: neighbourhood street football
Photo by Abigail Keenan on Unsplash

When I was growing up, there was this park that my cousins and I would always go and play at before we could even walk. The park was always full of heaps of children that we played with and we would always be running around having the times of our lives and laughing. Then one day when we were a bit older a small junior sized astro football pitch was built at the park. The pitch was specifically built for the club who used to play there for their junior teams but it was open to the public to play on.

The first day when we all saw the pitch we were amazed. It was the perfect size pitch, it had tall fences surrounding it so you didn't have to chase the ball if it went far away, they had lines painted onto the astro and most importantly they had goals, with nets! Everyone ran onto the pitch to check it out looking at the new facility that had just been built at our local park, we had never seen anything like it before. From this day on all we wanted to do was play on the new pitch.

The next day it was full of kids kicking around their footballs from the early morning. Kids were having crossbar challenges, playing keep it up or one touch with each other or just passing the football around and having a chat. Once it got into the late afternoon there was only a few people left at the pitch, it was everyone who we knew from the park and always played with and two older kids we didn't really know. They wanted to play a match with us. I was scared, I didn't know how to play football I was still learning how to properly shoot the ball and all of my friends had been playing football for years whilst I was still doing taekwondo.

We decided to play and picked out two teams. All the boys were together on a team and my cousin and I were on a team with the two older kids who wanted to play and a few of the other boys who we played with at the park.

The first match had kicked off! I placed myself on the left wing to try and not be too involved in the centre of the play as I was still learning. I tried to dribble up and cross the ball in or cut in and shoot myself. At first I was worried because I had never played against boys before who were older than me and they all knew what they were doing. Then they scored the opening goal, from this moment on it was game on, I couldn't let them have this lead although I was still learning I made tackles and passes to help my team and we scored, it was 1-1! We always played with the rule "first one to 10 wins" now you may be thinking, 10 goals, what?! But trust me it happened we even used to play past 10 goals that is how much we enjoyed it or if we were up for a challenge your team had to win by two or more goals sometimes. Eventually the match came to an end and we just fell short by one goal and lost 10-9, but it was not over everyone was telling each other to come back tomorrow afternoon for another match and everyone agreed to be back at the pirch tomorrow at 4:30pm (sharp too!)

The next day we played again throughout the hot December night past 9pm and we had no lights so no one could see their teammates and who to pass to. But this was the joy of playing football in these conditions we had no worries or stress and all we knew for hours was football. The second night my team went on to win 10-8! From this moment on I practiced every day and strived to become a better player. All day I would practice in my back garden and youtube drills and watch videos with titles like "Top 10 footwork drills to play like Iniesta" and "Messi and Neymar top dribbles of the season 2012/13" to give me inspiration and I would try to recreate it on the pitch later that night.

We went on to play matches all throughout the summer holidays and weekends when school started. When it got dark and we couldn't see parents coming to pick up their children would put their car lights on from the car park to give us light. We all lived for coming to the pitch every day and playing and some days when it was really hot in the summer someone would bring a large box of icy poles for us to enjoy. These matches were the best and a highlight of my childhood I could never wait till the next day to go and play the next match with everyone at the park.

These matches was where my love for football really started. I felt so free when I played and I had no worries, I was always enjoying myself and the moment. I had improved so much just from playing every day with these experienced people who loved football like I did. Playing against boys who were older than me really pushed me to become stronger and strive to be better as a footballer.

From these numerous nights playing till it was past 9pm and pitch black taught me how to pass the ball and create smart plays along with teaching me how to shoot and score a free kick. By learning all these valuable parts of the game before I joined my first club really gave me an advantage and I had lots of football knowledge which taught me how to play much smarter because of all the practice I had from these games at the park.

I still remember one of my most favourite and enjoyable games that I played where I scored 9 out of the 10 goals for my team! It was a hot day around 40-42 degrees throughout the day and it flowed on into the night to around the mid to high 30's which was still warm. That day everyone came to the pitch late and we only had around 45 minutes of daylight for our match. The game started off tough, everyone was so excited that we could finally play in cooler weather after waiting for the heat to pass by all day (which felt like months to us!) which delayed the game. Lots of people were defending that night at the start and then as it started to cool down people began running around and everyone had got their energy back. I remember the first goal I scored I ran down the left wing taking on one player and then two and eventually cutting in and bending the ball into the far bottom corner. It was a great start and goal which everyone was impressed with. Eventually the game got nearer to the end and the scores were tight and everyone was so tired from the heat during the day but they still tried and gave it their all in order to try help their team win. Then when the score was tight at 9-9 I remember getting tackled roughly by someone and I got a freekick. If I scored this free kick we would win the game 10-9, I stood behind the ball looked at it as I stepped back to take my run up and I looked at the corner in the goals where I was aiming to place the ball. Lining up for this free kick I tried to block out everyone making noises to try put me off, it was pitch black and I could only see silhouettes of people the goals. I began my run up towards the ball and striked it the way I had been practising. It was as if it was going in slow motion as I hit the ball and everyone watched on trying to see in the dark night. Then we all heard the rattle of the net and the ball had gone in! I had scored the winning goal for my team to lead us to a 10-9 victory in a game that I will never ever forget. That game gave me confidence in terms of my football and my ability as someone who did not play for a side yet and had only been playing in the street.

These games that I played in at the park for years that went for hours and hours really benefited me as a player. Each game I learnt something new and always improved. Playing in these conditions really set me up well for when I joined my first club. These games is where it all began for me and I will treasure those memories for the rest of my life as they changed me and helped me and I always experienced joy going to that pitch and there was nothing longer than waiting all day to go to the pitch at night and see everyone and then play.

Street football gave me a head start for the next journey that I wanted to take in terms of football and made me ready to join my first team.

This was the start of my football career.

By Chris Knight on Unsplash

football
Like

About the Creator

Charlie Doukas

Hi, I'm Charlie!

I love football and I'm a massive fan of Liverpool FC (YNWA)

I hope to empower others and spread positivity to the world through my writing of journeys I have been on that have taught me lots and have made me who I am today.

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.