To be a good teammate is to inspire leadership, sportsmanship, and discipline amongst your teammates. I played on the Spring Valley Varsity Girls Soccer team for all four years of high school, and it was by far the most important team I have ever been on. Being on this team taught me all of the skills previously listed and allowed me to encourage those same skills onto my peers. During freshman year, the team was not in a good spot. It had not been a competitive team in previous years, and we could not keep up with any other team that we played. We went 1-4-3 that year, leaving us discouraged and unassured. This was also the year of the Covid-19 pandemic, making it increasingly more difficult to stay positive for the next year. It felt like my love for the sport had been drained, since practices and games were constantly being changed and the losing season had taken a toll on our motivation. However, God would not let me quit and told me to keep going. It felt hard to listen to Him in such an upsetting time for my teammates and me, but I trusted that He knew what was best for me. In the next year, our team got taken over by a new coach that I had worked with for almost the entirety of my soccer career. We got slightly better, but the upperclassmen were still unmotivated because of their previous years' experience with losing. This led to another disappointing season; 2-15-3. During my junior year, I was voted as a Captain alongside two powerful senior girls. This felt like a huge role and responsibility to take on, especially knowing that I would now be responsible for building this team back up and preparing to take on the two girls' position the following year too. It felt easy to quit at times, but I knew God would not put me in a position to lead a group of 20+ girls if He didn't think I could do it. He knew these girls needed somebody to lead them in rough times, and He gave me the opportunity to do so earlier than others would usually have. He was preparing me for something important, and I trusted what he had in store for me. That season, we did a bit better, but still had a losing season. 4-12-3. Finally, I was a senior. Being voted Captain again, I was scared. I knew that these girls were disheartened and didn't want to come to practice most days, but God trusted in me to motivate them. I ensured they felt comfortable together and confident in their play. We became such a close-knit team who loved coming to practice because we all worked hard, built each other up, and motivated one another. Things were finally starting to look up for us. We worked hard year-round. We worked during the off-season in the cold, we worked inside when it rained, we weight-trained, we conditioned in the boiling hot temperatures, we did two-a-days, we scrimmaged, we did an indoor league - we did everything we could - and it paid off. During this season, we finally had a winning record, the first one in SV Girls Soccer since 2016. We even tied Cabell Midland in an exhausting but rewarding game. After they had beat us for years, we didn't let it happen. We finished the season 14-5-1, and I am forever thankful for the lessons that the team taught me. The most important ones being; trust in God and never give up.