Alvaro Monzon

So I have been practicing my shots in soccer a lot. I am actually very good at shooting but there is no reason for me not to keep practicing and get better at it. But something that I noticed and realized while I was practicing is that it is really hard for you to score goals when you are not under pressure and want to score a goal. So the pressure gives you something that makes you do better in shooting. So it was not easy for me to score goals while I was practicing shots. There would be goals maybe 1 every 5 shots, which for me is not very good because it is a time when you are not under pressure. Here are some videos that I recorded along with the crossbar challenge.

Last weekend was the Office Depot Cup Final. It was really hard to get to it. I remember that I stopped updating you on the tournament during the pase couple of weeks so that is what I am going to do first, tell you about how we got to the final. After that, I will tell you about the Final Game and how we got to win the tournament.

We managed to get a second place in the first stage of the tournament, the League Table stage we could say. Our goal for the first stage was for us to get either the first or second place in the table. Because if we managed to do that, we would play in the semifinal the teams that didn’t get a higher table finish in the first stage. So we would have more advantage because that would mean that the other team was not so good and we would play the first game at their field.

We got a second place in the League Table after all of the games. Now it was time for us to play the semifinal against Achik, the team that we tied against 3 to 3 in one of the first games. There were going to be 2 games in the semifinal, the 1st leg and the 2nd leg. How that works is that the first game was going to be in their field, but since they didn’t have a place to play when the game was happening, we played at Sporta so we had more advantage that we already had because it was our field.

I cannot describe you very well the 1st leg because I didn’t play the game, I was unable to play. But the result that we got was a 3 to 1 in our favor. But I was ready for the 2nd leg and I played it.They had to score 4 goals to get to the final and we have never lost by 4 goals. The first time was a really hard part because we weren’t playing to our 100%. We started winning 1 to 0 very early in the game but then when the first half was ending Achik scored one goal, so we were 1 to 1.

Then in the second time we were totally better than them. We couldn’t be playing better or more concentrated on winning and getting to the final. The final result was 5 to 1, meaning that the total result was 8 to 2. For us it was a very good game against a team that we couldn’t win against in the start of the season but now we where a lot better. But we knew that there was one more game that we had to play the same way for us to be champions. Around 5 days before the game we went to watch the other semifinal in which Camperonix was playing Comunicaciones. Camperonix was the team that got the first place in the League Table and Comunicaciones got the last place to get to the other round, fourth place. Camperonix won but we learned and saw most of the tactics that they use.

The final was going to take place at Sporta. So it was our field and there was no other better way for us to win the tournament against Camperonix. The game ended and the final result was 2 to 1 in our favor. It was a really hard game because in the final minutes when we were winning they went with everything that they had left to try to score a goal to get the game to extra time. But we managed to control them and won the game. I was not so happy in some time of the second time because I slipped while doing a penalty and missed but then I managed to forget it and play a lot better. The best thing was that we ended up being CHAMPIONS of the tournament!

Here are a couple of pictures:

(credits: copaofficedepot.co)

Last time I wrote a  post about the Office Depot Cup I remember that Sporta Punto Soccer, my team, was in the third place in the table of positions. We were actually playing very well in all of the soccer matches that we were having but when it was time to train a lot of people wouldn’t go to training and they would just go to the games when our coach called everyone up. But that changed, now if you don’t go one day you have to run 5 kilometers to catch up and not losing the form and fitness that you had. I know that this is a little bit of topic but this is something that helped us with our commitment to soccer and to play and train a better type of soccer.

Last week we had a soccer game against Cremas de Comunicaciones U-17 Youth Team for the Office Depot Cup. We were visiting their stadium so we were just wanting to get at least one point by drawing the match but we didn’t wanted to lose, even though we are already in the other stage of the tournament. Everybody knew it was going to be hard but we just had to play our way and we were going to win. We started losing but then we managed to catch up and comeback to get a 2 to 1 in our favor. It was a really though game and we managed to get more than we wanted, a win. We are now in second place in the table of positions and we have to stay there to have better opportunities in the next stage.

Here is the table of positions:

(credits: copaofficedepot.co)

As you can see Achik, the third place so we have to keep winning all of our games to stay in the second place and try to get the first place. But if we make one mistake against the next teams that we are playing we may lose the second place.

Our next game is against AFF, which are in the last position in the table because Chinautla was kicked off the tournament because of one incident that they had in a soccer match. So we are playing against the last team in the table at home, in Sporta so we have to get the win and there is no other option.

Here are the results of the past games and the next games:

(credits: copaofficedepot.co)

So we are hoping to get a good result against AFF and score a lot of goals as if there is a tie in the points, we have more goals so we get a better position. I will be keeping you updated on how this and the next soccer games go and if we are able to win the Office Depot Cup!

The Gatorade Road to Milan tournament is over. There were 24 teams participating and there was only one thing everybody wanted, win to go to Milan to play a soccer tournament there. But only one team could win. So all the games were really good and intense because everybody wanted to go to Milan.

(credits: facebook.com/gatoradeguatemala)

For me and my team it was not a really good experience because it looked like some teams were cheating on how many points they had and also how many games they won. For example, my team was in the first group and there were 5 other teams in our group, we were 6. So the group 1 manager was writing down all the points and games won by every team, but there was one team that didn’t managed to get to the tournament and didn’t played that had more points and games won than two other teams. And they were third on the positions table.

That was kind of nonsense for everyone because they didn’t even participate. But then we saw that one other team was telling the manager to give them some more points. Everybody in the group 1 was feeling upset and angry because nobody liked that there was a lot of cheating in the tournament. The good thing is that then someone told the tournament manager and he went there and fixed it. It never happened again but there was this feeling that the other team coach could do it again or maybe another coach.

But now let’s get to how my team did. We didn’t manage to get to the final to see if we were going to be able to go and participate in the tournament. We got eliminated in the quarter finals. But we weren’t feeling that bad because we knew that we gave almost everything that we had and that we played well. There were just other teams that played better. My group was also the hardest one and the one in which nobody knew before who would get the first place. And it was like that, so here is how the group ended up:

1. Juveniles / 10 points
2. Camperonix / 9 points
3. SPS (My team) / 8 points
4. FC Jutiapa / 8 points
5. CA Juniors / 7 points
6. Academia Memin / 0 points

So as you can see it was a really close group and only the first three teams would get to the quarter finals. So we managed to get there and then Invictus eliminated us from the tournament. The team that won the final later one and get to go to Milan to play the tournament were Invictus. And if you win the tournament in Milan you get tickets to go see the UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL. So what should a team do to get to win this type of tournaments?

Here is the final video of the tournament:

(credits: facebook.com/gatoradeguatemala)

This weekend I am going to be participating with Sporta Punto Soccer, my team, in the Gatorade Road to Milan Tournament. The tournament will be in the Gatorade Arena in San Jose Pinula, Guatemala.

(credits: elpaisdelosjovenes.com)

(credits: guatemala.com)

It is a 5 v 5 tournament so our team created 6 teams out of 16 that are competing in the tournament. The tournament will just last one day, that will be tomorrow, there is not going to be 2 legs for each game. It is just one game so the ones who win stay alive in the tournament and the ones that lose are eliminated and there is no second chance.

The purpose of the tournament is that the ones that win each category get to go to the “International 5 points Gatorade tournament” in Milan, Italy. The best thing is that who wins the tournament gets everything paid to go to Milan to the 5 points tournament. So this makes the tournament a lot more intense and better because everybody is going to try to play their best soccer and win all the games.

Here is a video in spanish of the announcement of the tournament:

(credits: facebook.com/gatoradeguatemala)

So if you win here in Guatemala, you get the chance to participate in the 5 points tournament, and if you win that tournament you get tickets for all of your team to go to the UEFA Champions League Final in Milan in the San Siro Stadium on May 28th. As I told you above Sporta Punto Soccer has a lot of chances for some of our teams to get to Milan because there are 6 teams of ours. So I will be hoping that we manage to win the tournament here in Guatemala and I will keep you updated on how it goes and if we are going to Milan!

In February we started the Office Depot Cup, we started very well but as every team has its ups and downs we fell down a little bit in the table but now we are starting to get up and we are in third place. There have been six games and there are about three games left. We are now in third place and if we win all of those three games we are going to be able to get the first place in the table. It is going to be really hard but if we concentrate and play well as we play almost every game we are going to get it. A good thing is that the first four places go to the other round so we are already there, but we want more. Here is the table:

(credits: copaofficedepot.co)

Yesterday we had a game against Achik in which we managed to get a draw , 3-3, and since we were visitors in the game, it was a really good result, even though we could win it we are happy with it. The game was actually a really good one in which we started winning 0-1 and then they managed to come back and got the 2-1 score, this was all in the first half. Then they scored another goal in the beginning of the second half and got the 3-1. It was getting difficult but we knew that we could get the score because we had a lot of control in the game. We managed to get the 3-2 but then my teammate that scored that goal got sent off by the referee so we were playing without one player. When there were 3 minutes left in the game we got a foul in the center of the field. Everybody of my team went up to the others’ team area, only the goalkeeper and one defender stayed back. My teammate crossed the ball and I was all the way back. Nobody managed to get the ball and it got to me so I kicked it in the air and scored the 3-3.

It was a really good game if we are talking about playing it but from the outside the fans, the others’ team coach, and the referees were really bad. The referees we in total favor of Achik and the fans were all from achik because they were the locals and were always screaming some crazy stuff. But the good thing is that we got a good result and we will hopefully get the first place on the table. I will keep you updated on it.

                                                                                                Name: Alvaro Monzon

                                                                           Genre: Autobiographical reflection

                                                                                                          Date: March 2016

Alvaro’s soccer struggles

My name is Alvaro, I am a 16 year old teen from Guatemala City. I am very passionate about playing soccer and riding my dirt bike. I remember that I have liked to play soccer since when I was a very little kid but I started practicing it more when I turned seven. Since that moment, I have never left playing soccer and I would always try to find some time to play a little bit even when I couldn’t. But because of that really big anxiety to play soccer I have got through some serious pain and suffering.

About 5 months ago, on October 13th 2015, I started to feel some discomfort on the calcaneus of my left foot. And then after a week it started to be some serious pain. But something that I kept doing is that I would not stop playing soccer and I already knew that after playing 15 minutes the pain would go away, but after I would stop playing the pain would come back and sometimes it would be harder. It was until I couldn’t even stand much on my left foot that my mother took me to a traumatologist. He checked my foot and said that there was nothing but some serious inflammation in the calcaneus bone. So he told me that I had to stop playing soccer or stop doing all of my activities for one week and that he was going to check on me after that week has passed.

During the week I remember that I wanted to play soccer a lot but my mom was also helping me by not letting me go to soccer training. Or else, I could have also got a fissure. I remember that it was a really hard week for me because I couldn’t even go outside to play football, baseball, or just run so I had to stay inside my house all day. What I can say about that is that it was a really productive week on all of the school work that I had to do. So not everything is bad when something that you don’t like happens, you just have to find other things to do and you may learn a lot.

After that week I was in the traumatologist, again. I was really happy because my foot didn’t hurt already and I was also ready to start playing soccer again. Even though it was just a week I felt like it was a lot more than that, I felt like a year has passed on before playing soccer again. Then the doctor told me that my calcaneus bones was a lot better than a week ago yet he told me that I needed to wait one more week just to make sure that it is not going to get another inflammation. I got really angry and frustrated when he told me that.

When we got out of the doctor’s office I told my mom that I didn’t care about what he said and that I was going to keep going to my soccer training that week. So my mom told me that I should do it at my own risk and that if I get injured again I would maybe have to stop all of my activities again for a longer time. I had to decide whether I was going to play soccer for that week or stop and be really sure that my feet was going to be able to do anything again.

I remember that even though how much I wanted to go to my soccer training, there was a soccer tournament one week after I could play soccer and I wanted to be in-form for me to be able to play with the team in that tournament. So there was no other choice for me not to play soccer for one more week to be in-from for the tournament. But I also needed to do something that was not so hard for me to get some air and to train a little bit to get back to playing soccer afterword. So during the week I did things like running a little bit, did some soccer passes and shots, juggled the ball a little bit and some other exercises and workouts for me to start getting some form and don’t start playing soccer again without any previous training.

After that week I went to the doctor for the third time in three weeks and now I was a lot more better from my left foot and I was a lot more comfortable with it and it didn’t hurt at all. I was able to walk normally without my foot hurting nor I was limping anymore. So now the doctor had to say that I could play soccer again, I remember that I said to myself that if he said that I was not going to be able to play I would just start playing and don’t care about my foot anymore. But that wasn’t the case, he said that everything from my left foot was all healed up and that it was like new, there was no more inflammation and everything was how it should be and I realized that you should listen to people that know what they are talking about. Because if I would have played when the doctor told me that I should rest I would have probably get a more serious injury, I also managed to get more patience and stop my anxiety for playing soccer while injured.

Now it was time for me to start playing again and the good thing is that since I had some trainings and did some exercises and workouts during the week that I had to rest. Because of that it wasn’t that difficult for me to get used to playing and training soccer almost every day of the week again. Now it was time to start the tournament after some kind of serious injury and to do a good job in the tournament without trying to get another injury.

But unfortunately that wasn’t the case.