Football (Independent)

Outside of the football I played in school, I have also found myself 2 groups of people outside of school to play football with. The first group I play with almost every single friday consisting of all kinds of different people, and playing without any competitive structures. The second group was a team playing in some minor league in Bratislava.

These are very different experiences and I have taken different things from these groups. The second group, playing more competitively, I could only be a part of for a much shorter while, as the training times changed and overlapped with my school-times at some point. Nevertheless, playing with real competition gives you the opportunity to push yourself to your limits every time. It wass also much more focus on genuine training rather than playing for the pure enjoyment. My goals here were to integrate into the team and become a part of it, and to win games against other teams of similar ability. While I was able to become part of the team, that was unfortunately cut short by my departure from it. Before I did have to end my time with it however, I played a number of games with them. Most of these were unfortunately bitter defeats, but there was one glorious victory that I will cherish and accept as the completion of my goal.

The second group with which I would play football has been an intricate part of my IB experience almost fromthe very beginning. I found this group, which was just a few people at the time I joined, not long after I moved to Bratislava and began my IB journey. From that time we played almost every friday, which was a way for me to let out all the piled up stress and energy accumulated over the week of IB academics. Throughout my two years with IB, this group has expanded greatly, but also sadly had to say goodbye to some people. For me, this has become a very close community, and my goals consist of having fun, and building connections with the people there, which I have doubtlessly completed.