So after the stress of trying to balance soccer, work, school, and a social life; I finally decided to just bull-rush my way through them all the best I could. So far, it’s been rather enjoyable. The road trips have been great fun overall, even with the bus breaking down, and our team not quite achieving the results we want. The team is 3-3, which leaves us one place out of a play-off spot, with 6 more games to go. The rest of the season should be a blast, I’m anxious. Follow me on Twitter during our road-trips. I’ll be writing more frequently once soccer is over. For now, feel free to check out my articles on The Shield’s website as well.

-Andy

Classes have finally begun for the year and I have found myself faced with some difficult decisions. I am currently working one job, playing varsity soccer, and being a journalism student (obviously). I have been finding the prospect of working a 2nd job (a reality I will be facing soon I believe), to be frightening. I haven’t even begun to focus on my articles for The Shield yet, and I am already left wondering, just where is the time for all of thee events going to come from? The simple answer, nowhere. There simply isn’t enough time in the day to balance all of this stuff, and still have enough downtime to function efficiently.
This is where the hard decisions come in. Do I give up on the potential second job, and therefore give up on the prospect of doing a journalism placement abroad, or moving away for a job upon my program’s completion? Do I give up on soccer, and finally accept the fact that soccer is a hobby I participate in for fun, rather than a profession? Do I try to balance it all out for a few more weeks, and see how thing go from there? If that fails, will it set me too far back to recover in decent time to salvage the school term?
The questions build, and no answers are forthcoming. The decisions has to be made before the season opener. Potentially it will be made tonight in my one-on-one meeting with the coaching staff.

The training camp for Cambrian’s varsity soccer began, unofficially, last Wednesday. In the seven days since it began, we’ve practiced 6 of the days. We’ve still got 3 practices in a row (tonight included) before we get a much deserved break over the weekend. Practice will resume on Monday, cutting into long weekend plans. The Labour Day practice is important because it demonstrates an important characteristic for any successful team; commitment.Some guys were shocked to find out we had a practice on a Sunday last week, or on a holiday next week, but it is precisely that sort of commitment that can make a team successful. We will be opening up our season against Algonquin on September 11th at 8PM, and they are not a team to take lightly. They have won the nationals in recent years in the college division, and are always a favourite to make the finals. That being said, we’re in for a tough opening day. There are a lot of new faces on the squad this year, but some key figures will be returning as well. For more on that check out Ed’s article here.