Miah Bustamantee, a soccer team leader, helps her teammates get better practice by practice. Giving constructive criticism while also going through her own journey and injury recovery.
Miah has been on her soccer journey since she was four years old because soccer has been in the family. Her older brother played as well and she followed in his footsteps. Since it was in the family she felt a little forced and wasn’t immediately in love with it, but then she grew to love it. All of her siblings play so “Soccer is just something we can talk about and my whole family can bond over”, Miah describes. As a result, she understands her family knows a lot about soccer, so whenever she is struggling or has questions they are the ones she goes to.
Along with soccer, Miah danced for ten years then stopped. But her love for soccer takes over more of her heart. She most loves the friendships and bonds she’s built over the years with her teammates. They are her biggest motivation. Since she is one of the team captains, the things she describes to be successful in soccer are all connected to teamwork because every single person who contributes on the field is one step to helping the team win. “It’s a team sport, not just one player on the field can do everything, each player has their own job, so if everyone does their job the team should be successful¨, Miah states with importance. As team captain, she tries her best to lead and encourage her teammates when they need help or motivation. This has helped form great friendships with her teammates. She has met two of her best friends through soccer, when she had little motivation they helped her take her mind off things and enjoy the sport again. Angelina Sosa is one of the friends she’s made along the way. Angelina started playing this year and even though they were friends a little bit before she joined, having Miah on the team helped her feel comfortable and improve. When Sosa started she struggled with her confidence because she had played softball for three years before but the comfort and help from Miah helped her gain more confidence. Miah helped her with drills in the practices and the pre-season workouts and was open and honest with constructive criticism and Sosa took it into account. “She’s always there to volunteer and be there she’s always in front so it makes me feel a lot more comfortable”, Angelina states. Her four-year coach, Coach Burnet also describes her as a leader, since she had been team captain for two years now it’s something that she’s learned to obtain throughout the years. “She is a dependable leader, Miah is what a coach wants in a player, responsible, mature, good student, and coachable”, Burnet states.
Leaders also go through their struggles. Last year near the end of her season she tore her ACL during a game, she and the opponent were going for the ball and they crashed into each other sending Miah’s knee to go backwards. She couldn’t play for the rest of the season but in the months following she got surgery and had to undergo a lot of physical therapy. Before she said to Angelina she was struggling with it but going into this season Sosa could tell “She doesn’t let it affect her and plays as hard as she can”.
This season Miah is focused on getting more wins. This will be her last season and will not be continuing in college. However she does want soccer to help her get into college. “It’s hard to think about not playing soccer anymore”, Miah said. She is sad to go and describes the feeling as “bittersweet and nostalgic”. But it has helped her gain some great strengths like, allowing her to act under pressure, work with teammates, and commitment to something important.
It has made her great memories and lessons, going through ups and downs while also being able to create new friendships and bond over soccer, Miah is going to walk away from her career proud.