Zapata Valencia Martín, Life Has Not Always Been What We Expected

LIFE HAS NOT ALWAYS BEEN WHAT WE EXPECTED

Written By Martín Zapata Valencia

Idid not always have everything I have now, at the beginning I didn’t have all these cars, houses and luxuries, I came from a humble family, where we had to face adversity, and I had to work very hard to achieve everything I have now, I had to make a lot of sacrifices to achieve some of my goals.

My name is Amanaki and this is my story, I was born in Sao Paulo in 2001, in a favela called Aclimação, even though I was born in a poor family, I had the opportunity to share my childhood with my mother and father, since I was little I had a big passion for sports, but the one I love the most was soccer, my father was really happy since he was a big fanatic of the sport, he was the one that took me for the first time to a soccer game, It’s a nostalgic memory since my dad isn’t here anymore, the saddest thing is that I have achieved everything I told my father, but he is no longer with me,

Everything started on the 26 th of February in 2006 during the World cup in Brazil, there was a match between Brazil and Argentina, and father and I sneaked into the game since we didn’t have the cash to pay for the entries, I remember we arrived the day before to the stadium and we ran past the security guards and went directly to the bathrooms, and we stayed there until the end of the game. The next morning, the noise of the fans woke me up, however, we couldn’t get out of the bathroom until the game started since we didn’t have tickets, nor did we have anywhere to sit and we had to wait until everyone was focused on the game so we can look for some free chairs, finally we were able to sit down, in that exact moment the anthem of Brazil started to sound and everyone started to sing it, and an indescribable feeling went through my skin into my blood until it finally reached my heart, it was a feeling I had never felt before, and the game started.

The tension started to increase, the game was tied, and we

were close to open the lead, the game was about to end, we were in the extra time and brazil retrieved the ball and made a counterattack, Ronaldinho was running on the left side with the ball, there were four defenders behind him trying to stop him but they couldn’t, Ronaldinho was taking out every single opponent, in the other side was Ronaldo one of the best soccer players of all times, he was running into the goalkeeper area, at that moment Ronaldinho made a pass into the 5.50 and Ronaldo intercepted the ball and scored, everyone in the stadium went crazy, there was so much noise I couldn’t even hear my voice. On the way home back home, I started to realize soccer it was more than just a game, it was the happiness and sadness of millions of people, I can say this because in every single house there was a Brazilian flag with people celebrating around brazil victory.

And I said to my father; “Why is everyone so happy?”

Father replied. “It had been a long time since Brazil classified to a final.”

I had a lot of feelings in my head, I was excited, and I had that weird feeling again, and I decided to say to my dad; “I want to become a professional player.”

Father replied; “That is a really hard goal to achieve Amanaki, but if you work hard enough and sacrifice everything for that dream, I’m sure you will do it.”

And I said; “but, I don’t know how to be that good.”

And father said; “don’t worry I will support you and help you no matter what, next week we will go to a soccer academy to see if you can join them.”

I was really happy, I wanted to become a soccer player, and make my dad and mom proud.

Next week we went to the local team academy that was called “LAGAR FC”, I was nervous I had never played competitive soccer before. I started in the bench, the second time was

almost starting and I knew my time was coming, 10 minutes later the coach called me to warm up, my heart was beating very fast, I was about to throw up but I looked up and I saw my dad, and it calmed down.

The moment was about to start the coach asked the referee to make a substitution, I got into the field, I was shaking first two balls of the game I couldn’t even control them, however, I heard the voice of my dad saying “be confident son, I know you can do it.” After that, I started to be more confident, I began to ask for the ball, I was doing good, I even scored 2 goals, after the game the coach called my dad and they started talking, 5 minutes later my father came near me and told me in the ear “son they want you in the team, I’m so proud of you”, at that moment a feeling of happiness seized my body.

Training season was about to start, but it wasn’t that easy, the training field was 2 hours away from home, and I had to travel alone because mom and dad had to work so they could pay some debts, but I was willing to do that sacrifice because I knew that if I became a soccer player, my mother and father would never have to work again, my mom worked in a supermarket all day and father worked as a garbage collector and they were really exhausted at the end of the day, but they always picked me up at the training field, its something I appreciated.

A few years went by, and I was doing good, I was about to sign with the first team, and I was only 16, but suddenly in one of the matches we played, a guy from the opposite team, crashed with me and I felt down immediately and my knee was destroyed, at that moment I felt devastated, the worst thing is that the injury wasn’t with LAGAR FC so they were not going to pay for the surgery, and my family didn’t have the resources to pay it, one week later the team decided to kick me out, and I didn’t know what to do, I started to hang out with

the wrong people, and I started to fall into drug addiction, the relationship with my family was getting worse, I was always really angry and disrespectful, my dad tried to help me to recover of the knee and go back to the field, but I didn’t want to do it, in my head that dream of becoming a soccer player was already dead.

Two years later, I was coming back from a party and all my family was in the house, I knew it because I recognized my cousin and aunt cars outside the house, I was confused it had been a long time since we were all together when I entered the house everyone was crying I didn’t know what was going on, my cousin Jack took me to my room, and he told me the worst thing that I could have ever imagined, “your father died in a car accident”, I didn’t know what to do, my heart was broken I couldn’t imagine that the only living man that supported me and raised me, was no longer with us.

From that day, Everything became strange at home, since my mother was always working so we could pay the bills, and I started to become and feel more useless, I didn’t know what to do with my life I had touched rock bottom, I tried to keep my head up but I couldn’t, I was lost, I started to remember everything that my dad had told me since I was little, and I saw in my memories the first time I played a soccer game, and I remembered the words he told me when I was playing, “be confident so, I know you can do it”, at that moment I knew I wanted to try my last shot into my dream.

I told my mom I was going to sign in into a soccer test, and if I made it I was going to travel to Spain to play for a team called “Celtic”, she replied, “I hope you can make it, dad will be proud of you”, we both broke into tears, and I promised her I was going to do it, I started to train every single day, and I stopped to hang out with people that were not positive to me, after 6 months of training the moment had come, I was

prepared. It was a soccer game and they would only select the best to sign them, I was a little nervous but I was going to do it for father, I gave all I had in that game and I was able to score 3 goals, I went back home and told my mother, and she was utterly proud, but she had to wait for the call. 3 days later I received a call of the coach I passed the test, I was going to Europe, it was going to be hard since I had to leave my mother, and she was all I had, but I knew if I wanted to accomplish my dream I had to leave her, so I did it.

It was hard to be all by myself in a different country, but I was doing a really good job, I was breaking records in the Juvenil team; belatedly after, the coach called me and he said that I was going to debut, I felt into tears and I knew that my dad was proud of me, I called my mom and told her the news, and we both cried on the phone, I asked her if she was going to watch the game in TV and she told me of course, that she was never going to miss for anything in the world. The time of the debut arrived, and I was a little anxious and scared, but I was able to play a good game, after that game I started to train even harder, so I could be where I am today.

A few days later, I decided to call my mom, and told her that I bought her a plane ticket so she could come and visit me, I told her to call me when she arrived in Madrid so I could pick her up at the airport, but the flight already arrived and she didn’t call me, so I went into the Airport support and ask if they know anything of the flight and they asked me the information of my mom’s itinerary, so they could track her and inform me what was going on, and the lady from the airport told me to follow her, she guided me into a room and told me to sit down and wait, I was really confused I didn’t know why they took me into this room, some minutes later another woman came in and told me; “Hello Mr. Amanaki I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this

information, but your mother had an accident on the plane, and she is in a coma, she is being transported to the hospital right now”, I was shocked when I thought everything was going perfect, the most important thing on earth to me is in the line between life and death. On my way to the hospital; I couldn’t stop my mind from thinking that about what had happened and how life can be so unfair, then I finally realized that, life is worth to be lived every second because you never know what might happen next. I prayed for my father in heaven to protect my mother.