Owen, a rising sixth-grader who loves soccer, knows what it's like to work with others as a team. He shares some of the things he has learned about being a team player, and how he applied his experience to his Soccer Workshop at EXPLO. 

There’s a saying: “Two brains are better than one.” I like how in soccer you’re part of a team. If you mess up, it’s okay because you have other people to help you. Learning cooperation is a benefit of playing soccer. When you’re playing a team sport with other kids, it’s easier to talk to them. At one point [on my soccer team] we had a losing streak, but then we started working harder and better together.

Another part of soccer is leadership. Usually, I’m not the type of person who takes charge, but sometimes you have to speak up. You need to learn when to compromise and when to push your idea. When you work with others, you have more ideas. Each person brings their own point of view, and where you might be lacking other people can help.

My first workshop here was soccer. We did drills and we played scrimmages and it was fun, even though I was playing with people younger and older than I am. It doesn’t really matter who you play with, because everybody does their part and tries their best.