your official acceptance letter to The Farewell Club

Hey! Welcome to The Farewell Club! You might be wondering what the hell is The Farewell Club? Well, let me explain. I grew up playing soccer for my entire life, quite literally my first Christmas present was a pair of Puma cleats. Shortly after that I got a ball for my birthday, which I slept with in my crib every single night in my earliest of years. The very first word that I ever spoke was "ball."

I started league play, where I was on an all boys team. I was never very good but I loved it and that was all it took, the rest would come later. After years and years of spending every weekend at some soccer field, I finally got the opportunity to fulfill my childhood dreams and play college soccer. Whenever I thought of colleges, I would have never considered going somewhere that I didn't play. Soccer was the only thing I had ever known, my comfort blanket, the only constant I had in my life so of course I was going to hold on to that for as long as I could.

I started my freshman year of college in 2020, during Covid. So because of that, everyone got an extra season of college soccer in place of that year. I had envisioned myself taking it to hold on the my safety blanket for as long as I could. Then, about a week because we were going to begin our off season training, I got an overwhelming sensation that I was holding onto something that was no longer for me. I called my coach that night and decided to take a step back from soccer.

That was it. Everything that I had ever known in my life was gone in the matter of a five minute phone call. I didn't quite feel like myself for a few days, like I didn't know who I was anymore. I struggle for weeks to find the motivation to even do my homework, my motivation had always been to stay eligible which was no longer applicable for me. I knew there was no way that I was the only person who had ever gone through something like this. All of the girls who graduated above me, all of my the people closest to me had to end their sport at some time and all had different experiences with that.

I began think about the idea more and more, and felt like I wish I would have been there for my friends going through this transition more. I wish that I had been more prepared for the emotions to come with this change. I wished my mom to be able to understand what I was going through, as she was someone who had never played a sport like her kids did.

That's where The Farewell Club comes from. It comes from a whole lot of "I wishes." It really is a way for me to turn those "I wishes" for the next person in my shoes to "I am so grateful I hads." That's the point of all of this, and I am so happy to official welcome you to The Farewell Club.