Every day for nearly three years, I walked into my post-lunch class drenched in sweat with a grin on my face. It was always obvious to my classmates that I was a member of LASA’s Futsal Club, and had just spent the last hour on the tennis courts playing soccer with my friends.

Futsal club was formed by a group of roughly ten freshman guys during the middle of my first year at LASA. Several of us were on the same club soccer team, and all of us shared a passion for soccer. As soon as we got keys to the tennis courts, we began going out to play soccer every day during lunch, without fail. Even in the frigid, windy winter, and in Texas’ hot-as-hell summers that is where people would find us. As time passed, the club grew. Soon we had over twenty members. Underclassmen started playing. Many LBJ kids joined. Eventually, we passed 30. Futsal became one of the few places where I was able to make friends with LBJ students. It also became a great place to practice my Spanish.

Because we spent so much time together, we all became great friends. My club soccer team even gained a few new players from Futsal. I was always able to count on those guys to help me with any problem I encountered. We have truly become a community. We were even able to withstand the tennis court construction and heightened homework loads during junior and senior year, which forced us to cut back on the time we spent on the courts, by transitioning to hanging out in chess club most days. The important thing was we stuck together.

Now, in the last six weeks of high school, I’m beginning to realize soon I won’t see these guys every day anymore. We are all about to head out on our separate ways to college and will not get to kick the ball around daily like we are used to. This realization sucks. Of course I’m extremely excited for college and everything that comes with it, but I’m going to miss the community I’ve become a part of here at LASA.

To me, Futsal club represents the best parts of my high school career: the friendships and the community. Futsal was by no means the only community I was a part of at LASA, but I would consider it to be the most significant one. I think most LASA students have their own version of Futsal club, whether it’s their teammates on a school athletic team, friends in their favorite club, or just the people they eat lunch with every day. Although LASA has a large variety of friend groups, it avoids feeling cliquey. Just about every group is open to gaining new members and making new friends. I think it’s this camaraderie, which exists between all LASA students, that keeps us all going when times get tough and stress levels run high.

Thankfully, I know the Futsal guys will stay in touch with each other. I fully expect to wake up in college and see 100 notifications on my phone alerting me to all the memes that were sent in our group chat overnight. I’ll really miss my Futsal family.