I've played baseball, football, and basketball. I've played around with volleyball, racquetball, and tennis. I've thrown horseshoes, shot skeet, and even tried to hit that little white ball, just to chase it and hit it again. But I didn't know anything about soccer. Guess what sport my kids have picked up on! So, over the past few years, I have had to learn about the game everyone else calls football. You know what I realized right off? Soccer is hard. Really hard. Just like life is sometimes.
It takes heart.
Have you ever played or watched a soccer game? You run, then you sprint, then you turn around and run some more, just so you can sprint again. Oh, and you have to keep track of that round bouncy thing that seems to have a mind of it's own, and the opposing players trying to take it away from you.You get tired. You get frustrated. Sometimes you want to give up. But if you do, you let yourself and your team down. It takes heart. It takes conviction. It's kind of like life that way.
It's a team sport.
No individual can win a soccer game. I realize that is true of most, if not all, team sports. Teamwork is a great life lesson, and one that sports can teach kids and adults alike. Learning to pass the ball, communicate with teammates, work together, win as a team, lose as a team--those lessons matter in life. In soccer, if you cannot play as a team, you will lose. It doesn't matter how good you are--you need your fellow players to get that ball in the goal, and prevent the other team from doing the same. Know anything else in life that's like that?
Sometimes it hurts.
When you play soccer, you are going to get kicked. Hard. You will get knocked down, stepped on, elbowed, pushed, shoved, and otherwise mauled. And that's just normal play! You will twist your ankle, your knee, your back. Your lungs will burn, your legs will feel like jello. And the next day? Don't even think about it! But you do it. You get up, point your hurting self down the field, and go. Sometimes you just have to be a little tougher. Is there something to learn there?
You need a coach.
A coach isn't just someone who knows more than you do, and in fact sometimes they don't. I've helped out coaching kids who know a lot more about the sport than I do. But, standing on the sidelines, I can see things they can't. I get a big-picture view of what's going on. A coach should be more than a teacher, or a loud voice on the sidelines screaming about what you're doing wrong. A good coach teaches the skills needed to play, and points out what the players need to do differently, but he should also encourage, build up, and take care of anyone who gets hurt. We all need coaches in life.
Soccer is a lot like life.
The picture above? That's me and my daughter. She's tired. She's dirty. She's a little banged up. But she's still in the game. Her team needs her just as much as she needs them. And when you do your best for yourself and your team, no matter the score, you walk off that field stronger.
And that, my friends, is what soccer has taught me about life.
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