A "Little" background
Soccer has been a part of my life since I was about 7 years old. Sure, I wanted to be like all the rest of the athletic Damascus youngsters and play pee wee football for the Cougars, but for some reason I was drawn to the beautiful game (and I am sure that a HUGE part of it was my mother's belief that soccer was a "non-contact" sport ... yeah ... right) After toiling in the Montgomery County rec leagues for a few seasons (anchoring the championship my finally season ... along with a certain long-haired next door neighbor) , I finally had a breakthrough in the spring of 1990 when I was selected to the Seneca Strikers ... this was the beginning. The same season that I was lucky enough to join the Strikers, so did a tiny little dude named Kevin London. His dad, Doug, was appointed assistant coach. A few seasons later, Coach London was our Head Coach, and I was finally at my rightful place between the pipes.
Perhaps it was an obsession from a young age with hockey goalies (Pete Peters anyone?) but whatever it was, I always wanted to be the one in the net. People could tell me I was too short all the wanted, it didn't matter. I was a goalkeeper, and it is my hope that many would agree that I proved my worth as a shot stopper.
In no time at all, the Strikers moved clubs (to Bethesda) and became a team to be reckoned with in the area. It is true that we never won a state championship and we only took the NCSL Division One title one time, but we were a force, and every team in the area would have agreed. We had players who would star at the state and regional levels and even one make it to the United States U-15 National Team. More importantly, the core of our team would go on to make up the Bullis Varsity Soccer team for the bulk of four seasons. Coach London was the key to all of this ... he had coached at Bullis for many years before we met him, and he gave a select few of us the opportunity to attend an elite private school, a place where most of us would have never ...NEVER ... dreamed of going. This is where my playing career ends. In my final regular season game, a lacrosse player moonlighting as a soccer player decided it would be a good idea to slide tackle me as I stuffed his ass on a breakaway. I've heard that he was on crutches for a few days after the game, and I remember him definitely needing help off the field. Unfortunately, I was the one taken away in the ambulance. It took me over a year (and two surgery's) to realize it ... but my career as a soccer player was over. My left knee was shredded and once the realization finally hit me, I wanted nothing to do with the game that I had grown to love. It was just too painful (physically and mentally). I had devoted myself to the game, it was my life. There was nothing else I wanted to do. And it was gone.
Fast forward a few years, and it has drawn me back in. The obsession is back, and now ... it's time for the ultimate trip of a lifetime. I am sure there will be people in Germay who have no idea what a yellow card means and could care less if Tunisia scores a late equalizer against Saudi Arabia to knot the match at 2. The World Cup is a global celebration, and all are welcome. But for those lucky enough to understand and love the game with a passion that is unmatched for any "American" sport, the World Cup is beyond description. That is why it only happens every four years. That is why the qualifying process takes almost three years to complete. That is why over a billion people will be calling out sick during the month of June.
5 days and counting ...
Perhaps it was an obsession from a young age with hockey goalies (Pete Peters anyone?) but whatever it was, I always wanted to be the one in the net. People could tell me I was too short all the wanted, it didn't matter. I was a goalkeeper, and it is my hope that many would agree that I proved my worth as a shot stopper.
In no time at all, the Strikers moved clubs (to Bethesda) and became a team to be reckoned with in the area. It is true that we never won a state championship and we only took the NCSL Division One title one time, but we were a force, and every team in the area would have agreed. We had players who would star at the state and regional levels and even one make it to the United States U-15 National Team. More importantly, the core of our team would go on to make up the Bullis Varsity Soccer team for the bulk of four seasons. Coach London was the key to all of this ... he had coached at Bullis for many years before we met him, and he gave a select few of us the opportunity to attend an elite private school, a place where most of us would have never ...NEVER ... dreamed of going. This is where my playing career ends. In my final regular season game, a lacrosse player moonlighting as a soccer player decided it would be a good idea to slide tackle me as I stuffed his ass on a breakaway. I've heard that he was on crutches for a few days after the game, and I remember him definitely needing help off the field. Unfortunately, I was the one taken away in the ambulance. It took me over a year (and two surgery's) to realize it ... but my career as a soccer player was over. My left knee was shredded and once the realization finally hit me, I wanted nothing to do with the game that I had grown to love. It was just too painful (physically and mentally). I had devoted myself to the game, it was my life. There was nothing else I wanted to do. And it was gone.
Fast forward a few years, and it has drawn me back in. The obsession is back, and now ... it's time for the ultimate trip of a lifetime. I am sure there will be people in Germay who have no idea what a yellow card means and could care less if Tunisia scores a late equalizer against Saudi Arabia to knot the match at 2. The World Cup is a global celebration, and all are welcome. But for those lucky enough to understand and love the game with a passion that is unmatched for any "American" sport, the World Cup is beyond description. That is why it only happens every four years. That is why the qualifying process takes almost three years to complete. That is why over a billion people will be calling out sick during the month of June.
5 days and counting ...
posted by littles: at 12:07 AM
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