“And one fine day the goddess of the wind kisses the foot of man, that mistreated, scorned foot, and from that kiss the soccer idol is born. He is born in a straw crib in a tin-roofed shack and he enters the world clinging to a ball.”
I wouldn't expect most to fully appreciate the poetic depth of emotion this quote can stir up with one simple reading. I know for sure the person who wrote it did completely understand.
I grew up with many soccer heros: Pele, Zico, Beckenbaeur, Maradonna, Rivelino, CRonaldo, Ronaldinho etc... Most of them were rags to riches stories which just made for better lore and storytelling.
I don't know the first time I saw a soccer ball or when I first kicked one. I know it was pretty early on in my life. What I do know is that soccer was part of my life not because of any singular choice. Soccer found me. Because of my global nomadic life, I was exposed to the one common component of every culture I lived in -- Soccer. You cannot live overseas without Soccer messing with your life. You can try to resist, but it is difficult. You will probably end up losing that fight. Somehow its' indelible impact will find you..... Not such a bad thing.....
I thought I knew soccer after living in Colombia and Indonesia. No, I didn't.... Not even close. I wasn't aware at that time that there actually was a 'Mecca' for soccer. That place is Brazil. A place where soccer is so deeply woven into the fabric of its culture and people it is more like blood than anything else. It isn't common, it isn't plain. It is spiritual and the absolute heartbeat and soul of that nation. I learned this after living in Brazil for 4 years and experiencing a World Cup with one of Brazil's all-time best teams (1982) It was exhilarating and an experience I will never forget.
“Soccer isn't the same as Bach or Buddhism. But it is often more deeply felt than religion, and just as much a part of the community's fabric, a repository of traditions.”
Why would someone say this about a sport?
All the countries I lived in were passionate about soccer. No matter where we traveled or visited, soccer was there. It is the ultimate poor man's sport. How many times did I see barefoot little kids kicking a handmade ball -- sometimes just wadded up pieces of paper, kicked around in the dirt, no field, no grass, no goals. Just huge smiles and fun.....No kid was ever happier!
Soccer, I realized, is the great connector of people, no matter what nationality, what language, what religion, political party or color a team was. Even now, I see it do things that no other mechanism can. It is right up there next to the Olympics. The World Cup is the single most significant phenomenon that brings the world together. It is the glue that binds the people in fierce solidarity for just a few weeks every 4 years. Although I was really never a player, it became part of me, my thinking, my world orientation. The feeling I get when a soccer game comes on will never change. Butterflies and excitement and often it doesn't matter if I know the teams or not......(I do get extra jazzed when Brazil is playing)
Some may say this is a disease, mental health dysfunction. It probably is.... I brought that disease into my home and blatantly exposed it to all of my family, especially the kids. I took no thought for their welfare or interest. It wasn't a choice, it wasn't their decision, I unloaded it on them like a dump truck. I really never thought that there would be interest in anything else. I was completely selfish and thoughtless..... he he! It worked....
Let's fast forward..... after early exposure and ensuring the 'infection' had sufficiently spread across each kids lives, after hundreds of practices, games, and traveling to tournaments all across the west coast, after a combined 12 years of high school and even more with club, last Wednesday night we got to see 3 of the 4 play together, on the same BYU Intramural team. It was a late 10pm game on a "school night". The three of them had figured out a way to create a team that they could all play on.
We were the only nerded out parents there....yelling and cheering like we always did. Each one of them scored which made it especially fun. Several of their friends were there to watch. It was awesome, each of the kids' friends met each others friends, some for the first time..... There were about a dozen kids there.
So, what is the big deal? Surely I am overplaying the proud parent song.
I didn't think much more of it until the drive home.... my mind started to do its reflective thing. I was literally feeling this pure joy inside and I knew and felt it was more than just one more soccer game in the vast endless sea of soccer games.
It occurred to me that I have 3 kids together at college and they associate a lot with each other. They love soccer so much that they want to keep playing it. It was soccer that enabled them to have an experience of playing and associating together as siblings and to bring together a team, once again, even years after high school. In fact, it was the first time these 3 played together in a competitive environment. How cool was that... it hit me hard. It wasn't just so fun that they crushed the other team and that each of them actually scored, it was something more....
The fact that they wanted to play together was not lost on me. It was terribly gratifying. The fact they wanted us to come and do our silly yelling stuff on the sidelines was satisfying. They invited a bunch of their friends to come and watch as well. It was so cool to see the friend group all meet each other. That was an unexpected side note. Not only did it unite our family, but their friends as well.
Cool....
These were good kids too.... good enough to want to come at 10pm and watch them. Kids that we got to meet and see how they interact with our kids. Part of that pure joy I was feeling on the way home was knowing that they were surrounded by very good people. People that shared the same values and that cared for them. I felt so grateful to God for being able to see and feel that. I am not sure they know that I pray every day that each of them will be surrounded by people that will lift them and that they can help serve too. This night they made a memory together that they will remember.... One that I will remember for sure.....Who know's maybe they might even tell their kids about it one day.... How back in the day, they all played together on the same soccer team at the same College. That is very special and meaningful to me.
Then, later, as I went to bed, these thoughts and feelings lingering, it came to me as it has before.... that little ball... that simple soccer ball once again, all these years later, brought us all together. Just like it binds all Brazilians on a national scale, the world on a global scale, that same ball bound our family together late on a Wednesday night for a simple but special game. So many smiles, laughter, new friendships made. And, they all played so well too. They contributed individually and they won collectively. In the end, We won, and what I couldn't ignore was that Soccer won too.
Congrats Landon, McKenna and Alexa on a most excellent game. The score will be forgotten but I will always remember how I felt seeing you play and being with your friends...
It was simple, it was slight.... but fun, beautiful and we loved it.
Let that ball bring us together again soon......
