I don't remember the opposing team, I don't remember the final score, but I remember the feeling.
It was a game like any other, but this time I showed up with an unstoppable courage and desire to win. I raced after every ball, I plowed through the defensive line. I was a midfielder, fast and great at juke. I was used to lobbing in assists like a machine, but this time, I decided to be a changemaker. I stopped overthinking it, and went after every shot. I was relaxed, having fun and forgot who was watching. That was the day I scored my first hat trick. It was a feeling of absolute elation, triumph, and invincibility.
I started playing soccer at 4 years old. I played competitively until high school where I played on both a club and my junior varsity team at the same time. After high school, I played pick up and intramural for years, mostly playing with men, outside of one fateful semester abroad where I played on a Bavarian women's team. It was fun to be the foreigner who couldn't speak the language, but who dominated on the field.
I love soccer. You don't have to know the language of who you play with. If you know the game, you have a way to connect with people all over the world. It is beautiful, elegant, graceful, full of warrior athletes competing on both an individual and team level. It is a sport that requires the ultimate combination of agility, strength, speed, and finesse.
Watching every second of the World Cup I could fit in this summer reminded me of incredible lessons playing the world's game taught me. Lessons with so much truth to them that they extend beyond the pitch and into life.
Love your limit. There is nothing better than running as fast as you can, beating down the line with another player clipping at your heels. Learning to perform under pressure, pushing your body to max performance and loving it is a gift that keeps on giving.
Know how to take a hit. Soccer is a tough sport. One of my front teeth was chipped when I went up for a header and met a defender's elbow. The best way to take a hit is to be so grounded and strong at your foundation that the attacking player bounces off you. Stay low, bend your knees. Keep going.
Go to the ball. Don't wait on that pass. Someone or something can and will cut you off. Momentum is a powerful multiplier.
Follow up makes winners. Make the plan, send it off, and keep charging. Don't rest on your laurels. So often there is bounce back, deflection, and competition. You need to be right there until the very end.
Pass the ball! The best teams pass the ball up and down the line, favoring one touch passes easily shifting between offense and defense in unison. Trust your team. Work with people who get it. Keep the ball moving.
Even the best of the best mess up. Sometimes in the most basic ways. Such is life. Keep going.
The world is not fair. The refs made calls, checked VAR, and were locked to a rule book that doesn't always make sense. It's infuriating and it's also how the world works. Rule books often do a terrible job of governing us in high tension, high emotion, and high stakes environments. That being said, it's what we have. The beauty of an ancient game is that the rules developed over time and for good reason. It will never be a perfect system. Keep going.
Complaining doesn't get you anywhere. The "strategy" to fake injury to get attention and favor from the refs is the hardest part of watching the game. There are always people who will try to game the system, to take advantage, but the best players don't do it. They don't get heated, they keep their heads in the game, they play hard and play well. They have their eyes on the prize and they are not afraid to take the shot.
TAKE THE SHOT! There is not always a perfect set up. Those we see passing the ball between their feet, waiting for that perfect moment to shoot, lose the ball 9/10 times. Timing matters. Move quickly. Take the shot!
Ignore the haters. Every team is surrounded by stakeholders and fans whose opinions are passed back and forth like gospel. People who search for the hottest take, but none of whom are actually sweating it out on the pitch making split second decisions at the top level of their technical and physical ability. Ignore the advice of those who've never been where you are.
Play in the right arena. When I moved, I went from playing on a state level team to playing rec for a short season just to stay in the game. I never got more red cards in my life. I wasn't an overly aggressive player, I was playing at a level they weren't used to and was punished for it. In life, if we want to play our best, we have to play with the best. If you accept low-level playing, you will sink to this level and accept it as your best. It's not. No shade on these players for getting in the game at any level. That's great, but if you have more to give, you need to find the environment that will challenge you to give it.
Soccer is a mirror. You can't hide how you are showing up. Your habits, your discipline, your mindset, your technique shows up on the pitch. You can't hide from where you are and who you are. Throughout my many years of playing there have been times where I've been at my best, and other times where my instincts knew what to do, but my body was not prepared to deliver. The field doesn't care what you used to be able to do. It only knows what you've practiced for today. Put in the work and above all else, keep striving.