Accidental Soccer Fan/Accidental Soccer Coach

   1990.

 West Germany became Germany 20 years ago.

West Germany won it's last world cup as a split nation.

I got my first taste of what winning the world cup means to a nation.

Sunday morning I was heading to Ramstein AFB in Germany for chapel and some lunch. As I drove through one of the villages along the way (I think it was Miesenbach) a lone man was waving right in the middle of the road the German flag. It was 8 a.m. and the man was still celebrating the huge win the West German team won the night before. There were caravans of cars going through the streets honking and singing as the seconds wind down to the 90 minute mark (and extra time). Soon an entire nation erupted with cheers and fireworks. 

2010

 My soon to be 9-year-old daughter just finished her Spring league in soccer. Since she was 6 or 7 years old she has turned out to be a good defender and a very good goalie. At nearly 5 feet tall she should be a basketball player like I was and her grandfather was. Instead, she's blocking shots, stopping shooters, and wearing her goal gloves proudly. Coaches from other teams and the officials from her youth league heap praises for her play. But her play was halted by a camp injury which delayed her fall play until just a few day ago from this post. She played fullback, then played goalie for the first time. Although some of her mechanics were a bit rusty, she held off enough to let only one ball get by her. 

   So what does this mean for me, you might ask? 

 Well, the beginning of the season I was shang-hi...I mean, chosen to lead my daughter's team. They needed a coach, I put down I wanted to assist this year, and they translated to you're our head coach. Wonderful. What does a 6-7 brother from the projects of Cleveland know about soccer? What does a man who know more about basketball and Michael Jordan do with this? I guess Herman Edwards said it best, "You play the game to win!" 

  So I loaded up with books and notes about how to play. I surrounded myself with some of the best soccer brains around. I was even fortunate to have an assistant coach who has played on teams and coached who should have been head coach way before me. His daytime job didn't allow for that to happen and so I got stuck with the bill.  At first it was rough and at times I wanted to give up. But after watching the World Cup earlier in the summer; after I found myself being a fan and (yes, from this Yank) I could sit through 90 or so minutes of a game and enjoy every minute of it without feeling bored out of my mind once I was starting to understand the passion soccer fans/players have for this sport. 

  I told the girls while they were honing their ball dribbling skills about how the drill was no different than men and women dribbling the ball with their hands. Both are key to passing and scoring. Both are needed to get you out of tight jams.  Some got it, others were still learning. This was a recreational league and not an elite one so I had to take each player who didn't eat, drink and breath soccer with a grain of salt. 

   But being out on the pitch for games and watching the girls play hard, seeing how involved the parents are with their kids, and knowing my every word and instruction made me understand how important this sport is to many athletes of all levels. I sometimes close my eyes during a game just trying to imagine a stadium full of fans chanting loudly as the game played in front of me. I may never make it to Manny U's stadium for a premier league game, but to see how this sport is important to fans and players alike I get it. I think I get it now. This is a beautiful sport after all. 

~first post~