What It Takes

About a month before each high school soccer season, I get this horrible dread that pits in the bottom of my stomach. This is not to say that I don’t like playing soccer, or that in every second of every game I don’t spend 110% of my energy trying to outplay, outrun, and outsprint my opponent, leaving them sputtering in a cloud of turflets. However, just before my first practice each year, I have that same recurring nightmare of my coach saying “On the line” in a thick, Russian accent.

Although my usual approach to this dread is to ignore the problem and pretend that I’m not even going to play soccer until that first day (which is hard to convince myself of considering I haven’t gone a year without playing soccer since I was three), this year a Nike advertisement helped get me pumped for the season (and yes, you can click on the words “Nike advertisement” to watch the commercial).

Firstly, I am not trying to solicit for any brand nor am I saying that my sole motivation for playing high school soccer is the sports gear that comes with it. While the Nike logo is visible throughout the entire sixty-one seconds, this advertisement also promotes the power and strength that one can obtain by simply being an athlete. Despite the inspirational song that plays in the background, I am not fooled by their attempt to depict working out as fun. Running sprints, doing ladders, and crunching those abs is not fun. So why do I do it? Why do I endure the horrible dread that pits in the bottom of my stomach or get on the line after each practice? The answer is simple: Because I’m an athlete. Because I want to win and if running sprints, doing ladders, and crunching those abs is what I need to do, then I’ll Just Do It. And while I can’t say I’m looking forward to all of the stress and the pain, at least I’m ready for it.

A Good Sports Movie is Like a Designer Handbag.

A good sports movie is like a designer handbag. Each scene needs to be stitched together ever-so-seamlessly in order for the movie to flow naturally. While designer handbags are stitched with silvery thread, a good sports movie must be sewed up with quotable lines that are both unique and of high quality. They must also have a central theme, and aggressively stray from the plague of too many morals of the story, just as a purse should not have both zebra stripes and rainbow polka dots on it at the same time. And while you want there to be a moral of the story, you also want to avoid any cheesy lines that can make the underlying emotion in the scene seem false. Similarly, you want to avoid the knock-off Gucci bags in Chinatown, seeing that it will never be able to give you the satisfaction that the original can.

Although there is more than one bag or purse that fits this criteria, everyone has a favorite. Some people just simply like Juicy over Prada, with no rhyme or reason to it. As for me, I have simply always loved the movie, Coach Carter, directed by a Mr. Thomas Carter. While I love the movie for its brief shirtless scenes of Channing Tatum, I watch Coach Carter instead of Google-imaging Channing Tatum because of the knockout quotes that steadily stream from the screen.

"I came to coach basketball players, and you became students. I came to teach boys, and you became men." ~Coach Carter

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. It's not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." ~Timo Cruz


These are just a few of my favorite quotes from Coach Carter, the moments when I get a chill from just from watching someone else say these words. Unlike a designer handbag, a good sports movie can have a lasting impact on you that can change the way you think about things. If there are any other sports movie quotes that inspire you, I'd love to hear them! And if you haven't seen Coach Carter before, I strongly encourage you to buy it on Netflix or Demand; it's much better than a designer handbag, and much less expensive.

Soccer Girl Probs

"Those who can celebrate Cinco de Drinko today, go drink your faces off....however, God be with those who have a game tomorrow #SGP."

After our annual pre-pre-preseason soccer meeting, one of my friends showed me a twitter account called @SoccerGirlProblems. With 93,600 followers, you know that her tweets must be hilarious, relatable, and under 140 characters. The account stemmed from a popular YouTube video called, "Sh*t Soccer Girls Say". In just under five and a half minutes, these girls are able to say all of the things that every soccer player has thought at some point or another. I would put this video right up there with the YouTube sensation, Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen or Jenna Marbles's videos. 

@SoccerGirlProblems is able to hit you on all electronic fronts... accessible on twitter, YouTube, and even on http://www.ourgamemagazine.com/?p=7057 . With so much to say, they need all the web-based outlets they can get. I would really recommend watching the videos linked above and checking out their blog and twitter account. If you're in the mood for a quick laugh, check 'em out!