In Defense of Soccer

 

My uncle in Newcastle, England, apologized for the boring outcome after he took me to a 0-0 soccer game in 1974. It wasn’t necessary. I had a blast watching the action, including the famous “hooligans” disrupting the game.

 

As I watch the World Cup, I think soccer is more exciting than baseball, though I have been a lifelong baseball fan. I grew up going to baseball games with my dad in a sport where seven players stand around watching two teammates play catch most of the game.  

 

My interest in soccer grew when Sara was in kindergarten and Pickett organized a team in Arlington. She knew nothing about soccer but was good working with parents and keeping the kids from running off the field to pick flowers. It took a lot of effort to get the children to play defense rather than just huddle around the moving ball.

 

As the team grew older, games became more serious. The goalie always cried when someone scored, and several times I saw parents rush onto the field and argue with the referee. One team was given a dreaded yellow penalty card when a dad became too aggressive.

 

For three summers in a row, the team came south to our bed & breakfast for a soccer camp, led by an experienced coach. One year the coach of the Halifax County Middle School girls’ team led the camp and let the girls play her older team on the school field.

 

As play got even more serious in later years, the scores started coming down. At Sara’s high school junior varsity game, the team lost  3-0. “That’s not too bad,” I remarked to Sara’s recreational soccer coach. “Mike, in soccer 3-0 is a massacre,” he said. “An absolute massacre!”

 

The coach was Latino, like many of the players, whose families were from El Salvador. In weeks ahead, I was deeply touched by this coach’s admonition when kids on another recreation league team shouted “Mexicans! Mexicans!” A racist insult.

 

After complaining to the opposing coach, he gathered the kids together and gave them the kind of talk that only a Latino coach could: Don’t be intimidated. Be strong. We have all been through this. Don’t shout insults back at the other team. Instead, be proud of your heritage. Move on  with self-confidence.

 

A lesson not only in soccer, but in life.