Can I Kick It?

October 29, 2008 – 12:00 pm

While I currently reside in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, I’m originally from Indianaplis, IN. I’ve been in the D.C. area since 2000. Before D.C., I lived in Chicago, where I also went to college (Northwestern University). I played soccer at NU all 4 years, and have been playing since I was 5 when I was allowed to join my late, older brother’s team (the 6 year olds) at “Tab” in Indianapolis.

Quite a few years after “tab” I played for North Central High School, where we were ranked #1 in the state and in the top 10 nationally. Unfortunately we lost the state championship to Evansville Memorial my senior year. It was a bit of a tough day for all of us as we lost a good friend to a car accident on the eve of the big game. From there I walked on at Northwestern University and had a memorable 4 years of playing “D1″ in the Big Ten, one of my life’s dreams.

From day one, football has always been a love of mine.  In true football circles, it is known as “the beautiful game”.  And that it is.  I used to say that football is like a religion, and I do kind of do believe that.  I say that it’s a religion because of the purity of the game and the therapy it can bring. (People have always looked at me sideways when I throw that one at them.)

The aspects of the game are so emotionally and physically challenging, that you really have to believe in the game to make it through one; you have to have faith in it.  If you’re not a true football player, then you will never see the point of running around all day and barely scoring any goals (in the eyes of typical American sports enthusiasts) or even watching a whole game.  Better yet, watching and enjoying a full game that ends in a 0-0 draw. You will never feel the exhilaration of hearing the final whistle, but only because you know that you ran as much and as fast as you could during those ninety minutes. And you can’t lie to yourself; your body will tell you when you’ve given yourself to the game in such a way. If you don’t have faith in football you will never get it.

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