Take My Pain Away!

Life has dealt me some pretty painful blows that have needed lots of strength and time overcome. However, the pain that I am currently experiencing is something that cannot go away soon enough. As I type this, I wonder how I even made it out of bed this morning and how I've made it through the day. Contrary to what you might believe, this is not emotional pain. The cause of my misery is none other than the sport of soccer. The sport that I have always disrespected and deemed inferior to American mainstays, such as football, basketball, and baseball, has come back to bite me in the ass. And boy did it come back with a vengeance.

I mentioned in my previous post that I am a graduating senior (crosses fingers). At the fine institution known as San Jose State University, all students are required to at least take two units of physical education. I decided that this would finally be the semester that I would fulfill these requirements and signed up for Beginning Bowling and Beginning Soccer. So far, bowling has been lecture on the history and rules of bowling. Soccer has been the complete opposite and I have the dirty shorts to prove it. I expected to learn the rules eventually play games by the end of the semester. This is Beginning Soccer after all. Boy was I wrong. We were doing drills and running laps around the field next to Spartan Stadium. The only thing I kept thinking was "I never signed up for cross-country!". After a couple of stretches and a few drills, we began to play some games. My performance was ok, but after slipping in the mud twice, running up and down the field, and missing an easy goal, I was ready to go home. My body demanded it.

Even after all of that, I enjoyed my time in that class and I am looking forward to spending the semester in this class. The sport of soccer has gained my respect and I tip my hat to all of the players from the youth leagues all the way up to the professionals. Before, my thoughts on soccer resembled those of sports-talk radio host Jim Rome. I used to think that soccer was something that brought moms together on Saturday mornings so that they could cheer on their kids during the game and then take them out for pizza. I am willing to admit that I was wrong. It is a great sport that has finally shown me why it is so popular around the world and I hope to learn more about it and become a decent player in the next few weeks. No matter how much it hurts.