I'm very glad he did.
Discover Football is an organization that was started in Germany that promotes women's football (soccer) all around the world. In many countries, the idea of women's sports is not widely accepted. Discover Football was started as a way to show women that football is not just for men. Football/soccer is a way to empower women in a seemingly small way, through sport, but it also teaches lessons that every women can use in her life.
I spent some time talking with the girls running the exhibit, all of whom are soccer players, and they told me they were doing an exhibition tour through Poland and Ukraine during the men's EURO2012 tournament. They have been spreading the word to the Polish and Ukrainian women that football is a women's sport too, and I think it is a great thing because those countries, along with many others in Europe, do not support women in sport. We had a long discussion over how, in our countries (USA and Germany), it is totally normal for girls to play football/soccer; it is encouraged and hell, our women's teams both do better than the men's teams! And while maybe women's football in the States or in Germany is not given the same respect as men's football, it is still accepted and recognized. But there are so many places in the world where almost no one has that mentality. The Discover Football organization has gone to countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and South America to promote the game. They even hold workshops and mini-tournaments where they can teach women how to play or face the locals teams in friendly games. I was actually invited to join their Discover Football team for a match the following day against the local Warsaw team... I am so sad that I couldn't participate. :(
During this mobile exhibition, the Discover Football girls encourage people to swap out their shoelaces for bright pink laces symbolizing women in sport. So, of course I did.
On one of their displays, there are pictures of women from around the world holding signs with messages like "Learn Through Football" and "Football = Love". The girls working the exhibition asked me to send a message - so I did, of course.
They also asked if I wanted to participate in an interview, and after realizing that these girls and I share the same love of the game, how could I say no?
They asked me basic question at first, like what my name was and where I was from and how long I've played soccer.
Then they got really got into asking me about my love of the game.
One of the first questions I remember them asking is how soccer has changed my life.
Wow. How do I even answer that?
This game seems like such a small thing - it's just a sport, right? No. It's not just a small thing. It's a very big thing composed of many different elements, the most important element being love. Love of the game, love to be shared, love for your team, your town, yourself. Love for the sunshine and the field and the ability to run and jump and kick and move. Love of the power to be whoever you want to be in that moment. Love for life.
Soccer has given me so many things. It has given me a passion that can never be subdued, no matter how long it's been since I last touched a soccer ball. It has given me friendships that will last a lifetime because we are bound together by everything we've put into the game: the love, the laughter, the tears, the sweat, the countless touches on the ball, the team dinners, the trophies, the comebacks, the letdowns, the endless amount of passion we all have for this one thing. It gave me my husband, who I met through the game and continue to bond with through our shared love of something other than each other. It has taught me how to work as a team, how to be a leader, how to step down when my leadership is not needed, how to function as a unit that consists of something other than myself. It helped me find myself in a confusing world. It gives me a place to forget about life for a while and focus only on that which is immediately present: the ball, the field, my team, my body and the way it works. To play soccer is a toast to my good health - and conversely, having to sit out for a year due to current injury (again :( ) has taught me patience and when I come back to the game, it will teach me humility because I will have to start from scratch, getting back into shape and getting my body used to the things I know it can do.
Soccer has had, and continues to have, such a positive effect on my life. I have a new appreciation for being a citizen on the United States because no matter how screwed up things in our country might be, I get to play soccer. I am allowed to play, I am encouraged to play, I am privileged to play. And it's so wonderful and fulfilling for me to be able to be a part of a movement that is slowly taking over the world.
Also, they mentioned that during the summer they hold a big tournament in Berlin - and so far they've never had an American team. So, ladies, who's in???
Awesome! I think it's great you got to meet and talk with other women of soccer and share your passion for the sport. And I love how you described what soccer means to you and how it's shaped you. It's hard to put it in words, but you did it so well. Bummer that you couldn't participate in their game the next day :( We should definitely go to Berlin next year! :)
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