In Case You're Not Tired of Hearing about Them
So, since a controlling share of my happiness revolves around those wonderful treasures (and pains in my rear) the girls soccer team, figure I’ve gotta say something about them while I’m in Zinder. Things have been a little disorganized lately. A series of strikes at school, them doing their mid-term exams, and me needing to travel a couple weekends threw a little monkey wrench in our teams practicing consistency. Anyways, we were gonna have a practice on Wednesday. Only one of the girls showed up at 3 when we usually meet. So, while I almost always insist that the guys stay the hell away and don’t play, I asked the her if she wanted me to invite them and for me and her to play with the guys.
She is one of the very best players on the team so I knew she could handle it, but being able to physically play with them and being able to mentally get over the cultural barrier of playing with guys… Well I wasn’t sure if she’d do it. Its not a totally outrageous proposal, but generally speaking that type of thing just doesn’t happen.
But with only very minor prodding she agreed. She started timidly and only played in goal. But little by little she got more and more confident. As time progressed she was just awesome, taking on the guys and beating them, and conversely getting beat from time to time by the guys as well. It was awesome, it pushed her to play better and to work harder than she normally has to to be among the best. And the guys warmed up to it to, at first not sure how she’d do and then realizing that if they played lightly or didn’t take her seriously she’d stomp all over them.
And finally, after about 45 minutes, three other girls from the team showed up and (certainly inspired by her example) jumped into the game as well. We more or less played guys against girls (I played with my ladies and we had one other guy) and every one of them did great. It’s hard to make clear how big a deal this is to me, and you’re all probably tired of hearing about them, but really to have a big pick up soccer game with a mix of guys and girls is more or less unheard of. I know it must have done worlds of good for my ladies’ confidence and I’m sure it turned a number of these guys heads as well. Really, it was everything that sports could and should be…. OK…. On to other things…
She is one of the very best players on the team so I knew she could handle it, but being able to physically play with them and being able to mentally get over the cultural barrier of playing with guys… Well I wasn’t sure if she’d do it. Its not a totally outrageous proposal, but generally speaking that type of thing just doesn’t happen.
But with only very minor prodding she agreed. She started timidly and only played in goal. But little by little she got more and more confident. As time progressed she was just awesome, taking on the guys and beating them, and conversely getting beat from time to time by the guys as well. It was awesome, it pushed her to play better and to work harder than she normally has to to be among the best. And the guys warmed up to it to, at first not sure how she’d do and then realizing that if they played lightly or didn’t take her seriously she’d stomp all over them.
And finally, after about 45 minutes, three other girls from the team showed up and (certainly inspired by her example) jumped into the game as well. We more or less played guys against girls (I played with my ladies and we had one other guy) and every one of them did great. It’s hard to make clear how big a deal this is to me, and you’re all probably tired of hearing about them, but really to have a big pick up soccer game with a mix of guys and girls is more or less unheard of. I know it must have done worlds of good for my ladies’ confidence and I’m sure it turned a number of these guys heads as well. Really, it was everything that sports could and should be…. OK…. On to other things…
posted by This Guy at
2:51 AM
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