Soccer. God's game. The sport that raised me and thousands of other kids around the world. We can all relate to that oddly satisfying feeling you get when you look down at your shins and see that soccer tan line. We all know the triumphant feeling you get after the game while you're analyzing your new bruises and battle wounds. But there are some things that only girls know. So here's to the girls who love and hate the game just as much as me.
1. Soccer tan lines
We all know the pain. You look down and think, "wow, I've never seen my legs this tan!", but then you pull up your shorts and see your thighs, and take off your socks and see your pasty shins, and the magic is over.
2. Branding various body parts with a soccer ball
Getting hit with a soccer ball from the most powerful kicker on the other team in rainy and 30 degree weather... there's no pain like it but also no better feeling than walking around with a soccer ball tattooed on your body for two weeks.
3. F**k jeans!!!
Jeans freakin suck. Sweats and yogas for the win.
4. It's fine, I don't need a social life.
"I can't, I have practice."
5. Your jersey number actually does matter.
Yes, it's just a number, and yes, maybe it's silly to get upset about, but your jersey number is YOUR number, and it is part of what defines you as a player to yourself and other teams, and it means the world to you.
6. Scientifically researched and proven fact: girls are tougher than boys.
Girls can somehow find a way to play through anything, but boys? Well, they will do anything for a foul... boys will be boys.
7. No matter who the refs are, where they're from, or who you're playing, they are the worst refs ever.
"That wasn't a foul!"
8. Sections
I won't even go into detail... it's too painful.
9. Hating running, but playing a sport in which you run 5 to 7 miles a game.
Complaining multiple times a practice how much you hate running yet continuing to play a sport that requires you to not only run fast but run for very extended periods of time.
10. The smell of your soccer bag will haunt you in your nightmares for the rest of your life.
"Did something crawl into my vents and die or is that just my soccer bag?"
11. Away car rides.
Everyone knows, the best part of soccer trips isn't actually the soccer part. It's the long car rides spent laughing with and napping on your best friends, eating food that's terrible for you, and dreading the actual soccer part.
12. Wearing spandex under dresses.
It's inevitable, we've all done it.
13. Your woman crush.
You've probably got an unhealthy crush on a girl on the national team. Do not be afraid. That's totally natural. Embrace it.
SEE ALSO: 53 Signs You Grew Up Playing Competitive Soccer
14. Your teammates become just like family... only closer.
You spend every waking moment with these people. They smell you at your worst, see you at the butt crack of dawn, take ugly sleeping pictures of you, and understand not to mess with you when you're hungry. The gals are your family away from home. No secrets are safe.
15. The support from your family, teammates and coaches is truly unconditional.
This game brings people together, and after your family sees how happy it makes you, your coaches see the kind of person you're capable of being when you're pushed, and your teammates are there for you through it all, there's no feeling in the world quite like winning with these people who've suffered it all right alongside you.
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