Express Yourself

My brother and I have often discussed what the point of our existence is. He sometimes struggles with this question, as we all do at different stages in our life. My response is usually “find what you care most about, cherish that, share your passion for it with the world and make your life about that passion because in the end, that passion will give your life its greatest sense of fulfillment.” Not everyone finds what they care most about for one reason or another, but I have, which makes me feel like one of the lucky ones. The first thing any of my friends, family members, or even someone that met me once will tell you is that I am truly soccer crazy.

I have learned a lot about life through my vast experiences playing soccer at the club, high school, collegiate, and semi professional level, as well as starting my coaching career and keenly observing the professional game. Each of these pieces will discuss the various and important lessons playing soccer has taught me about how life should be lived. In the end, my philosophy is that soccer and sport is good for young people and their human development. However, it all stems from having a passion for a game, otherwise it is never the same.

My best friend when I was little was the garage door to my family home. I would spend hours playing soccer in the front yard. It was the perfect friend. He never got mad when I scored on him and would always give me the ball back. Then I began playing on youth teams and with friends at the park, but this was the scene where I first began to fall in love, and they say your first time is always the most special. Even as a 22-year old that has played in stadiums under the lights with massive crowds watching, I still get enjoyment playing in my front yard. It was here that I began using my imagination. In my front yard I could be all of my childhood idols: Del Piero, Gerrard, Pirlo, and Kaka, just to name a few. My neighbors must have thought my parents were mad letting me destroy our garage door and “garden” the way I did. I spent hours and hours out there because it made me happy.

Not only did this environment (which I still thank my parents for giving me and will do the same for my future children) give me enjoyment, it made me a pretty good player. Although I never became professional for a series of reason which I will discuss in other pieces, I gave myself the foundations to develop my technique and footskills. The theory of doing something for 10,000 hours will make you good at something is particularly important in soccer because the game is dependent on your abilities with the ball. Coaches, teammates, and other parents always complimented my technical abilities with the ball, and I am 100%convinced it came from my time spent practicing on my own. My strengths were always having a good range of passing, close control, vision and dribbling, but I do not think I was someone with God given talent. When I look to identify myself, I always felt like an artist on the field. I am a true playmaker. I cannot run past defenders, I cannot outmuscle opponents, but I can use my creativity and brain to outsmart them and make things happen for my team. Creativity and imagination is what soccer has always been about for me. That has always given me confidence as a person because I had a clear vision of who I was, something many young people struggle with growing up.

My brother is similar to me. He loves soccer too and could definitely have played in college, but his passion was music. He was a brilliant pianist and songwriter. I was a mediocre musician. People love his music and how it perfectly lifts your heart. He could make you feel every emotion imaginable through his lyrics and melodies. I dare to say he had Mozart-esque qualities the way he could figure songs out on the piano. It was always something special to hear. He too, spent most of his free time enjoying himself by practising what he loved, and therefore became quite good at it. We are both artists, expressing ourselves in our own unique way and we are a lucky few that will always have that special thing that makes us tick. It is always obvious when we played a game or had a jam session because we would instantly be in a cheerful mood.

Now I’m not saying that your original passion has to be what your career is. Over the last 9 years, my brother discovered he is actually an amazing high school teacher. He knows how to connect with kids others might have given up on and is able to get the best out of them. I can always tell how much effort he puts into being the best teacher he can be and the satisfaction it gives him. I take great inspiration from this especially as I’m in a time in my life where I realize that my career might not always directly be involved with soccer. It is important to always keep an open mind to new opportunities and not be afraid to try new things, something I think I have been guilty of. For some, they might not have the career they are super passionate about. That is okay too. More often than not, people have that passion for their significant other and then their children. At that point they dedicate themselves to do everything in their power to make the lives of those important people as great as they can be. That in itself is incredibly honorable and something to be proud of. That is why your parents are always overly excited when you do something that may seem ordinary for you.

I have been interviewing for countless job opportunities in various industries recently. My favorite question when interviewing for a coaching position is “why do you want to be a coach?” I respond by saying that I will always know the wonderful feeling I got as a young kid when I had a game on Saturday. I want to transmit that passion to a new generation of young kids and give them the tools and create the environment where they will always be able to look back at their time as one of my players and say to themselves “yeah, I enjoyed that time of my life and I am a better person because of it.” They’ll know how much I care. I was lucky to have excellent coaches that loved the game and allowed me to love it too, continuously finding inspiration to get better. This would allow me to have a full circle type of satisfaction.

It will never be a smooth ride all of the way through for sure. Every journey has its ups and downs. I do believe that finding a passion and reminding yourself of it makes life’s more difficult moments easier to handle because you will recall times of pure joy that this passion has brought you. Express yourself to the world. Hopefully, you will continue to find this joy with this passion until the end of your days because you owe it to yourself to make your life’s story as incredible as you want it to be.