You know when you say you want to do something but you don't really think it actually will happen? That is exactly what has happened and now I'm playing in an indoor soccer league with Josh. I remember when I was mentioning the idea of us playing soccer together to and he got really excited, but I suppose I didn't think he'd really follow through. Until a couple of weeks ago he came home and told me he signed both of us up. Initially I was excited thinking about all time Josh and I would be able to spend with each other, and then I realized the only times I have ever played in a soccer game was for my junior and senior year of high school powder puff games. And high school was quite a few years ago.
On Labor Day morning, Josh took me out to a field near our house for a quick run down in the game of soccer in preparation for our first game. Oh, I forgot to mention, Josh played soccer in college and he definitely knows what he's doing. Me on the other hand, not so much. We went through all of the basics: proper form when kicking, trapping the ball, dribbling up and down the field. I picked up most of those things pretty quickly, kind of. And can I just say Josh is an excellent coach? He was really patient with me and definitely boosted my confidence for our game.
Our first game was last Tuesday. On a scale of 1-10, my confidence level was back down to about a 2 and my nerves were teetering between 7 and 8. What the heck am I doing? I don't even really know the rules of indoor soccer. Note to Josh, we need to go over the rules of soccer in our next practice. And all of the other girls there had shin guards on signaling to me that they have probably played soccer at some point in their life, and they know what they are doing.
The first rule I did learn is that six people from your team need to be on the field at a time, and of those six, three of them need to be girls. We have 5 girls on our team (including me) and that meant we were all going to be getting a lot of playing time. Thankfully, I did not have to start. I was able to watch to game and get a feel for what was going on...aka...catch up with my friend Nataliya on the sidelines while we waited for our turn to play (both of us not having any real experience playing). Well, my time to play came a lot sooner than I anticipated. Boy was I nervous. I wasn't even quite sure where I was supposed to be on the field and I didn't want to yell to Josh because I was trying to play it cool like I totally belonged out there.
Things were going good. So far the ball hasn't even really come near me. I was just runnining up and down the field following the flow of the game and getting a lot of exercise, definitely a plus to playing soccer. And then it happened, and to Josh's and my surprise, and to every one else there that evening at Family First Sports Park, I scored a goal. (Insert shock and laughter here.) I couldn't believe I scored a goal on my first game of indoor soccer! To be honest, I wasn't quite sure of what to think about the goal I scored. I knew Josh would be super proud of me but then I started thinking, Great, these guys might start thinking I'm actually good and will want to pass me the ball more. And I also thought, What if I peaked during my first game? We still have two more months of games to play, and what if it's all down hill from here? But then I remembered, I'm kind of starting at the bottom of the hill so I really shouldn't have anything to worry about. And I hope you aren't assuming the level of competition out there is low purely based on me scoring a goal. Because it is pretty rough out there. I just happened to be wide open and Filip had a great assist to me. So thank you Filip for the great pass. You could have totally taken the shot yourself and would have been our team's only scorer with three goals. (Filip is a classmate of Josh's and I'm good friends with his wife Nataliya who I am so thankful is on our team so I have friend out there with as little experience as me.)
The first rule I did learn is that six people from your team need to be on the field at a time, and of those six, three of them need to be girls. We have 5 girls on our team (including me) and that meant we were all going to be getting a lot of playing time. Thankfully, I did not have to start. I was able to watch to game and get a feel for what was going on...aka...catch up with my friend Nataliya on the sidelines while we waited for our turn to play (both of us not having any real experience playing). Well, my time to play came a lot sooner than I anticipated. Boy was I nervous. I wasn't even quite sure where I was supposed to be on the field and I didn't want to yell to Josh because I was trying to play it cool like I totally belonged out there.
Things were going good. So far the ball hasn't even really come near me. I was just runnining up and down the field following the flow of the game and getting a lot of exercise, definitely a plus to playing soccer. And then it happened, and to Josh's and my surprise, and to every one else there that evening at Family First Sports Park, I scored a goal. (Insert shock and laughter here.) I couldn't believe I scored a goal on my first game of indoor soccer! To be honest, I wasn't quite sure of what to think about the goal I scored. I knew Josh would be super proud of me but then I started thinking, Great, these guys might start thinking I'm actually good and will want to pass me the ball more. And I also thought, What if I peaked during my first game? We still have two more months of games to play, and what if it's all down hill from here? But then I remembered, I'm kind of starting at the bottom of the hill so I really shouldn't have anything to worry about. And I hope you aren't assuming the level of competition out there is low purely based on me scoring a goal. Because it is pretty rough out there. I just happened to be wide open and Filip had a great assist to me. So thank you Filip for the great pass. You could have totally taken the shot yourself and would have been our team's only scorer with three goals. (Filip is a classmate of Josh's and I'm good friends with his wife Nataliya who I am so thankful is on our team so I have friend out there with as little experience as me.)
Overall...the first game was definitely not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I actually scored a goal (which I am still shocked) and we won!
woohoo Bethany! You go, girl!
ReplyDeleteHey Bethany, ask Camille about the time she got knocked out playing soccer. AND GOOD FOR YOU PLAYING WITH YOUR HUBBY!
ReplyDeleteawesome, Buff! sounds great!
ReplyDeletethat reminds me of when i brought jason with me to play ultimate with some med school friends. thankfully it was just a pickup game... i really hadn't played before (except a party in high school one time...i think), so i know what you mean when you say you just keep running back and forth wondering where you are supposed to be. :)
keep up the good work!
Bethany and Josh:
ReplyDeleteThis has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the post about your indoor soccer game, and for that I apologize. It's not my intention to detract from your fútbol genius.
However, there's another glorious occasion I wish to commemorate: according to your hit counter at this very moment, you've reached 2,000 hits! How did this come to pass, you might be wondering? I shall disclose that information for you.
I didn't realize, until tonight, that your brilliant blog boasted (<--alliteration alert) of such a terrific feature. When my eyes first observed the hit counter, it read a meager 1970. So, I courageously took it upon myself to personally bring that number to 2,000.
On my desktop lives an icon which, when clicked, opens up Safari and escorts me to this ethereal location - your weblog. To honor my aforementioned commitment (see: the previous paragraph), I simply, yet deftly, clicked on that icon, and when the Safari opened and went to your page, I closed it. And then I, once again, clicked on that icon, and when Safari opened and went to your page, I closed it. And so on ad infinitum!
Okay, not really. Obviously. I merely did it 30 consecutive times to enrich the number on your hit counter. To move it to 2 Gs, in other words. Safari seemed rather displeased on click 25 or 26 and very nearly--or so it seemed at the time--detonated my computer.
And so ends my disclosure and begins your blogistence (a blog's existence) at 2 Large.
Cheers.
-- Marcky
that last comment is hilarious! Im proud of you for getting out there and playing - I dont know that I could have done it! I love that you scored a goal your first game too!!!!
ReplyDelete