Guiding the ball with my head before I could walk is not something I remember doing but it makes sense to me. It is not that I stumbled around a random soccer ball while I was crawling around the house but it was intentionally put in my surrounding areas by my parents. Why did they do this? Well, this game is not just a game we like to play or watch in my family, it is very much life.
Yes, there are more things in life than just soccer if you look at it in terms of a sport where you try to kick the ball into the other teams goal and win. That is the casual disconnected way to look at things that do not interest you. Many things happen before a goal is scored that the majority of people will not notice. In life, most people will not witness the small details or work that is being done consistently; they will only recognize the success or failure of that person or group.
The way I see the game is the way I see life. Nothing great can be accomplished on your own but you must have ownership in your individual contribution. This is the approach to anything that we want to succeed in, whether it is building a family, competing on a sports team or running an organization. Play your part and everyone else must play his or hers. I often find myself describing situations in life through moments and situations that have taken place in a soccer game.
If my environment and soccer cultured family didn’t promote a soccer ball being close to me then I wouldn’t have dribbled the ball with my head and I am unsure if I would see the game in this way.
My topic for today was to express the importance of a close relationship with the ball from a young age. This thought was inspired as I walked with Marcos through the building to make a few decisions on the walls that could be used for training to hit the ball off of. This type of individual behavior is necessary and refers back to your own individual contribution to your team and the game. Finding new challenges by passing and shooting off the wall or juggling records to break are essential to add technical quality to your game.
Instead of listing things you can do on your own with a ball to improve, I feel the environment and culture that you are in is more important and will promote this individual motivation to be with the ball.
So live the game, don’t just play it!
It would be a good idea to befriend people who also live the game!
Yours in soccer,
James Palumbo
