"I feel like I'm falling more in love with the game every day."
- Yael Averbuch
The older I get, I find that the sport I gave my blood, sweat, tears and time to continues to draw me in with its timeless wonder. As a youngster I really liked soccer. I spent hours playing soccer tennis with my brother, playing pickup, juggling, poring over soccer magazines, the Eurosport catalog (shameless plug) and playing soccer video games.
I had aspirations of being the next Ronaldo (the real one) and leading the U.S. to the World Cup. While this didn't happen, my enthusiasm and passion for the game did not wane like many of my peers. Far from it, as I've gotten older, my love for the sport has seemed to increase exponentially.
I've been blessed to be surrounded by a group of people who love the game just as much as I do and are willing and happy to go out and play at literally any time of the day, whether it's at 10:00 AM on a Sunday or 12:30 AM on a Tuesday.
Being around people who share my passion has only increased my desire to play constantly to the point where I feel out of sorts when a day passes without having the ball at my feet. It can be as simple as going to an open area and juggling for hours, playing one-on-one or just shooting balls at each other until one of the group messes up their touch.
Whatever we do, we love it. And it doesn't look like we'll stop loving it anytime soon.
