Both of my girls are playing football now. A started last year, and this summer, T decided to join too. I suspect the end of season party had something to do with her sudden interest. But whatever works.
One of my earliest memories is going to play football. Yes, football, not soccer. I live in England now, so we are doing this properly. My dad used to take me to these fields right off the Grand Central Parkway in Queens, near Little Neck Parkway. I can still picture them, green spaces right by the highway where you could literally see the games as you drove past.
My first team was the Blue team. I remember the jerseys, the cover photo is me standing around during a game or a practice.. Playing was my dad trying to get me into sports. Spoiler: it did not really stick.
I did play for years, probably until I was around eleven. I never had a real knack for it. My mom likes to tell people I was terrible, and she is not wrong. I daydreamed. I lost track of the ball. I think I spent half my time wondering when the snacks were coming.
At one point, my dad started helping coach my team. Then eventually, I think he was the coach. It is funny to look back now, because some of my best childhood memories connect to those seasons, even if I was daydreaming while everyone else actually played the game.
Football also shaped little corners of our family life in unexpected ways. For example, the beach club we joined later was connected to one of my coaches. A whole chapter of my childhood followed from those football years: summers, cabanas, the smell of sunscreen and chlorine.
I played both outdoor and indoor football growing up. The indoor version was wild. No outs, no throw ins, the ball just bounced off walls like some kind of playground pinball machine. Here in England, the kids play outdoors year round unless the ground freezes solid or turns into a swamp. They have trained in rain, cold, wind, everything.
I love it. Watching them do something I did as a kid but better feels oddly full circle. I never pushed them to start early, but I am glad they found a girls club where they feel at home.
My bar was pretty low, to be fair. So the good news is, they have already cleared it.