Football - A sport, a passion, an attitude!
"Martin, you need to come inside, dinner is ready!" was one of those sentences I just hated as a kid. Don't get me wrong - My mum's cooking skills are great and I was lucky to be in the situation, that I was getting such great food on a regular basis - But when I heard the above sentence, it almost always meant that I had to leave a fun football game on the small grassland in front of our home. And as a kid, playing football was definitely more important than eating. At least emotionally ;)
I can't really tell you when I started playing football (I probably was kicking things with my feet before I could talk) and I can't really tell you why I have always enjoyed it. I just can tell you that it is that way.
It doesn't matter if I look all the way back to elementary school where we always cheered when we were allowed to play.
It doesn't matter if I look back to my beginnings in club soccer or on yesterday's team practice.
It doesn't matter if I look back at the biggest victory or the worst loss.
Regardless of where in my past I look - I don't regret a single time I played this beautiful sport. I definitely regret some situations or conflicts that occured while playing. But I don't regret the fact that I have played.
And I have played tons of it. As said above, it started all the way back in my earliest years of living on this planet and it still goes on up to date. Like I have already pointed out, I have had the luck to be able to play hours of soccer in front of my parents house. But it wasn't just luck.
I grew up in a neighborhood with around 15-20 other kids around my age. And in the middle of our neighborhood, there was this unused acre which unfortunately was way too bumpy to play on it. One day, we met the owner of the field an asked him, if we could try to even it out by ourselves (we were around 6-8 years old) in order to play there. He said "Yes". Over the next days and weeks, the most soccer-obsessed of us where doing not much expect trying to even the field up with spades from our parents backyard. And when we were happy with the ground, we built some goals out of wood we gathered from the local forest. And then we played - hour after hour, day after day, year after year.
And durning all those years we consistently worked on improving OUR football field (as we did with our skills of course 😏). We sow grass and we kept it short. When a goal broke, we built a new one. We got nets for the goals. Ultimately we even got some iron goals with a great net. At it's best, our field looked similar to this one.
But a few of us didn't limit ourselves to the friendly games in the neighborhood - So we joined our local football club. And guess what - Now, more than 15years later, I am still playing for the same club - and some of my teammates are still the same guys I played with on this small soccer field of ours!
Even though nobody from us even made it close to an professional level, we all still love the game!
Especially with playing in a club, the hobby sometimes feels rather like a job. Yes, there have been times when I was mad because I couldn't go to a party because of it. And of course you also don't look forward to every practice - especially if you have lost the previous game and the weather is really bad outside.
But ultimately, I love being on a team. Even though we all fight for the spots in the starting squad and we have stronger and weaker players (I am definitely amongst the last!), we still are one team. It doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter where you come from, it doesn't matter what job you have. When we play together, we basically are all the same. I think that is one of those things I love most about playing in a club - Working together with equal individuals towards achieving the same goal.
(Funny connection to this platform: When I joined a local Steem-Meetup for the first time (it was in Munich back in the fall of 2017), I kind of felt the same. Different people with different Stakes (from Minnow to Whale) who all seemed to be on the same level and "worked" together on the same goal of a better platform.)
Ok, enough information from my personal side - now let's come to the facts, why football or soccer - call it however you like, is the most popular sport all around the world (According to this study, there were around 1.6 billion fans on this planet in 2015)
Everbody can do it - everywhere!
Those GIFs show me in Croatia & during team practice!
It doesn't matter if it's hot or cold,
It doesn't matter if the sun is out or it's raining,
It doesn't matter if you are with others or alone,
It doesn't matter if you play with your best friends or strangers,
It doesn't matter if you play for fun or in the world cup finals,
It doesn't matter if you are poor or rich,
It doesn't matter if you pay for playing or if you play to get paid,
The only thing that matters, is your own effort!
As you can see, there really are not many arguments you can claim why you are not able to enjoy this beautiful sport ;) If these three boys can do it with an old ball and three wooden sticks on a field that is set under water, what is your excuse to not at least try it out?
I hope you liked this little post about the sport I love - And I hope that some of you will share their experiences soccer - the real football - in the comments below :)
Thanks for reading and see you,
Martin
This post is dedicated towards 