GOOOOAAAAALLLLL!!!

Picture it, a tense and even match-up with a close score and 4 minutes left to play. One player receives the ball off the wall and passes to me. I turn with the ball and position myself right in front of the goal, one defender and a goalie standing in my way. I shoot, I score...woohoo...GOOOOAAAALLLL!!! My arms fly in the air and some sort of celebratory noise escapes my lips, perhaps even woohoo, I was so excited I can't remember.

That is a replay, as best as I can remember, of the goal I made in my soccer game last night. It was really very exciting and because they are so rare, I have only made 3-4 in my entire life, each one deserves it own special celebration. I should say, I have only been playing soccer for 1.5 years and for half that time I was pregnant. So in my defense, I still have so much to learn. But as a thirty-something woman, I am thoroughly enjoying learning a new sport and I am especially relishing these small victories when I am in the right spot at the right time and I am able to execute well.

It is a very different feeling for me to be learning something new. I spent the better part of 15 years competing and training the martial art Shotokan Karate. I was able to get to the top of my sport, competing on the US National Team at an international level. I got so good, or rather to such a high level, that I no longer enjoyed competing nor did I appreciate my victories. If I wasn't winning first place, I wasn't winning. At least that is how I often felt. And I was not that good, I was better then average but by no means always winning first place. So that meant that I spent a lot of time beating myself up or feeling disappointed.

Soccer has been a great way to discover my love for sport again. I play on a team where we lose nearly every game. Our goal is to not get shut out and we take it very seriously. I have very little soccer skill but because I am an adult athlete, I am one of the better players on my team. Frankly, this is a great new pace for me. It allows me to practice and improve at a sport in a completely non-threatening environment and it offers me the opportunity to have those little victories that are so important for building ones esteem and keeping one motivated.

So no, most won't remember the goal but I sure will. And I will always remember the spanish speaking announcer voice I heard in my head yelling "GOOOAAALLL" at the top of his lungs with energy like I just made the tie-breaking goal in the World Cup finals, and that is how it should be! By the way, that goal I made, we did not win the game, but it did keep us from getting shut out...mission accomplished!