Soccer.....I mean football......

I used to be one of those individuals who thought soccer or football as the rest of the world knows it was a boring sport. I just couldn’t understand why it was the world’s most popular sport. However over the past year, my attitude about soccer has changed…..drastically!!

Now I enjoy watching soccer games, especially at the highest levels. My attitude began to change when my boys started playing soccer. Grant has been playing soccer for about 3 years and Gibson played for the first time last year. I was the assistant coach for their soccer team this year. To be honest soccer at this level isn’t that exciting to watch. It is basically a mass of youngsters chasing the ball around the field. The skill level just isn’t there. (Although in the playoffs, Grant almost made a header goal!)

This year Gannon played soccer for the first time for the Lakeview Christian School Junior High team. After watching a few of his games, I realized that as the skill levels of the players increased, so did my enjoyment of the games. I was finally hooked when I saw the Lakeview varsity soccer team play Blackford in a high school sectional game. The action was fast-paced and quite exciting. I also attended an Indiana Wesleyan University men’s soccer game and was really impressed with the skills of the players.

Grant is the one that really likes soccer. We get the Fox Soccer Channel, and he is always watching soccer games from around the world including the English Premier League. His favorite team is Chelsea. Next year Grant will attend Lakeview and he will be on the Junior High team and Gannon will move up to varsity since he will be a freshman. I’m already looking forward to soccer season.