Physicality

Most times playing sports is more of a mind game rather than a test of physicality. It’s about knowing the game, seeing the open lane to send a leading pass, or the way your foot comes in contact with the ball to send it perfectly into the top left corner net. It’s about getting into the opponents’ heads, getting them more and more flustered, causing them to make more and more mistakes. Soccer is one of those games that can mess with your mind if you are facing the right opponent, leaving one of the two teams that are playing, angry.

It was this past fall soccer season, and we were playing our biggest rivals, the team we can’t stand losing to ever. We had our own tactics in order to get into the heads of some of the best players, and just mess with them giving us more opportunities to overcome them. But they too had their own tactics as well, such as physicality. The ball had been sent to the left, so I ran to it as well as one of my other teammates and two opponents. The one that was on me was significantly smaller than we, giving me a height advantage on her. I went to take the ball away but was stopped by this other smaller playing with a massive shove to the ground, landing me on my left hip really hard. Now this incident could have easily been a yellow card if the officials had actually seen it, with her two arm extension pushing me to the ground with every bit of strength in her little body. Just seeing the look on her face after showed me how happy she had felt with herself. As I fell to the ground the play went on around and past me to the other side of the field with her following it. 

As I was sitting on the ground fixing my shin guard, furious and a little embarrassed that this smaller person just pushed me down to the ground,  so many thoughts ran through my head. Thoughts of what I could easily do to get back at her, or put her in her place teaching her never to do that again. But then I just thought, wait a second. This is their way. This is their way of getting in our head, being extra physical. Though I was very mad about what had just happened and knew that my hip was going to be freaking sour the next day and week, I pushed all of those bad and vengeful thoughts away, got up, and laughed. I laughed off what had just happened, pushed it aside, and got my head back into the game.

Now don’t think I never got back at her, trust me I did. Just not in the way that she did. Instead of trying to prove myself through strength and physicality, I used my skills instead. The skills she probably didn’t have which is probably why she pushed me instead. I outplayed her the rest of the game, weaving around her, through her, leaving her wishing she had never pushed me that day.

Yes, I do have to say that they took the win that day which obviously sucked. But even though I walked out of that game with a loss and a sore hip, it was just a reminder of how they play vs. how we play, and how trying to overcome me with physicality won’t match to skills in return. I really don’t like being thrown around like a softball, but if I hadn’t stopped to think and laugh it off that game, then I may have gotten a yellow card myself. If I had gotten up furious instead of laughing then it wouldn’t have been pretty, which would have made her even more happy with herself than she already was. But the fact that I was able to laugh off the conflict helped me become stronger and overcome the situation and the opponent, and made me the stronger person over all.

Photo by 2017 Canada Games // Jeux du Canada 2017 on Foter.com / CC BY