Strong and Courageous

Currently, I am sitting in a bedroom with a complete stranger.. Objective is last man standing.. oh wait.. We are both in the C license coaching course trying to further our careers. Today was a real long day. It started at 7 am... oh wait 4 am for the west-coaster and it is ending here very soon.. This whole week is about soccer.. how can it not.. its a coaching course designed to teach you to be able to teach 11-14 year olds on how to play the game.. technique/physical/mental/tactical sides of the game.. we watched the USA/Australia game and had to break it down.. offensive and defensive sides of the game for both Australia and the US (both of whom just sucked!) I can talk about it all I want but to no avail because you will stop reading.. if you have even gotten this far.. but never once is there a mention of the 5th side.. soccer in the us is in a rut.. we think of the game as having the 4 pillars i mentioned earlier.. but that just makes it boxy.. and things suck when they get put in a box. I believe there are at least 6 things that make soccer great.. passion is an obvious one.. the game is full of passion.. just go to any game in europe or the world cup and the passion will speak for itself.. However, another side that never gets mentioned is the spiritual side to it.. there has to be a spiritual side even if you dont believe in a God.. in my world, I play/coach/work/jump off bridges/get tattoos for God.. obviously that is different for everyone but even if you dont believe in God, you have to believe that you are playing for something bigger than yourself. If you don't play for something bigger than yourself, then the game is an epic fail and you lose even if you win. winning solves a lot of problems for teams like that but as soon as losing occurs, the players have no foundation to fall back on.. i am talking about the ability to lower yourself in your own eyes and put teammates and their desires first above anything you want.. ultimately if you do just that, you are playing for something that is bigger than you and thus you are playing for something that will last longer than the here and now.. great teams are forged by togetherness and selflessness and by having a common goal, a single heart, mind and spirit.. "be strong and courageous for I will be with you wherever you go!"