Team Pikachu

Thanks to a few lovely friends, I have recently been able to start playing football again! Yay!

No really. Lots of yays! I don't know how I missed out on football for so long growing up, but I'm a total fan now. After practice this week I thought to myself, "You know, I've always kind of wanted to be a soccer mom. You know. Driving kids around and getting all excited about their games and knowing all their friends and bringing all the cool snacks and stuff. But I really don't care about soccer. Football is way more fun. Can I be a football mom? Do they even have those?" Anyway, the point of that string of thought is, I really don't think I'm going to get sick of football any times soon.

I mean, it involves strategy, which I like to think I'm good at since I majored in it and stuff. And exercise, which makes you feel good. And it's especially fun to play with a group of girls, because we all talk about being intense and scaring the other team, and then go practice with our husbands and boyfriends and giggle the whole time, and you can tell they're just wondering why we talk so much and don't just play football already. And that's a fun face to watch on a group of guys who really adore you all anyway.

(Another plus is that it's like, the only sport I follow enough to talk to my male coworkers about at work. I can't wait for baseball season to be over.)

But there's another benefit that's particularly exciting for me. When I was growing up I was always hesitant to play team sports because I wasn't very good, or didn't know the rules, or generally was afraid of letting people down. But--maybe it just comes with growing up, or having great teammates--I've just gotten over that with football. I've been trying to do more things I'm not naturally good at recently (Modern dance being one of them. Holy awkward.). It's not really that I've ever had a hard time trying new things. It's that I've had a hard time sticking with them. Throughout grade school, if something didn't come easily, I'd usually give it up for something that did. But that doesn't build character, and if you're as clumsy as I am, it doesn't build muscle either.

So, hurray for my awesome teammates! They are so loyal and optimistic and dedicated. And they forgive me even though I false start like, all the time... I'm just super excited to play, ok!

But also a hurray for my husband, who has stepped up and helped run our practices and write plays for us. I never expected him to get so involved when I decided to set up a team. He's been helping me practice my throws and catches for about a year now, so he knows exactly how much help I need to be decent at football (which is a lot). And he's still come to every game, gotten to know the girls on my team, helped me get team shirts, written a play book, and held weekly practices for us. It's a lot more than I was expecting, but I know we couldn't have improved as much as we have without his help (and the help of all the other husbands and boyfriends who we all appreciate so much! But, of course, mine is my favorite).

Of course, it can sometimes be hard when your coach is also your spouse. Because even if you talk back to them, they're still going home with you at the end of it all (which I guess could be a good or bad thing, but I was going for good thing). And although I sometimes get frustrated that Kam's not afraid to push me, I'm also glad that he knows that I need the push. Kam talks about how that's the point of being married. You have each other to be accountable to and push each other to be better. And that's how you get better, too.

So... Yay, football! And Yay, Team Pikachu! And Yay, wonderful amazing love of my life.