Thank You To Parents Of Young Athletes In Love With A Game

Parents love their children more than I believe it is possible to explain. They can only dream of the day we can understand their love for us but I imagine it's hard to share your child with something else. But I have to thank my parents for sharing me not when I turned 18 and was moving away but for sharing me at the age of 3. Thank you for allowing me to fall completely head over cleats in love with the beautiful game, soccer.

From the minute I was born, soccer was a part of my life and I couldn't wait until I got to start playing on my own team as opposed to kicking the ball at my brother and sisters games or at them in the hopes of them kicking it back to me. When i was three that dream came true and I've been lucky and blessed to continue living that dream for almost 17 years now. It's all because of you two.

You didn't try to take my eyes away from the prize (that being soccer), instead you pushed me closer to it. But you never made me feel like I was being forced to play. You encouraged me to play other sports, dance, take art classes, and be involved in everything. But I always knew and I'm pretty sure you did too that soccer was it. Soccer was where my heart was at.

There were bumps in the road and times when I thought about giving up and you both allowed me the time (which was maybe a day at the most) to analyze and fall in love with it all over again. There were times of trial and times of error but the good always seemed to out weigh the bad and I have you both to thank for that.

You made sure I never forgot how why I loved it to begin with. You sacrificed real family vacations for our version of them which meant spending half a day at the beach before the tournament started. Thanksgiving weekend meant we ate what we wanted but had to keep in mind that I was up early in the morning and playing two games that day. Summer break was actually filled with tryouts, practices, and tournaments. Dinner wasn't at 6 p.m. or as a whole family but it was at 9 p.m. with whoever got home from practice at the same time and I was fighting over the microwave with. But I wouldn't want it any other way and I hope you still feel the same way. I loved our "dysfunctional" family dinners, doing homework in the car on the way to practice and having to explain to family or friends that we couldn't because we had soccer. You both gave up so much so I could dedicate so much of your time and effort to playing soccer, being at practice, tournaments, camps, clinics, and everything in between.

In my defense this intense love an dedication for soccer made birthdays and Christmas way easier. Let's be real you could never go wrong with cleats, running shoes, hair ties, soccer bags, or any other kind of workout gear because I didn't really wear anything else. The fact that I really only wore workout gear made things like dress shopping that much more exciting and special.

All in all I have to thank you, for never giving up on me and pushing me to follow my dreams and follow my heart. Even though that dream and my heart lead me three states away from you. Making time spent together only a month long with many months in between. I love the post game phone calls where you take me through a game play by play after watching on the computer via live stream.

Thank you for believing in me, never giving up on me and providing me with the most supportive caring parents in the world. Parents who loved me enough to share me and let me fall in love with soccer at the age of 3 and never let me turn back.