“The pendulum of the mind oscillates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong.”
― Carl Gustav Jung
Over the last 2 years I have been the goalkeeper coach at Southlake Soccer Club in Renton. This Fall I am coaching each Tuesday and Friday night. Last nigh as I walked down the hill onto the field at Hazen High School and saw all the children trainng with coaches from UK International and Girl Boss Sports I was hit with emotions and nostalgia that cut deep in my and made me even a bit sad. The feeling made me reflect on my responsibility to the children working with me and once again why?
I have a deep connection to soccer, one, because of my own experience as a kid moving from place to place always breaking in, trying to find friends through the game, and of course the fierce competition that came with being an outsider. A second reason is because of my connection to my son who lives with his mother in Philadelphia and is playing club soccer there. So, whenever I watch kids play these memories and stories are in my mind. Is this what brings be back to the field each day? Or, is it because I long for the simple disconnection to what is outside the lines, an escape from reality, or rather the creation of a different one.
Today, I realize that these emotions that I felt last night are big part of the why? of my coaching. I long for the the emotion inside the lines of a soccer practice no matter what they are, joy or pain, happiness or frustration, teamwork or competition, bravery and fear, strength and fragility. life and death. These are the emotions and realities of millions and millions of souls dead and alive that are found in the game and the reason that I continue to coach.
Carry the Fire.
Stephen
Stephen Swanger is a soccer coach located in Tacoma, Washington