GO USA!

By now, you know the US women won the World Cup (unless you live without social media in which case you wouldn’t be reading this!)

There are so many writing prompts that can come out of a series like this. Girl power, sports, coming back from behind, etc.

For me as an avid soccer mom and fan, it’s all of that plus one more. The World Cup shaped my daughter and the way I see her as a person.

When she was young, she played soccer like the rest of the kids in the suburbs. But when she was about 10, she got her hands on the documentary “Dare To Dream”. It was the documentary of the 1999 women’s world cup team. It chronicled their ups and downs, personal stories and eventual win.

She watched that video over and over and over. Sometimes, she would put it on pause and go into the garage and kick the soccer ball against the wall for hours, come back in, watch a little more, repeat. It changed the way she thought of her game. She decided she was going to BE a soccer player.

Over the next few years, she worked her butt off and raised her game to play competitive soccer. It became one of the things that she identified with. She WAS a soccer player, an athlete. I was so in awe of her commitment.

Many years have passed and she’s still a good athlete but she’s much more now, too. She’s looking towards college next year and soccer might not be her top priority anymore. But, I know that her commitment to soccer helped make her the person she is today. She’s learned so much from the sport, her teammates and her coaches.

It’s so fitting that near the end of Hannah’s soccer career, the US Women did it again. It wraps up the whole women’s soccer experience in our house.  Bittersweet, emotional, amazing, inspiring.

I’m so damn proud of the US team, and my girl.