Sundays Battle:
Defense vs. Offense
10-4. Another Sunday passes and ends in a scoreline that suggests its rather "Sunday Hockey". It seems like week in and week out, "Sunday Soccer" is an exhibition of defense vs. offense, exclusively. This battle doesn’t take turn nor does it relent. It’s one team’s offense vs. its opponent’s defense, and so it can continue for hours. Once it starts, it’s inexorable. There’s no way back!
This past Sunday was no different. It wasn’t a challenge. It wasn’t competition either. It was a shooting gallery for one team and the interior of a black hole for the other. The scale fell out of balance once again; one team slipped into an abyss, the other flew up into the sky.
“It is not enough to be happy; we must be satisfied with ourselves.” Can a squad cannonading an opponent’s goal, an opponent that goes through a period of torpor, really feel satisfied? One might argue the winning team still had to exert energy and find the necessary skill to score all of their twelve goals, right? Wrong! Why? Simply, because it was too easy. Is it fair to say? Sure. The more difficult, the more praiseworthy. Ultimately we make each other better.
Several players, from the winning squad in particular, stopped pushing forward and made their disinterest obvious. Of course we have to keep in mind that this happened toward the end of the match and it is safe to assume that many players just lack enough stamina. The disinterest comes from the lack of challenge and competition. It became easier to score. The progress of our skill stopped. All participants of “Sunday Soccer” should be worried.
Progress is what moves men forward. The collective advance of the human race is called progress. It is bitter when progress falls asleep in the darkness. It is one thing to lose; it is horrible not to compete.
What are the weaknesses of “Sunday Soccer”? Is it lack of disciple? Lack of desire? Do we need a sagacious referee that would add more seriousness to our sport? Does there need to be more passion and love towards our sport? Well, we need it all to become better in what we do. We deserve it. We wake early in the morning, quite often when the sun isn’t fully out yet, while the entire city is cuddled in their warm beds. The people that show up week in and week out show that they have ambition. They are always there. Be it on a hot July day or a cold winter morning. They’re there early, going through the rigmarole of choosing players and captains.
The lesson is, the rewards in life don’t always go to the biggest, or the bravest, or the smartest. The rewards go to the tenacious; and when you’re going through hell, to the person who just keeps going.