Do it For the Memories

I hope they create memories of lifting each other up, supporting each other, pushing each other and inspiring each other.

I have a confession to make. My confession is that I’m a pure land mammal. I was never a swimmer like you are. Growing up, I was a soccer player. Played it my entire life. From the moment I could start walking until I graduated college and moved into the real word at 22, a ball was always at my feet and a soccer field was never far from my mind.

In the nearly 20 years that I spent playing soccer, one game sticks out in my mind, a game that, to this day, I’ve never forgotten. I was about 14 years old, and my team, the Lakota Cannonballs from Cincinnati, Ohio, was playing in the semi-finals of State Cup, which for competitive soccer is the most prestigious tournament you can win any given year, as you have to slug your way through the best teams in the state in order to win it.