“I play soccer. That’s my hobby. I just played on teams my whole life. [I like the] Exercise, camaraderie, friendship.
Scoring a goal, I would say [is the best part]. I think there’s more teamwork involved than most sports. It takes all 11 players rather than just one person. You have to move the ball around, there aren’t that many goals scored, that kind of thing. [I played in] high school, some college, and then all the way back when I was three. I played a bunch of different sports, and I just gravitated toward this one. And over time, it became a hobby and a passion.
This is a MeetUp. That’s how this started, and it’s one of the more successful ones I’ve seen. We meet up 3 times a week: Saturdays, Mondays, and Wednesdays. And then there have been a lot of good friendships that have come out of this too. Because I think people come from different places and want something to connect over. And this is – soccer’s a good thing. When did I join this MeetUp? A long time ago. Probably a year and a half ago. There’s a lot of people who come. Sometimes the faces change, but there’s a lot of regulars too. So yeah, it’s very successful, I would say.
[One of the best moments was] Probably watching Germany win the World Cup this last time around. I was rooting mostly for Germany – US too – but Germany was the only one that would realistically win.
I went to the World Cup in 2006, which was in Germany. It was just a great experience. Very horizon-broadening, that kind of thing. I went with a couple high school friends, and we had been planning it for maybe 3-4 years. So it was a culmination of a lot of planning and effort. We were there for three and a half weeks. We went all around the country, went to a couple games, saw probably 5 or 6 cities: so Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart. Some are more built up than others, you know, West Germany and East Germany – there’s still a big difference with that. I was more about spending time with friends in a new environment.
The best part was seeing so many different people from so many different countries all connecting over one thing, and having a good time, enjoying it. It was – I mean, it’s difficult to understand, if you go to a US sports event versus going to a World Cup’s sports event. Because people – it’s alright to be passionate about your team, but to be passionate about your country is something completely different. It’s a different level of excitement when your team scores and when your team loses. So that would be the biggest differentiator, I would say. So they lost in the semi-finals. But they won this time around.”
Excerpt may be edited for clarity.