Watching Soccer: Performance ANXIETY

Yesterday Jacqui, our friend Dave and I traveled to Kalamazoo. We went to see my brother play in a soccer tournament. Now some people might say that the climax of the sporting year would be the super bowl or on a year such as this the World Cup or the Olympics. Now those sporting events are all great in there own ways and each undoubtedly has numerous fans but yesterday we witnessed some of the most intense competition EVER. It was sweet.

My brother is a really good soccer player. There I've said it. You can quote me. I never played soccer growing up so the fact that he can do such amazing things with just his feet always impresses me and the "watching him is exciting because he's my brother" factor is also just plain fun for me. He plays defense. He's what's called a sweeper. He's sort of the last guy the opposing team has to get by before the goal so he's pretty important. Even watching him play in just your normal, average, run of the mill game is always fun for Jacqui and I but when it's a game like yesterday it gets down right intense.

It's a weird thing to feel so invested in someone else's performance. I guess I've experienced that watching friends on stage but in that situation I can usually suspend my belief and see them as their character; watching a sporting event just feels different. On a base level I suppose that's why people watch sports: they enjoy investing something of their own time and emotions in something larger than themselves. It's why people hold their breath when their favorite team is up to bat or their favorite player has a chance to win the game. I'm sure it'd be even more intense if you actually had a personal connection to that player or team. How did Michael Jordan's mom handle it?! How does Rodger Federer's grandpa cope?! Maybe they're so used to it that it's just normal, but I know that my nerves were definitely on edge, especially as the game came to an end.

Jordan's team won the first two games of the tournament pretty handily and then seemed to be on their way to a third win and the tournament trophy. BUT THEN...the other team scored in the last minute to tie things up at 1-1! The game then went into penalty kicks. I've never seen a live soccer shoot out but let me tell you it is concentrated excitement. The first kick was stopped on an amazing save by Jordan's goalie so it looked like his team was a lock for the win BUT THEN...one of his team-mates missed so it was a draw after five kicks. Now I wasn't super familiar with the penalty kick format but at this point the competition goes into...DUN DUN DUN: SUDDEN DEATH!

Jordan didn't kick in the first set of five but after it headed into sudden death he got to give it a go. I could barely watch. If he missed his team was out. That's just so much pressure to put on one guy. I had to get up and walk around. Heck, even writing about it now it feels like my pulse is picking up. As he wound up for his kick I could only watch out of the corner of my eye...as he nailed it right in the center of the net! I screamed my head off. It was awesome. It stayed tied for a few more kicks but then Jordan's goalie got pulled, a confusing last minute substitution was made and a new goalie was called in. Now this kid hadn't played goalie the whole tournament but he stepped up big and stopped the first shot and then in dramatic fashion, with his goalie gloves still on, went to the line and kicked in the winning penalty kick. It was exhausting and exhilarating to watch.

I was so proud of my brother, who played so well, and I was just struck by how fun the whole thing was to watch and what an interesting thing it is to watch someone you know perform well.