Support Your Team: Soccer Lessons

"Get back to support your teammates."

   As stated before, soccer is a team sport. Even though there are different positions on the field, everyone plays defense and everyone plays offense. If the team doesn't transition between those two positions well then the team will not be successful. I've been a part of many teams. Some were good at getting up the field and back the field others were not.

   Once, I was playing in a championship game. There was less than a minute left in the second overtime. I had the ball and I needed to do a goal kick to send it out. I set the ball up as the clock was ticking down. My team had played 109 minutes of soccer and they were tired. All we had left was less than a minute and we would go to penalty kicks. All my team had to do was push past the pain and play a little bit longer. I kicked the ball out. It went to an area that was in between my teammate and one of the other team's players. My teammate didn't go to the ball. The other team's player did. She took some space, shot; the ball flew up, hit the crossbar, and went in the goal. The game was over. We lost.

That was my final NEAC soccer game. My teammate thought that she didn't need to get back because there were only a few seconds left. She didn't put a complete effort in; and, because of that, we lost. She chose not to support her team through the whole match.

   In life, we will have hard times. It is difficult to get through those hard times alone. That's why we aren't on earth alone. We are relational beings. It is important to support one another. Galatians 6:2 says: “Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." We are to carry other people's burdens. It's hard to carry certain burdens alone. That's why we are called to help. We can pray for that person, spend time with that person, or help in many other ways to help make that burden lighter.

   So, are you trying to carry burdens on your own? What can you do to help someone with his or her burden today?

   Image from here.