Mystery Train
GOLD
I am used to saying that the hardest position in sports isn't the goalkeeper, it's the goalkeeper parent. It's hard not to live and die with your child's every up and down, and GK's will typically deal with far more downs than ups... just the nature of the beast. My kid has had some really big swings in her 3 seasons of college ball. The "downs" have covered the full spectrum: lost freshman year to the pandemic, battled two different auto-immune disorders, won the starting position, won conference 2 years running, got benched for mistakes in-game, won the starting job back, started 3 NCAA playoff games, carted off the field for a cracked sternum 10 minutes into her only '22 playoff appearance, 2 surgeries (not soccer related), dozens of sobbing phone calls home, rousing comebacks, severe depression, almost quit soccer, transferred schools, won a second starting job at the new program, gave up a howler in the last game of the season to put a nail in the team's coffin for playoff chances, and then still voted keeper of the year, first team all-conference two days later. I would brag about the award, but she's such a competitor and so pissed about missing the playoffs that the individual award felt hollow to her. I will, however, brag about the f*cking intestinal fortitude, attitude, toughness, intelligence, dedication, discipline, and focus that it has taken for her to even be on the field at all. She's played over 3,000 minutes in 43 games with one more season to go. We've seen enough to never take anything for granted- the next season, the next game, the next play... the speed at which it can all go south is sobering. As much as she's learning about herself and about life through this journey, I'm learning as her father how to let go of wishing things were a certain way and instead, embracing every moment, including.. no, especially, the lows and the obstacles, because that's where all the opportunity for growth is. This GK parent stuff... it is not for the faint of heart.
