Life is interesting being a female.
All your life you’re told that you can do anything.
But is it true?
It’s funny because I think I went through phases. When I was little I believed I could truly do anything. I could go to the moon, play professional soccer, invent the next greatest thing and become a millionaire. As I got older, the thought became that I could do some things, but probably not everything. I could possibly play professional soccer, if there was a league. The moon didn’t seem too realistic and the only thing I might be able to invent was myself. And now, in my late 20s, I have fallen back to the beliefs of my youth and think anything is possible.
I’m not sure if this is the case for everyone. And I don’t know that I would have ever had this realization had I not kicked a soccer ball for 23 years. Here’s the thing. I’ve been coaching a lot of little girls lately. Every time we work on a new skill I tell them they can do it. Three quarters of them look at me like I’m crazy. Like juggling is the most impossible task in the world. The others look at me as though I have all the answers, and one of them is knowing that they CAN do it.
The ones that believe are okay. What scares me are the ones that don’t. Why would I be scared? Well, I guess the time to believe in anything is when you’re young. You don’t know any better than to think anything is possible. So why wouldn’t these girls believe me when I tell them they can do it? I can go right ahead and say parenting or teachers or coaches. Because these are the people influencing kids. Right? But I just can’t imagine these people telling girls they can’t do it.
What could it be?
I’m not even really sure I have an answer. But I do know what a lifetime of playing soccer can do for someone’s confidence. And for someone’s belief in the seemingly impossible.
I started kindergarten a year too early. According to the book Outliers by Maclcom Gladwell, if I had continued on the path of being a really young starter, I would have fallen behind significantly. My parents held me back to a transitional grade before entering first grade. This way, I was actually one of the older kids in my grade. And it changed my life forever...
