Recollections of Soccer

My soccer-obsessed husband caught in the action. 

For the last few years, we've been trying to document Hyrum's childhood.  We have very few photos, no videos, and no journals.  Just his memory--which sometimes is a little rusty.  I'd like to write things down before he forgets it all.  So on our long drives to the temple we took several videos, and I'm going back trying to write them all down.  I figure this is a good place to keep them organized.  Here's a fun one about Soccer, which is kind of like a foundation of his life.  (Oh wait--that's probably the gospel, but soccer is built right on top of that.)  So in Hyrum's words with my editing:

Becoming a Fan

Hyrum wearing his Nacional pride in Chicago.  

When I was in second grade I had to walk to and from school, and I used to study in the afternoon.  When I got out of school it was around 5:30.  Around that time (in about 1989) the team Atlético Nacional was playing in Libertadores (the most important club competition in South America).  I remember walking back from school, and I stopped in a little shoe repair store where the guy was “working”.  He had a little TV on, and I stepped into his store trying to watch.  It was awesome, and I stayed there for the whole second half until I realized what time it was and I had to go home.  I think I don’t have recollections of soccer before that because I have a bad memory, and because my dad was never that into soccer. But that game is why I was “born green.”  (Nacional’s team color). The second game I watched with the guy, he already knew who I was, so he said to just come in and watch.  Before I was kind of shy—a 7 year old kid watching his TV.  I saw him commenting on games, so I kind of learned that from him.  I always watched games there, probably once a week for about 6 months.  One time my dad got mad because it was already dark and I hadn’t come back from school because I was at that shop watching soccer.

One day I discovered how deep my love was for Nacional when they were playing Millonarios.  We weren’t watching the game, but I went with my dad to the panadería (bread store) and the game was on the TV.  I started watching when the game was almost over.  Nacional lost, and I started crying. My dad said, “What in the world… stop crying!  They only lost a game.”  But I kept crying like a little girl.  My team is from Medellin, and my friends never understood why I was a fan.  They all liked teams from Bogotá.

Playing Soccer

In the first grade I studied in a private school that was a house adapted for a school.  We went to a big park to do sports, which made me not very enthusiastic about it.  Then I went to public school in second and third grade.  We played in a school tournament, with practice during gym class but games played during our mid-day break.  When I was in third grade our team won.  I remember one kid who was such a good player that they called him “Little Maradona”.  I admired him.  I didn’t realize if I was a good player when I was little.  It wasn’t until I moved to Turmequé in 4^th and 5^th grade.  Things were more competitive because the 5^th year was like being “seniors” of the school.  We had a team for the whole school and we played teams neighboring schools.  My school’s team was so bad, and I was the captain.  I think I started to have my own style of being aggressive and a leader—lion—on the field.  I was kind of on a loser team and the guys got discouraged really easy, and I learned to fight. The only thing I liked about the team were the uniforms.  They were white with the Adidas design from the 1990 World Cup with a Colombian flag. 

Playing soccer in Mexico. 

I always played defense.  That came natural to me.  The tendency of most kids is to go forward and try to score goals.  For me, it would be great to score, but I saw that if no one stayed in the back then the other team would score against us. I realized I could touch the ball a lot back there, and I received a lot of recognition for being a good defense player.  That motivated me to keep playing there.  I know myself better now, and recognize that I like to sacrifice for things.  I like to be the last guy on the defense.