A few years too late

Had two fútbol matches on Sunday, which was brutal, even more so because we lost both of them. However, between matches, I was approached by a friend of our coach, who asked me to join a semi-professional team, a selección of the best players in the Ecuadorian league. Having played with and against a number of the players who are on the team already, I can safely assume that the team is going to be quite good. Some of the girls in the Mexican and Ecuadorian leagues here are the best players I’ve ever played with.

I really wanted to join. They have full training sessions three times a week, and they’re going to join up with a semi-pro league this coming winter, and from the sounds of things, the coach really wants this team to be something, to get some attention. I was so tempted.

But I’m leaving in August, unlikely to return until next summer. I would be training for nothing more than physical exercise, and while that’s valuable, it would also be unfair to the other players, who need to get used to playing with the women they will be playing matches with. It bothers me too, that if this guy had approached me four or five years ago, I would have seriously considered it. When I was 15, 16, even 17, I still toyed with the idea of making fútbol my primary focus in life.

Now I’m 22, graduated from college and headed abroad for a year, and this opportunity comes along that, were I four or five years younger, I would take full advantage of. I’m glad for the future I’m laying out for myself—grad school, academia—but times like this I realize that other doors are closing, and I have no choice but to let them close.