Lately, I’ve been feeling much older than 25. My birth certificate clearly states that I was born in 1982, but after lacing up my shoes and pulling up my shin guards for a practice with the Cascade Christian boys soccer team on March 19 my body felt far older.
Being the sports enthusiast that I am, I thought It would be fun to partake in a practice with a high school sports team. On March 13, Cascade Christian Cougars head coach Keith Patefield gave me the green light to partake in a practice session with the Cougars.
After the first warm up lap around the field I knew it was going to be a tough day. As we went through basic warm up exercises I could already feel my heart beat pounding in my brain.
Thankfully, Patefield instructed the team to begin stretching upon completion of those exercises. This gave me a chance to catch my breath and relax before my feet had even touched a soccer ball. The first drill of the day consisted of ball control specifics. I thought this might be an area where I could have a chance to succeed.
I was wrong.
It’s been a long time since I’ve tried to trap a soccer ball. Cougars freshman Nate Storm consistently was corralling passes from me, but I had extreme difficulty when attempting to collect his passes. Later on into the practice session, Patefield instructed his players to conduct a 3-against-1 drill where three players attempt to successfully pass the ball to each other while one player tries to steal it away.
As a I tried to play defense against my much younger counterparts, my creaky right knee wouldn’t allow me to make the quick moves and cuts that I needed to make in order to play good defense.
Despite my difficulties on the field, Storm said he was surprised to see a member of the media practicing with his team.
“I was kind of shocked at first,” Storm said. “I didn’t expect a writer to come out and practice with us. Especially since we have an 0-3 record right now. I thought it was great though.”
I had asked Cougars senior Chris Peterson what conditioning at the end of the practice would be like. He replied, “We have a game tomorrow so it won’t be too bad.”
As practice began to wind down, Patefield was in a spirited discussion with his players about what kind of conditioning they wanted to do to wrap up practice. He asked me to decide for them. It was either long distance running or sprinting. In my head I was thinking, “There’s no way I want to jog a mile.” It was an easy decision. We were going to sprint.
The sprinting exercises were easy for Cougars soccer players but proved to be daunting task for an out of shape sports writer. I was in last place in every sprint and was ecstatic when Patefield signaled for everyone to come to the middle of the field for an end of the practice prayer.
As I slowly walked off the field, Patefield caught up with me sporting a wide grin on his face.
“You hung in there,” Patefield said. “You did all the drills. It was fun having you practice with us.”
I enjoyed my time on the field with the Cascade Christian Cougars soccer team as well. Even though my body wasn’t ready for the intensity of a high school practice, it’s certainly isn’t something I regret. I want to personally thank the Cougars coaching staff and players for allowing me to practice with the team. I will be back. Believe it or not, I plan on showing up for another practice in March of 2009. Hopefully my soccer skills will have improved by the time I’m 26.
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