The Competitor

The more I watch her play soccer, the more I understand just how competitive my youngest child truly is.

Today, shoulder to shoulder, she repeatedly beat off a fast striker from the other team, held her away from the net, stripped the ball, and sent it back where it came from.

Playing defense, as I have often noted, lacks glory. You rarely score goals or gather the accolades of your teammates.

But if you make so much as a single mistake, it can be fatal for your team's chances to win.

Today she played perhaps her best game ever, in the heat and the sun that followed a brief, light rainstorm the past two days -- weather she prefers.

In fact, she played such a physical game, repeatedly knocking her opponent cleanly off the ball, the parents of the other team were calling for fouls.

But she committed no fouls. There were no whistles, and no stoppages of play. There were no cards or foul shots.

It was all clean shoulder to shoulder contact and legal tackles.

She's learned her position well, mainly from her older brother, a pretty fair defender on his own right.

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