Today was her first practice date with her new team. This is a traveling team, one that will compete all over Northern California this fall. It costs lots of money, which I have paid to make sure she is there. And someone will have to drive her to games -- that will be me.
When I picked her and her friend up after their first practice today, she said her body was hurting, including the ankle she rolled at the end of last season.
But she also said the hurting felt "good." That's how athletes talk. On the way home she talked about how much she wanted to get back in shape.
No matter how much we pretend it is otherwise, women's sports are still second-class in this society.
Be that as it may, I have always been there, rooting for Julia, and I intend to be there going forward. In her own estimation, she is "not that good." But in her own words, "I always do my best."
In my eyes, she is a true superstar. I will be posting photos and updates all this fall.
She plays a great defensive game, taught to her by her brother and former coach, Aidan. She squeezes opposing strikers to the outside, turns the momentum of the play around, often steals the ball and turns it upfield to her midfielder.
Now and then, shoulder to shoulder, she takes a striker down, all clean and legal.
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