My
boy started his love for soccer at the age of four when my 1st helper, Duhpuii
whose love for soccer so great introduced him to the world of soccer as she
followed her favourite teams and players. He would learn the names of the teams
and players and became well-versed in them, more than his dad who is also a
soccer aficionado. As he turned five, the World Cup 2010 hype was roaring in my
household. We didn't subscribe to World Cup TV channels then, thus father and
son would wake in the wee hours (as it was held in South Africa
Soccer,
on the other hand, was an alien to me. I grew up not knowing much about soccer.
While my partner (then boyfriend) was a soccer fan, I was never sucked into his
interest of watching the games. I just could not comprehend the thrill of 11
men chasing after a ball?!
As
motherhood presents me with a boy whose passion in soccer intervenes with my
own life, I was forced to acquaint myself with soccer more and more. He
enrolled into a soccer academy after World Cup 2010. It started as a once
weekly activity which was the dad's responsibility to chauffeur. As time
passed, his skills sharpened, the training increased to twice weekly. During
league seasons, it is thrice weekly soccer sessions! I started to chauffeur him
to training and become a cheerleader during his matches. At times, his school
roped him in for soccer matches or the academy ran friendly matches, so imagine
the soccer overdose I had!!!
I
learnt bits and pieces about soccer as my boy would be talking about it. In
fact, my knowledge of soccer stems from his infectious passion and animated
chat which he engaged me. I am certainly far from being an expert but am happy
to hold a soccer conversation with my boy.
Now with World Cup 2014, the hype is on
again. This time I am genuinely interested after all the influence from my boy.
Hosted in Brazil , the
timings of matches are even more horrendous for us here in Asia .
Some nights I watched with my boy, in an effort to bond with him. However, I
couldn't keep up while he continued to follow his favourite teams. His routine
is certainly upset - he would go to bed at 530pm skipping dinner and wake up at
4am to catch the match before hopping on to school at 630am. The price boys pay
for World Cup!
We are 2 days shy of World Cup 2014 Finals,
with Germany facing off Argentina
