It is so ironic that, although I love soccer, I’ve never been trained to play it. When I was in primary school, I joined the baseball team. Yes, it was in baseball team rather than a soccer team that I learned to play soccer. In that team, the coach sometimes organized some soccer games to entertain us. I didn’t know how to attack, how to dance with the ball or how to get it through the defenders. The only thing I could do was to play as a defender, kicking the ball away from our goal. Since then, I have been fixed on position of full back. In the next few years, I gradually felt what I meant to be a guardian, and how enjoyable it was.

  After entering junior high school, I was sad to know that I could not play baseball any more ——there was no baseball team in middle school. So, I turned my sport passion to soccer. My position was, of course, full back. I could run so fast then, which made it so much easier for me to prevent any forward from goal. It wasn’t until my participation of Principle Cup, which is a traditional cup game in my junior school, did I really begin to love my position.

I have to say that the 1/4 final game was my ‘battle of fame’. Our rivals were so skilled, and they cooperated very well. Our forwards could barely approach their side, and we defenders suffered from high pressure of their attackers. However, I managed to prevent their every attempt. After frustrating 90 minutes, we won by 1-0. My teammates hugged me and they gave me a nickname: “铁闸 (The Iron Gate)”, which was usually used in Chinese to describe an excellent defender.

  There are two things to make a defender extraordinary. First, the sense of responsibility. In soccer field, forwards are usually more noticeable, for they create goals. In contrast, defenders do what people call “dirty work”. They usually have to commit fouls to stop their rivals. However, defenders are really important to the whole team. It is impossible to win a game only by scoring. I really enjoy the responsibility, which made me feel that I’m needed, I have my own value.

  Defenders need skills, too. Practicing these skills is also interesting. A good defender can manage to get the ball off his rival by a fabulous sliding tackle without hurting anyone. In fact, there are many outstanding defender players. For example, Polyol is a legend in Barcelona. He is a nightmare for most of forwards. When you watch him playing against some world-class forwards such as Zidane. If you are interested, click here to watch Puyol’s best moment.

  After playing 5 years of defenders, I somehow got tired of it and tried to make a change. In my next passion blog, I’m going to talk about my attempt to play as a forward.