Yesterday I had my first soccer practice of the season - except instead of being a player, I'm now the coach. This fall, I decided to assistant coach a U-14 girls team here in Indianapolis. I've been wanting to get involved in coaching for a while now, and I think this will be a great, fun opportunity be around a sport that I love and share my passion for it with others.

It was strange being the one instructing instead of being one of the players, running around and listening to a coach's directions. While I think I have a pretty good knowledge of the game and ability to teach it to others, one thing I'm completely unfamiliar with is working with 12-14 year-old girls. Besides my brother, who is now 16, I have no recent experience being around that age group. I tried to think back to what it was like at that age - in seventh and eighth grade. Honestly, I had a tough time remembering the things that I talked about with my friends, the types of activities I participated in outside of school and sports, and what my maturity level was like. The thing I probably remember best from being a young teenager, though, is playing soccer. I remember playing in countless tournaments, competing against our team's biggest rivals, and spending hours upon hours with my teammates out on the field - at practice and in games.

Playing soccer was probably my favorite thing to do for much of my childhood. I loved the game itself - from the footskills to the strategic aspects - and I thrived on the competition. My favorite times playing the sport were always when we would have a tough game against a very good team. I wanted to be challenged to the limit and be forced to perform at our very best in order to come out victorious.

I really hope I can help teach these girls to love the game as much as I did and to coach them to be the best that they can be. I think this fall will be a lot of fun, but I'm sure it's going to be challenging too. I know there will be times when I'll want to just step on the field and show them how it's done. And, I'm sure I will do this to some extent in practice (I always had far greater respect for coaches who played with us and were actually able to do the things they were instructing us to do). However, when it comes to the games, I'll have to hope that my demonstration, examples, and instruction will be enough to help guide and teach the girls how to improve their game and to play together as a team. Hopefully we'll go out there and dominate!