Every father’s dream is to have that connection with his child, it’s a bonus if that common connection has something to do with sports. I was so excited when the school of my daughter Zia started to offer football as an extra-curricular activity for the whole student body. Four months later, Zia is still enjoying every minute of it. She can still remember the night the Philippine Women’s National Football Team lifted the 2022 AFF Women’s Championship trophy at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila. That was truly a memorable night for her as she was able to get pictures and autographs from selected team members of the Filipinas.
The historic 1-0 win against hosts New Zealand in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup group stage was truly a milestone for every Filipino fan. Classes were called off that day and my daughter was able to watch the whole match on TV, she was treated to a dazzling display of goal-keeping from our very own Olivia McDaniel, who eventually got the clean sheet and the Player of the Match award.
The weekend after that match was the very first time my daughter played in a friendly against a different team. Though the result did not go our way, the experience she gained from it was truly beneficial for her. She told me right after the match that she wanted to buy goal-keeper gloves because she wanted to be like Olivia McDaniel, so we went to the nearest store in BGC and bought her a set of gloves. I was quite amazed how the victory our nation won in the Women’s World Cup got my daughter more hooked to the game of football.
Last Thursday, I brought my daughter to the ‘Filipinas Homecoming’ event at the Adidas Brand Center in Makati, where she was able to meet and rub elbows with each of the Filipinas team members that were present. She was wearing her white Adidas Filipinas away kit with ‘Guillou’ at the back and she was lucky enough to be approached by Katrina Guillou who obliged to have a picture with and even signed her jersey. She then handed Sara Eggesvik a drawing she made specifically for her, the reaction of Sara was priceless for her and she even shared it as a story on her Instagram, which was the cherry on top for my daughter.
The time came for her to meet Olivia McDaniel and she literally had clammy hands and she was so nervous to be in the presence of one of her real life heroes. So I blurted out a question on her behalf, and I asked her what her message was for my 9-year old daughter who has opted to play as goal-keeper instead of defense, and this was her answer, “I’d say that it gets really hard sometimes, not everyone wants to be in that position, and I give you kudos for actually wanting to be a part of it. I didn’t want to be a goal-keeper when I was younger! So just stick to it, don’t get frustrated, you’ll get scored on sometimes and its going to be okay but you just got to keep moving forward. There’s a quote my dad always tells me, and it’s from Ted Lasso, ‘Be a goldfish, have that memory of a goldfish, always forget, to keep moving forward.’”
To each and every member of the Filipinas, thank you for proudly representing our country on the world’s biggest stage! The impact each of you made, especially to the youth, is truly life-changing and you have given the them a reason to dream, that anything is possible.
