About my Love for Australian Rules Football
How does a University of Waterloo Software Engineering student like me (at the time) pick up on what is a fairly unknown sport around these parts of the world (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada)?
Sheer. Dumb. Luck.
I had just finished an exam and I was enjoying a beer or two at a pub when lo and behold! A sport is playing on TSN2... a sport I had never seen. I could not stop watching. Looked like some sort of marathon-war hybrid.
This was back in 2011. After another lucky find, I found my way to one of the few decent Aussie rules football field to watch some finals action in the Ontario league. And in another unlikely occurence, I talked to some guys from the Toronto Dingos and asked them how I could join the action. I don't think I could have found a better team to play Aussie rules with even if I tried to.
And so, I borrowed a footy and started practicing my kicks and dribbles. I had to prepare for my big debut in 2012. This is when I discovered how incredibly satisfying kicking a footy is. The hard part is to drop the ball at thr right angle and accelerate as you kick through.
2012 came around. I wasn't even ready to play since I had a knee injury just before my first game. It's like the ice cream truck waited for you to come out of the house and once you did, it started its engine and drove off.
Ok, so I missed the first game. Got to play part of the second game that season. Stressful, but a good stress. A stress I would encounter every single football week as I tried to improve myself. A stress that I still feel every time I go out there and prepare for the 80-minute war against the other team. Even got to play for Team Canada later that summer... one game against the Americans, so what? I represented my country. It counts.
...
Fast-forward to the end of 2015. 55 games under my belt. 10 goals. I'm moving away and where I'm going, I might not be able to take my footy with me. I certainly won't be able to take the Toronto Dingos with me. However, the experiences I had will never leave me. And I still have an actual football that I'll be taking with me. There will be loads of time to practice those kicks and dribbles. Might start a team myself or go to a neighboring city to join one.