Was my hobby passed down to me?

    In a way my love for soccer was passed on to me. Obviously, my parents didn’t force me to play soccer, or as I was brought up to call it, calcio. In terms of sports my grandfather on my dad’s side was into boxing, my grandmother did yoga, and my father played American Football. However, because my dad lived in Rome the main sport is real football and so he would play pick up games. My mom, on the other hand, played volleyball in college. But having a sport passed down to you is not only a matter of the people in your life playing or having played the sport, it’s also a matter of culture. Because my dad is Italian, ever since I was little I would watch soccer games and kick balls around. I played a bit in New York, though I do not remember much, but I have heard stories that my parents would come to pick me up and find me in the corner because the other kids would “steal the ball and not give it back.”
    The first I remember is playing for the 5 year-old park district team called “Sharkies.” I started playing for them when I was about 5 years old and I had just moved to Urbana. I would love to say “and then I fell in love with soccer and wanted to do it for the rest of my life,” but I really couldn’t tell you because I have no clue what it meant to me at that time. All I know is that as the years went on I got more and more serious about it and loved it more and more. Now I know you don’t want to hear a basic timeline of my soccer life but I’m going to tell you anyway.
    I played for park district for many years where I was coached by my dad and my friend’s dad. I learned most of what I know today from my dad. Eventually I got too old for park district and it also became too easy because I took soccer more seriously than a lot of the other people who played park district. At around the U12 level, if I remember correctly, I moved to what is called Illinois Football Club, or IFC. This was a big thing for me because it was a big club compared to park district. At IFC there are 3 teams separated by “skill.” There’s the white team which is the “worst.” Then there’s the blue team which is the middle one. And finally there’s the orange team which is the “best.” I was always put on the blue team. The main factor for this is I have always been slow. The slowest on the team. Even now, I have become a lot quicker, but I am still quite slow.
    My parents have always had my back throughout the years. They give me the freedom to do what I want and trust me but if I step out of line they make sure to point it out. They leave me the freedom to find what I love to do and pursue whatever it is I want to pursue. I think this has really helped nurture my love for soccer. If I hadn’t liked it I could’ve changed what I did as an extracurricular. But I love it. And I’d like to think I’m fairly decent at it too. I mean you’d hope so after so many years. And I think I have two things that have really helped me with soccer throughout my life, my supportive family and an entire culture backing up my love for calcio.