What hobbies have been passed down from your family?

It was the summer of 2014, my last year of living in China. In fact, in just two months, I would go through a 13-hour-long journey and come to the so-called land of the free, but that’s a story for another time. During this summer, my dad introduced me to something I would consider is now one of my biggest passions, something I can connect with him no matter how many miles away: football, or the name I found out after I got here: soccer. 

    I don’t remember how or why I started watching soccer; my best guess would be one night, my dad was watching the 2014 World Cup, and I began watching with him. What I do remember, though, is quite a few of the matches that I watched and, more importantly, the time I spent with my dad.

Due to time zone differences, the matches of the World Cup, which was being hosted in Brazil that year, usually kicked off around midnight in China, and because I was still a little eight-year-old boy who needed sleep, I couldn’t just stay awake until the matches started. So, what I would do is sleep pretty early, probably around 8 or 9 p.m.,  and once the match starts, my dad would wake me up, and we would watch together. 

The first match I remember clearly watching was the destruction of Brazil at the hands of Germany. The game started even later than usual, and because my parents wanted me to sleep more, they only woke me up during half-time. By that time, Brazil was already down 4-0. I was so new to soccer that I wasn’t feeling too sad about the loss even though I supported Brazil; all I remember was being in awe of the German team but wishing for my second favorite team at the time and my favorite national team now—Argentina, to beat them in the finals.

Spoilers: Argentina did not beat Germany. I think that final was the first time I truly felt sad because of soccer. I remember so clearly my heart-shattering when Mario Götze scored his goal in the 113th minute of the game, then watching my favorite player, Lionel Messi, miss a free kick as the final play of the game. From then on, however, I began supporting Argentina in all the national tournaments. You might be wondering why I don’t support China, well let me explain: it’s because they are garbage…so bad that last time they qualified for the World Cup, in 2002, I wasn’t even born yet. 

After I moved to America, soccer helped me in many aspects of my life…well, two specific ones. First, it helped me make friends. When I arrived, my English was not fluent, but playing soccer at recess did not require me to be so. Thus, soccer helped me create some of my earliest friendships in America. Soccer also helped me keep a bond with my dad. Since he has to stay in China due to his job, our only way of communicating is Facetime. To be honest, besides the usual “how is school?” or “how is life?”, my dad and I don’t have many things to talk about, as we quite literally live worlds apart. Fortunately, if we ever run out of topics, I can always just bring up a crazy goal or a disgusting foul that happened over the weekend, and our conversation length would more than double. 

Recently, after the 2022 World Cup, where Messi and Argentina finally won the long-sought-after trophy, I’ve been getting my mom into soccer as well. She’s been watching a lot of Messi in Inter Miami and would discuss soccer news with me during dinner. Soccer will continue to be a massive part of my life and I will always cherish the sport as it allows me to spend more time with my family and friends.