soccerchica's blog

Asthma is the Devil

Raise your hand if you have asthma.

Me too.

Hello, my name is SoccerChica and I have asthma.

If you don't have asthma, please, allow me to explain it to you. You're running as usual, maybe chasing after a ball that went way over your head. Defender on your heels. Suddenly, you stop. Dead in your tracks. You can't move. It feels as if one person has their hands tightly clenching your throat, while another is squeezing your lungs as hard as possible. Neither lets up at any point.

Since we're all on the same page, now, we may continue.

In high school, I never played with any other asthmatics. On my college team, though, there must be at least 4 other girls with asthma. It works out well if one of us happens to forget the inhaler on a bad day.

The whole point of this rant is that asthma is the Devil. During off-season training, it's typical to run a few miles each day and work out a little. As it gets colder, though, it gets really hard to keep running outdoors. Of course, the preference is to run on similar terrain to that on which you're playing. But the cold air just gets in an asthmatic's lungs and freezes them to the point that they won't expand to take in more air. It becomes impossible to run.

So, those of us who can't run outside, end up feeling like fat tubs of lard once it gets cold enough for the first snow (which we haven't seen much of this year!!!!). It's quite depressing for an athlete to feel that way.

Thank you for listening to me. I appreciate your time and patience.

-SC

Hi all!

Hello, my readers!

I was just passed this site from Big D. It's kind of like getting an inheritence from someone who's still alive. I guess that's a gift? Whatever you want to call it, that's what this site is to me.

I'm not really sure what to do with the site. The only way I'll know what to do is if you, the readers, tell me what you'd like to see. If I don't hear from you, I'm just going to have to keep re-capping the news. If you like that or want to see something else, let me know.

Talk to me!!

-SC

Add new comment

Number of female coaches in women's sports shrinks to all-time low

OK, ladies. It's time for us to step up and take some action. We can't just sit here and read something like this without doing something about it. Sitting around thinking Wow. That really sucks.. isn't going to sway the numbers. We need women like you and me to get out there are change it!

L.A. Times article: Number of female coaches in women's sports shrinks to all-time low

The article was a little long or I would have included the whole thing...

How can we help? It starts with coaching rec teams. Coach your church team, your YMCA team, or even a neighborhood team. Set the foundation. When you're more confident, coach a middle school team. I have a friend who does that and she loves it. Finally, when you're older and more experienced, coach a club team or a high school team. I have a friend who coaches 2 club teams and a high school team. All of those kids are being exposed to something they may not be used to. Eventually you'll be coaching a collegiate team.