We grew up in a small town that had limited sporting facilities and equipment. There wasn't enough money to go around and give us a basketball court or tennis court or swimming pool. In fact, we didn't have many options at all when it came to choosing sports. That's why we all played and loved soccer. Even to this day, it is a great joy. All we needed was goal posts, a bit of play area and a ball of some sort. Be it a tennis ball, a ping pong, a soccer ball itself, we just needed a ball to kick around. And for goal posts, a pair of thongs was sufficed or perhaps just two water bottles. And we could play anywhere. There weren't any rules to it. Just a little bit of open space to give us the freedom to kick and scream and laugh and that's all we needed. And anyone could play. As long as you kicked the ball in the right direction, you were in the team. The best bit was that you could have as many or as little people you wanted. Even just a ball and yourself was enough fun. There was no discrimination, it brought all us children together and my mother would say what a delight it would be to see all the multi-cultural children playing together, not judging and completely oblivious to race and religion and age. My best friend was from Egypt and he thought it was the best. He loved playing soccer with me and later on, he ended up owning his own soccer academy in Egypt . We all just shared a passion for soccer and it really brought us all together.

As you grow older, the fun does die a bit as you learn the rules and things become more serious. Why is it that the older we get, the more serious we become? I learnt this when I became part of a proper soccer team. We would train and get up early and the joy of soccer was lessening and lessening. But it would be all worth it when we won a game. All the joy and happiness would come back and the love between the players would overflow immensely as we screamed for joy. It's funny how it's the best thing in the world when you just kick the ball when you're younger, but when you get older, you have to win the game to feel that bliss. One day when I was aiming to kick the ball into the net, a player from the opposition came running towards me and tried to defend. I saw her coming, as fast and as intense as a bull, her trunk of a leg swinging towards the ball. Unfortunately she missed and she shattered my ankle. That sporting injury ended my love for soccer. Truly, soccer stopped being fun then. I didn't want to do it anymore after that. It felt more like competition rather than pleasure and the outcome cost me a fair bit in doctors' fees. Nevertheless, I do play sometimes now for fun but I would never compete seriously again.