Soccer memories linger. I mean, I still remember everything about my first soccer team. We were called the Aztecs and we played in my town’s recreational league.

We had blue and yellow reversible jerseys and blue shorts.

I was in third grade.Saturdays were fantastic back then.

It was game day, which meant putting on my uniform, running around until I got a cramp in my side, and then sucking on an orange slice at halftime.

Sometimes we got donut holes to eat after the game.

It was heaven. Kids all over the country are having experiences like mine every weekend.

Soccer is the most popular sport in the world and it’s steadily growing in America, too, especially as hordes of children are becoming attached to the game at a young age.

As they grow, so, too, will soccer. Truth is, it’s hard to shake soccer when you get hooked.

At some point in the middle of that season with the Aztecs, I took a turn playing goalie and loved it.

I asked my parents to get me a pair of goalie gloves and, for the better part of the next 15 years, I devoted myself to making as many saves as I could.

I tried out for a travel team, some select teams, and was picked to join an elite team of players from around the country that traveled to England and Sweden one summer.

I was co-captain of my high school varsity team and became a coach and certified referee.

In college I played for my fraternity team and then joined several adult leagues after I graduated.

I just enjoyed being around the game. Soccer has always struck me as being fluid and rhythmic.

There are no long pauses between pitches, no long breaks for free throws, and no huddling up after every play.

The game moves and breathes and flows.

It’s dramatic and exciting and relaxing all at the same time.

I remember moments from nearly all the seasons I played—some good, some bad—and I can still run my own personal highlight reel in my head at any moment.

Once, when I was about 7 years old, I made a diving save on a free kick that one of my best friends took; we still joke about it today, more than two decades later.