My Three Posts

Sometimes, it is hard to find out what some of your personal rituals are. We do some of them unconsciously. Some have become a habit. When you think about them, they can even sound funny. Most of them are very little things that happen almost daily. Things as little as hitting three posts before a soccer game.

            Ever since I was a little nine year old kid, I like to play soccer. For a long time I was asking my parents to enroll me in a soccer class, they finally did. Since the beginning of my soccer training, I liked to play as a goalie, which has always been one of my favorite positions. When I started I was not that good, well, I was not good at all, but I continued to practice and practice. My favorite professional goalie has always been Iker Casillas from Real Madrid, even though I absolutely prefer Barcelona, which is, by the way, the best team in the world, but I think he is the best goalie. Every time I see him play, I see he touches the top post of the goal.

Ever since I was a little kid, I wanted to play like him and imitate him. I started doing that before every single game and before every single second half, with only one difference, I hit all three posts every time I play. The first post I hit is, as Iker, the one that is at the top. Since I was short, I couldn’t reach the post, so I had to jump as hard and as high as I could to touch it. Now I can touch it, so I do not have to jump anymore. The second post I touch is the one that is at my right. Then, I stretch out with the help of that post for some seconds. After that I hit the right post and stretch there, I run to the left post, and I do the same, hit it and stretch out there. When I finish hitting the three posts, I go back to the center of the goal and hit the top post for a second time. The three posts, each one very cold, especially when I play at night. Each of them has saved one or more goals that I could not save.

Then, I put on my white gloves, which are sometimes smelly after games, only after I have hit all three posts. Then, I put my water inside the goal, just before the game starts. I always do the same process before the second half starts with the only difference that I usually have my gloves on because we only have five minutes to rest before the second half starts. Unfortunately, hitting the post is not only something I do at the start or middle of the game.

Sometimes, when in the middle of an important game, someone, including me, makes a serious mistake that could cause us to lose the game or even the championship, I hit the post, but I hit it harder. It hurts, but sometimes, I am so mad that I hit it really hard and my hand hurts for one day or two. Sometimes, I hit the floor because it hurts less. Something else I do when I get mad because of an opponent’s goal is giving a little kick to the left and right posts.

             I am not sure why I do this, I am not superstitious. I do not even believe in good luck or bad luck. I believe that if I am going to win something it has to be because of my effort. I just do it because it is a habit that I have been creating since I was a little nine year old kid, and I will probably continue doing this for years and years to come until I stop playing soccer, which will probably never happen.