Sports Therapy: The Women's Cup of Soccer

Some people try to raise their sagging spirits by drinking spirits. Some people try to do it by playing the lottery and hoping they win. Some people try to raise their spirits by squashing other people’s spirits—displacing their anger on their spouse or children. These, of course, are all dubious and harmful ways.

On the other hand, the Women’s World Cup of Soccer has given us a totally healthy way to raise our spirits.

From USA’s miraculous last-second comeback game against Brazil to the championship final between the USA and Japan, which Japan won in a last-second comeback, women’s soccer has made our spirits—and Japan’s—soar.

The game against Brazil was one of the all-time classics of international soccer. No movie script could have been written with more drama. The USA women were down 2 goals to 1 and the game was in the last minute of extra time. They were also down a player, due to a penalty. The announcers were sadly lamenting the imminent loss when all of a sudden Megan Rapinoe flew down the left side of the field and kicked a last-second, desperate but beautiful ball in front of the net and Abby Wambach leaped into the air and headed it into the net.

And then when the two teams each took turns kicking penalty shots USA goalie, Hope Solo, whose beauty and feistiness has made her the face of the Women’s team, made a lovely, athletic dive to stop one of Brazil’s penalty shots. That gave the USA the margin of victory.

After this game a short video appeared on Youtube by a 22-year-old video-maker named Robby Donaho, celebrating the victory by showing fans all over the country going crazy. These fans, young and old, male and female, were jumping and running about and screaming at the top of their lungs. Yes, their spirits were obviously high.

More than that, the USA Women’s Soccer Team demonstrated how to hang tough through hard times, something we all need to learn. At one point in the game against Brazil, Hope Solo swooped down and seemingly stopped a penalty shot. But a referee blew her whistle and claimed that one of the American players were off side. So just when it appeared USA had accomplished a major triumph, Brazil was allowed to kick again, and this time they prevailed.

The call was very controversial and might have caused another team to brood. Maybe another team might have hung their heads and cursed their fate and been unable to play their best. But this didn’t happen to the USA. They never gave up trying their best, and in the end they not only endured, they won.

In the championship game, it was Japan that scored at the end of the game, and Japan that won on penalty shots. And so Japan got its first World Cup and helped rebuild the spirit of Japan, a country that has suffered greatly since the Tsunami of March 11.

People say, “It’s just a game.” But sometimes an athletic competition is more than a game. Sometimes it is a psychological antidote to all that is wrong in the world—from war to tsunamis to individual personal anxieties and depressions.

Call it Sports Therapy.