A Word From Badger Lynn Murray
October 25, 2007 | Women's Soccer
With just three regular-season Big Ten games remaining on the 2007 schedule, senior Lynn Murray shares a behind-the-scenes look at what it is like to have played competitive soccer for 15 years and all of a sudden have that career end right before your eyes.
At the end of the 2006 season, Murray ranked sixth on the UW's career saves list with 207. The keeper finished the 2006 season with a goals against average of 1.35, tallying 42 saves on the year and three shutouts after missing five games due to an injury. This season, Murray missed the first half of the season due to another injury, but has played a key role in keeping up team chemistry and making sure the atmosphere is fun and positive on the practice field as well as on gameday.
Check back next week to uwbadgers.com to read a final blog by senior mifielder Marissa Sarkesian.
October 25, 2007
As I'm sitting here attempting to decide what ordinary aspect of my life to exploit for the subject of my blog this week, I think uncertainty might be what I could express best. With my soccer career approaching its finale, my future is filled with questions. I would like to reiterate before you read any further that I claim no exceptional writing abilities, just those of an engineering major.
It seems that in the upcoming month or so of my life I will be confronted with an increasing number of decisions, most importantly what to do with my life now that soccer is going to be a lesser part of it. Now I'll have to start putting more effort into my school work, because I won't have athletics to provide a ready excuse any longer. That said, what do I do with the 20 hours a week spent playing' With the time spent on buses and airplanes' With the time at hotels and restaurants with the team'
Well, I already watch way too much TV (that's probably the true reason for any academic underachievement on my part). Add studying to the 'to do' list. I renewed my Netflix subscription and added all the old movies that I wanted to see but just never found the time to. I have become more involved in the engineering program (it 's about time) and started volunteering more with the athletic department.
But most importantly, I realize that I can do whatever I want. Playing soccer has taught me that. Soccer, to most people, is boring because it's low scoring and has a low payoff ratio. Everyone works really hard toward build-up and one mistake can put the ball 50 yards back to suppress the perfect play. But the game instills a discipline and perfectionism that attenuates the character of even the rawest players. I'm not intending to preach how soccer is like life. It is, but that's not the point. The point is the things I have learned in my 15 years of playing have allowed me to become the person that I am.
Fifteen years! What a long time! For 15 years my life has been organized around soccer. Eating right, training regularly and intense practice and game schedules. And in the next month or so, that will all be different. Not to say that soccer will suddenly disappear from my life, it couldn't even if I wanted it to. But for the first time, my participation will be on my schedule, on my terms. The other seniors and I will continue our healthy habits because we want to, not for the benefit of the team.
Back to the point: what am I going to do with all of my new-found free time' Do I want to be an engineer' Or do I not' Much to their dismay, I 'll get to hang out with my friends more. Maybe I'll even have the opportunity to find something else that I'm passionate about to dedicate the rest of my life to. But as much as I'm going to miss my demanding schedule and the opportunity to play the game I love, I look forward to starting another part of my life. Who knows where I'll end up or what I'll be doing (I don't). But, as anyone who knows me can testify to, soccer was and is an important part of how I get there.
On that note, I should get to class so that I still have a school to go to when my athletic career comes to an end all too soon!
