Elsa received a letter from Pia Sundhagen the other day. Together with a friend from school she wrote to one of the worlds most deserving soccer player, the head of the US Women’s National Soccer Team and got a personal response.
Pia grew up in Marbäck, a small village outside Ulricehamn in the 1960s. In those days girls were not playing soccer and she was signed in as a boy under the name Pelle. Today she coaches one of the best female soccer teams in the world. Under her command the US Soccer Team won the Olympic games in 2008.
Elsa wrote the letter as an English assignment at school and did not really expect to get a personal response. Naturally she was thrilled to hear from Pia and to find out that she has a cat called Elsa.
We live in a world were famous people get a lot of attention and where we sometimes idealize people who have made it. Success is measured in newspaper articles or TV performance and I often think that we loose track of what’s real. It is no longer peoples achievements in focus but what they are wearing or who they are dating. I want my kids to keep a certain distance to this trend of “ 15 minutes of fame” but when it comes to Pia Sundhagen I think we have a real role model worth being proud of.
She started playing soccer at the age of 6 and thought she was the only girl in the world who liked the sport. She had talent and she had drive. At the age of 11 Ulricehamn had started teams for girls and she got to play in the highest local league with grown ups. She was always different, always went her own way and became one of the best Swedish soccer player all times and feels gratitude towards her family and the coach who let her play with the boys team in Marbäck.
Today she lives with the girlfriend Marie in the US with one of the toughest jobs in the world (her pre assessor go fired when the team lost a game after 55 victories) but she still takes the time to write a letter to a 9 year old girl. To a girl who is not very interested in soccer but very impressed by the fact that she has a cat called Elsa!
In an article about Pia Sundhagen said that she is a great dreamer.
- I always write my dreams down. Many of them have come true.
Elsa, my little dreamer – maybe you should do the same?
1 comment:
Hejja Pia Sundhagen! Hon har just fått ett fan till - om än ett totalt ointresserad av sport... Och bra jobbat Elsa! Jag tycker också att du ska skriva ner alla dina drömmar. Kanske jag själv också borde göra? Just nu är jag mest inne på att bjuda in till en berättarkväll... Retorikkursen jag läser är mycket inspirerande!
Njut av våren, Kram och Fridens!
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