Monday, April 25, 2011

MLS campaign: your most memorable goal? Charlie Davies' own story

I enjoy this favorite Goal MLS contest- you get to tell the story of a memorable goal (it can be your own, your child's, or a hero's goal).  If your story is good, they will feature it on their web site, and might also feature it on the big screen at an MLS match.

I found out about the campaign through an e-mail that  D.C. United's Charlie Davies sent out to the MLS community.  His story is pretty cool, obviously, because you can imagine his first goal for D.C. United after coming back from his car-crash injuries must have been pretty emotional.  Here is 

Hello,

 A few weeks ago I scored the two most memorable goals of my career.

Maybe they weren't the prettiest goals, maybe they weren't World Cup clinchers, but they were still huge for me. They were my first goals since coming back from an accident that had many questioning if I'd ever play again.
After sustaining major injuries, I basically had to teach my body how to walk again, and how to function.

But with each passing week, I felt my body growing stronger -- from the hospital bed to the wheelchair to the crutches, from walking to jogging to sprinting -- I kept the faith and pushed myself to the limit.

Finally, after a year and a half, I stepped on the field with D.C. United and felt that feeling that I had been longing for. It was something I'll never forget -- I had made it back.

The first goal of my comeback was on a penalty kick. After the ref blew the whistle, I looked at our captain Dax McCarty for the nod. He handed me the ball and said four words I'll never forget: "We believe in you."

The final whistle blew and I had scored two goals. I looked over at our fans and felt incredible support. I realized how far I'd come and was overwhelmed with emotion. I couldn't have imagined a better return.



Charlie Davies


I'll share my favorite goal in a future post...of course in the spirit of this being a parent's soccer blog, I already have a particular goal in mind...one that my son scored.

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