Seems like the entire planet has had World Cup fever! Have you fallen a victim to the plague, this year? It is hard not to see why you haven’t. I have to admit, in previous years I never had an interest in involving myself with other World Cup fanatics. However, the contagion of excitement from my friends and colleagues, has influenced my decision to make time out of my day to watch the world’s favorite sport.

Throughout major new sources, social media platforms, trending topics and the like, you cannot escape the World Cup.  I came across an article on CNN, titled “How much do top soccer players earn?” Most of the well-known, international players earn between $8 to $14 million per year. Although the article mainly discussed the comparison between how much each player earned, according to their rank within the sport, it got me thinking about achieving your childhood dreams. Soccer is one of those sports that you can easily learn, and play recreationally at any age, no matter what your skill level may be.

Some of you may or may not have seen or heard about the famous YouTube video “Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” that went viral and moved millions of people. If you have some time to watch it, I highly recommend this video. In a nutshell, the moral of Randy’s lecture is to persuade us to not stop trying to achieve our childhood dreams. With that said, how late is too late to try and make it in the professional soccer league, whether in the U.S. or overseas? If we look at the players who are ranked worldwide, the 15th best player is Michael Ballack from Germany who is 33 years old. The number 16 player, Raul from Spain is 32, and the Rio Ferdinand from England is 31 years old and ranked number 17. Sports critics agree that in most sports, athletes who are younger perform at their peak. But then there’s that saying “if you can dream it, you can do it.”

In Randy’s last lecture, he talks about one of childhood dreams, which is to play in the NFL. What he didn’t realize is that he actually did, by participating in practice with his favorite football, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Although Randy never officially played professionally for whatever reason, any brick wall that came his way, he hurdled over and achieved a dream that he had as a child. I have personally encountered a guy who has a similar story. He played basketball his entire life, throughout college, and after receiving his undergraduate degree, he worked for a couple years. Then one day he decided he wanted to go back to playing basketball, and took his shot at making the European league, and he made it.

I am aware that it is physically impossible for a 65 year old man to still have the same athletic ability as a 20 or 30 something year old, but I’d say the main point I am trying to make in this post, is that to a certain degree we are all able to achieve some aspect of a life-long goal or childhood dream, because it is possible.