When my friend told me that she finally decided to run competitively, I was very happy for her. Come to think of it, the neighbor\’s daughter (my friend) used to go somewhere just running, and she also used to play soccer a lot. I was shocked because I didn\’t even know that my friend could play soccer. I knew he ran, I knew he played soccer, I had no idea. Yeah, I think this is great. Soccer isn\’t just for guys, there are even competitions where girls play soccer.
But when I told my brother, for example, that women play soccer too, he just laughed. Frankly, I was quite offended as to why girls and grown women couldn\’t play soccer. My friend played soccer and was pretty good at it. But then she took up running and went to an athletic club with little kids and taught them. And I don\’t think it\’s a bad thing at all to try a few sports. I\’ve heard of parents forcing their kids to play this sport and that sport, and as a result, little kids don\’t like going to that sports club at all.
Because they think they have to do it, it\’s like an obligation. Then it\’s a shame. If I had children, I certainly wouldn\’t want to force them to do something. Or my partner or my mother forcing something on my child. Some people, like my neighbor, send their daughters to ballet. I think that is unfortunate. Your daughter cries all the time that she doesn\’t want to go to ballet. She says ballet practice is painful and she doesn\’t enjoy it. I don\’t think we should force anyone after you to do a sport that they don\’t enjoy or that is painful.”
