US Women's National Soccer Team.

I absolutely love soccer. I started playing soccer when I was six years old.....until I hit my mid-twenties then changed over to cycling. I played on recreational teams when I was younger and competitive traveling teams as I got older. I was a decent player and athlete....I had lots of heart and lots of speed.....I just didn't have the kind of skill set that it took to be on a high quality Division 1 team like UW-Madison, where I went to college.

I've been getting back into soccer again now that the Olympics are in full tilt and all I have to say is that I've become a huge Natasha Kai fan.

What's not to love about the Flyin' Hawaiian.

It is truly amazing that anyone from Hawaii could make the national team. Hundreds of women are trying for 20 or so spots. You can't let off the throttle for even a minute because someone else will take your job. It's simply beyond competitive, its cutthroat. Hawaii doesn't have the the level of competition or the Olympic Developmental Programs (ODP) that most soccer driven states do. So props to Natasha Kai and her fantastic OT header in the quarterfinals against Canada. We're two games away from the gold.

What is even more interesting is that in my google search for all things Natasha Kai, I ran across an interesting picture.Here is a picture of Natasha Kai, Marci Miller Jobson and Carli Lloyd. Marci Miller was a friend of mine from college. She played at UW-Madison for two years then transferred out to SMU to finish her collegiate career. I've been so self involved the last few years with all my cycling endeavors that I hadn't realized that Marci had been playing for the Women's US national team. Marci stepped down from the Women's national team last year to coach women's soccer full time at Baylor University. Congratulations Marci on all your successes as a soccer player and coach. It couldn't have happened to a nicer person.