Season 2 of 7 Minute Stories starts today!
This episode: I join an unlikely sports team and find America in the process...
Art by Pete Whitehead
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Story performed by: Aaron Calafato
Audio Production: Ken Wendt
Original Art: Pete Whitehead
Music Contributor: thomas j. duke
Podcast Coordinator: Cori Birce
Creative Consultant: Anthony Vorndran
Production Assistant: Lennon Janovyak
TRANSCRIPT
S2E1-America.mp3 - powered by Happy Scribe
Today's episode of 7 Minute Stories is made possible by Fishbowl. Now I started using Fishbowl because I asked myself this question. Is there an app for professionals that doesn't feel gross, that doesn't feel like Facebook or LinkedIn? Is there something that provides a safe space where you can get the inside scoop on companies you actually want to work for, where you have the ability to post anonymously, where you can get referrals and where you can just authentically network with other professionals. Is that too much to ask?
Well, it's not because as I found out, that's exactly what Fishbowl provides. They also have free live audio talks and Q&As with industry experts, I know this because I do live talks about storytelling and podcasting on the app. And if you're interested in hearing those, Cori and I will be announcing my upcoming dates on this podcast in the future. Fishbowl is available for both iPhone and Android. So search your app store and download the free app today.
You're listening to 7 Minute Stories with Aaron Calafato. We love hearing from you, so we set up a number you can call or text it's 216-352-4010. Use it and share some feedback about one of Aaron's Stories or a story of your own. We might feature your text message or voicemail in an upcoming episode. Also, visit our website 7MinuteStories.com. That's the number 7 Minute Stories dot com to see the awesome new merch available this season. Choose from Stickers, Koozies, T-shirts, tote bags and more. I have to say the tote bag is my favorite.
This episode, America.
I remember my soccer skills started coming back to me. I hadn't played for years and I'm out on this empty field with just a goal in front of me. And there's farmland and crops for as far as you can see, I'm in Northwest Ohio. I had just graduated college and I was living out there for one more summer working at a Holiday Inn, just saving money because I was headed to New York to really, in my mind, start an acting career. And so it was really a summer of stillness and reflection and just waiting.
And as I practiced on this really hot Saturday in the summer, I remember how good it felt to play again. I was out there really on my own. Dribbling, putting the ball on net, getting my speed back. It's like riding a bike. And I thought about, I didn't understand why I quit soccer to begin with. It was one of those things that happened in my life. I still kind of regret. I was really on a trajectory to play in high school and possibly college and for some reason, right towards the beginning of high school, I just stopped.
I stopped liking playing on a team, and I don't know if it was, I was getting into art and playing music or whatever. But you know how some things in life just come to a stop. But my love for the game never really went away. And I could feel it starting to come back as I'm just practicing out there and this beautiful isolation. And as I stop to take a breath, a nice breeze finally came through. I looked out way across the way, and there was another adjacent soccer field, and I noticed that there was a scrimmage happening.
And so I decided to walk over and see what was going on. And when I got there it was like a League or something. And I could tell most of the people were either from Mexico or somewhere in South America. Everybody was speaking Spanish. They were either first generation here or had just come here. I didn't really put it together. All I knew is that I loved watching beautiful soccer, and they played so well, even if this was just like a wreck League. And so I decided just to sit down and I watched them play.
And while they were playing, I was sort of juggling on the sideline, juggling the ball, dribbling a little bit, not trying to show off or anything or take the attention. I was just keeping busy. But after the game ended, I remember I started to walk away, and one of the guys came up to me, and I remember his name was Tomás, and he was one of the only people that spoke broken English. And he asked me he was like, hey, do you want to play in our League?
And I was like, I'm not sure. He goes, well, I saw you play over there when you were practicing and you play well, you want to play? We play every Saturday. And I thought, yeah, that'd be awesome. And so I was excited. I mean, this felt like, a come back to me, you know. I remember coming the next Saturday really psyched to play. And I will never forget the scene that I walked into. I get out of my car, my little Honda, and I start walking towards the field.
I got my shorts on and a nice soccer shirt lookin' got my hair slicked back. The whole works. I went crazy. I wanted to look the part, and I start walking towards the soccer field. And I notice there's dozens and dozens and dozens of people there. It looked like an event, and they're all standing on the sidelines. And there's some stands that appeared that people are sitting on. And I'm like, what is this? And look over to the parking lot. And I see that there's food trucks serving like empanadas and tacos and slushies.
And there's kids running around with cotton candy and all kinds of stuff. And I thought, this is awesome, like I'm in a League, you know? And as I'm getting towards the field, I meet Tomás. He tells me what team I'm going to be on. And I play striker. And so they allowed me to play center forward. And I'm kind of getting warmed up on the field stretching and kind of waving and talking as much as I could to the other teammates because we couldn't speak the same language.
And as I'm looking out, I'm seeing all of the people that are sitting on the sidelines and the stands and even some of the players are coming in through the cornfields or like the crops. And like, where are they coming from? And that's when I put it together, the players and their families were coming over from this farm in the distance. They were coming over from these little shanties, these little houses and walking over to the soccer field because those little shanties and houses, that's where they lived for the summer, because they were migrant workers.
It was migrant workers and their families. And they had just worked a long week and even half a Saturday. So on this day, they worked half a day of backbreaking labor in the 90 degree heat, picking fruits and vegetables. And then when half the day was done, they went over, changed their clothes into their soccer jerseys. And they and their families came over to play in this weekly event, which was like the highlight of their week. And I'm standing there getting ready to play and realizing this and it just hit me how touched I was that they had asked me to be a part of this and how beautiful it was that we just connected through this game, that it's the game of soccer.
Tomás saw that I could play and he just said, hey, you play, I play, let's play soccer. And so the game started and we did. And our opponents were great. Our team, these guys were fantastic. But I found my rhythm and I was back and I scored. And we were winning the game. And during the game, in order to communicate all of a sudden, Tomás started calling me America. And so my team referred to me as America. That was my nickname. America, pass; America, shoot; America. You know?
I was just like... I was just stunned by that. But that was my name with my team. They called me America. And we ended up winning the game. And we all shook hands. And I remember after the game was over, we all sat and all the family members on the sidelines and we're eating food. I ate with them and the kids are running around and we're not doing much talking. We're just looking at each other smiling, appreciating this beautiful game that we just played and each other.
And I was really sad when it ended. And when it ended, everybody got up and they started walking over back through the crops in the fields, back to these little shanties, some of the families hand in hand. I smiled, said bye to everybody, gave Tomás a hug, and he said, hey, as I was walking away to my car, he said, hey, America, we'll see you next Saturday? And I looked back and I said, absolutely. And I got in my car and I went back to my week while my friends and their families went back to picking fruits and vegetables all week long.
In this very hot summer in America.
7 Minute Stories is created and performed by Aaron Calafato. Audio Production by Ken Wendt. You can connect with Ken or inquire about his audio production services at Media216.com. Original artwork by Pete Whitehead. Find out more about Pete's work at PeteWhitehead.com. Our creative consultant is Anthony Vorndran and Lennon Janovyak is our production assistant. Special thanks to our partners at Evergreen Podcasts and lastly, I'm Cori Birce. Make sure and tune in next week for another story.
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