This Friday was the kickoff to our annual Lady Cougar Classic. This was the first year that we had the pleasure of hosting three other Nazarene schools: Olivet Nazarene University, Trevecca Nazarene University, and Southern Nazarene University. Although the results of our tournament didn't turn out in our favor, we were thankful for yet another opportunity to go out and play some soccer.

The great thing about this year's Lady Cougar Classic was that it wasn't all about soccer. Yes, we were all excited to compete and show what we have all been working towards, but soccer wasn't our only focus. We were also there to experience some great bonding with our fellow sisters in Christ. This bonding took place after the games on Friday, when Coach brought everyone together for a team meal. I'm sure many girls were caught off guard, however, when Coach made a restriction that we couldn't eat with our own team. This ended up being a great idea by Coach because we all got to meet some really cool people and hear some great stories.

After we ate, each team chose one representative to share with everyone something about their team. You could tell just by what they shared with us that each one of these ladies had a love for their team that was contagious. These stories were a great way for us all to learn a little bit about each other resulting in an overall feeling of respect for one another.

The evening ended with our team captain, Challyn Dobson, sharing a devotion with everyone about one of our team's core values this year: selflessness. Challyn shared her thoughts on this value with our team earlier this year, but the meaning hit me just as hard the second time around. Selflessness really is an important quality to focus on, not only in soccer but in life. Being selfless is an act that leaves you with a feeling of great satisfaction because it is exactly what we are called to do as Christians. Christ lived his life with totally selflessness and living like He did should always be our focus.

To model this focus, Challyn had us do a task for each other. Just as Jesus washed his disciple's feet, we were to wash each other's cleats. So, each player got out their cleats and found someone from another team, a complete stranger, to trade with. Then, we began the task of scrubbing each other's cleats with toothbrushes (below). This may sound silly to some people, but I think scrubbing a complete stranger's dirty and smelly cleats really brought out our sincerity for one another. Yes, we were all required to do this exercise, but I honestly think if any one of us girl's were given the opportunity to do it again that we would because doing a selfless love act for someone else truly is a blessing.

It was such a cool thing to be able to come together as four opposing teams and share our love for Christ and one another. Many of you fans might have trouble believing that, seeing as we can be so ferocious on the field, but off the field we really are a bunch of sweet girls…honest.

I would like to thank all the parents, coaches and fans for coming out to support us. And congratulations to the 2011 Lady Cougar Classic Champs: Olivet Nazarene University!