I was 5 years of age and in the backyard. Every day I asked him if he could kick the footy with me. Dad bought me a plastic inflatable footy. It was my first footy. I played my first game at 9 years of age. When you think of it an Aussie kid is practically born with a footy tucked under his arm. I was raised with going to a league game every week and became a passionate one-eyed supporter.

Getting up and pulling on a jumper, playing Junior Football on a Saturday morning, then Dad taking you to the league game eating a meat pie with a coke while watching the excitement in the in the afternoon was an Aussie way of life really. Every day I kicked a football in the school yard after I scoffed down my cheese and vegemite sangers [sandwiches] during my lunch break, then it was off to the local park with my mates after school for a footy scrimmage, knowing I was going to get an ear bash because I had stayed out too long as I needed to do my homework.

So how do they do it? How do the Americans come into the game at around 25 years of age, pick up the game, and become such good footy players. Their dads were throwing baseballs in the back yard, or shooting hoops, or maybe even being wanna be quarterbacks throwing the football they hardly ever kick when they were toddlers.

My thoughts are: because the game is so friggin' good. The game has everything a sport has to offer. You run, kick, tackle, pass, jump, catch, hit, punch [the ball], chase, shepherd, score, leap, handball, ball bounce, wrestle, and look for the chance to lay someone out with a clean hip and shoulder.

So it becomes a taste test. You come out to test the game for the first time and once you've sampled it you can't have just one. You then have another and then another, then you eat the whole bag; you're playing in the game and do one good thing, make one good play, kick your first goal, then you're hooked and wanting to eat the whole damn bag. Your friends think you are crazy watching you engulfing this sport, yet you feel a sense of achievement and respect because you have the courage to perform this devouring appetite.

Then comes the realization that you are part of a city traveling national team and it becomes more of a craving. You get to play, you get to belong, you get to be good, and you want to get better. Then the appetite is big because your senses and taste have you constantly salivating because you realize this is an amazing sport.

All the above and the taste to WIN is the drive and the ability to become quick adapters, to getting in on Australia's favorite way of life. Winning has become a great asset to development. The desire to feed the appetite through winning enables the urgency of wanting to get to the level of success. How good is that? Catching up and adapting quickly with their Australian comrades who were born with a footy. If only America had its dads kicking the ball with them when they were boys.

I know one thing for sure: this game has the hope and the ability to be huge in America because I know my Fighting Rooboys will be kicking the ball with their kids in their own back yard.

P.S. Thanks, Dad

Article courtesy of NashvilleKangaroos.com. Marty Thompson is the Head Coach of Nashville.

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