Something About Packing a Bag

We often forget the lessons that become routine; those that are meek and mundane. But its important to recognize and find gratitude in the small lessons we learn from sport.

When one thinks about all the lessons they’ve learned from a sport, it usually swirls around serious topics regarding character building or physical skills or relational attributes. But not every lesson has to be so serious or thoughtful all the time. In fact, the somber state of the world has inspired me to write about a more prosaic, lighthearted lesson I’ve learned from my years of soccer - how to pack a bag.

I don’t claim to be a world-renowned packer. No, I’m far from it. That’s not to say that I’ve not gained some important packing skills from my years of away-days with my soccer teams. I started travelling to far-off places back in high school with my academy team. We would bus down to the states to play in showcase tournaments with the hopes of making our mark on recruiters who came to spectate. Later in my career, the away trips remained, as we travelled across Ontario for weekend-long journeys. These trips were short and sweet and busy beyond belief. There was little down-time, the bus seat was your best friend, school work became a blurry background character that you often forgot about or had no time to give attention to. You lived with teammates for a few nights where you saw them day in and day out, you played two games, then turned around and drove back home. Two bags was all you needed - one filled with your soccer gear, the other containing everything else.

My academy team backpack, FC Durham

Bag #1 - The Soccer Gear:

If you don't have anxiety before playing a high-level sport, you’ll be diagnosed with it shortly after. Never have I checked, double-checked and triple-checked a bag as much as I did when it came to my soccer backpack. You have to make sure none of your clothing or cleats grew legs and walked away on you. I’d pack two sets of shin guards, and at one point in my early career, I’d even bring two sets of cleats. Along with the actual gear, I’d pack my warm-up and training outfits, socks, compression shorts, and sport-bras. Side pockets were filled with sunscreen, muscle creams like Tiger Balm (my lord and saviour), tape, pro-wrap, scissors, extra hair ties, deodorant, tampons and liners, a comb, a brush, a lacrosse ball to roll out with, probably a protein bar, and more hair ties (you can never have too many). One key strategy that I implemented in my last years at university was to hang my cleats from the strap of the backpack. I purchased a carrying device that consists of a red rubber band that stretches around each cleat/shoe and is fastened to a carabiner clip at the top. This allowed me to clip my cleats to the outside of my backpack giving me more room to pack other necessities within the bag. A real game changer.

My trusty baseball cap and the cleat holders hanging in a changeroom (the brand is called Vlirka Bnds)

My soccer backpack would have everything I needed for game day and to get by the weekend, if for some unforeseen reason, I lost my other bag. Another strategy I implemented was rolling up my t-shirts rather than folding them. I’d utilise this folding technique for my other backpack as well, which I found to be helpful in slotting in the shirts vertically.

Bag #2 - School Gear et al.:

My faded pink NorthFace backpack served as the school bag with it’s large, expandable capacity and lovely little zipper compartments. This backpack in particular is my favourite because it comes equipped with a separate zipper compartment that fits a laptop perfectly. My laptop and a thin notebook would live in that rear zipper section; my laptop charger, books, clothing, toiletries and (sometimes) Nintendo Switch would reside in the large centre compartment of the backpack. In the smaller front pocket I’d put all my stationary utensils - pencils, pens, markers, erasers, and a number of other little things. More hair ties, more tampons and liners, another container of Tiger Balm, pocket knife, phone chargers, my laptop mouse, etc. Heavier/bulkier items were placed at the bottom of the backpack; items that you need quick access to sit at the top of the bag, and lastly, small items in the front zipper area. There are not many ways to pack a bag but that’s how I tackled the task.

My tried-and-true NorthFace backpack

This mundane, unremarkable skill that I honed over the years of soccer is something I use to this day; it’s come in handy when traveling near or far, whether I’m heading downtown for a day or across the globe. Why should we write off the routine, meek chores? Why should we forgot the small lessons? Why should we overlook the prosaic? Life is often routine and mundane, we often find ourselves doing the same tasks over and over, day to day. But the routine also takes skill and fine-tuning, the more you learn, the more you practice, the more efficient you become. A lesson is a lesson, no matter the size, no matter if you think it may be insignificant. Looking back, you’ll find that those little lessons may hold as much weight as the bigger lessons. You can’t learn what kind of person you are on a 5-hour bus ride before you pack your backpack. Packing the bag is the first step, and an important one at that.

-BP

Have you found gratitude in small tasks and lessons?