Love and football: The perfect match
UTM soccer stars Amelia Caron and Daniele Poli discuss how their sport has helped grow their relationship.
Soccer, or as we Italians call it, football, has always been something that has brought us together. After all, we first met while playing football in front of the MN building with a couple friends over three years ago. From that point forward, we have only grown closer, and for that, we thank football. Whether it was Sunday mornings watching our favourite team, Fiorentina, to the evenings spent rooting each other on during tri-campus matches, football has always been a common interest that continues to strengthen our relationship.
Despite growing up in two different continents, our lifestyles—with football at their cores—could not have been more similar. Comparing team retreats and late-night trainings, hard-earned wins and tough losses, we would talk on and on about our shared backgrounds. Beyond the tangible experiences football brought us, we had mindsets and values that were alike thanks to the beautiful game. From our time on the pitch, we learned teamwork, dedication, and accountability: values which we have carried into our relationship… and all things that go straight out the window once the Italian playing cards are on the table.
We don’t know if it’s only football to blame, but our competitive natures often seep their ways into just about every little thing we do together. The occasional Thursday puzzle-making session somehow turns into a “most pieces wins” battle and the loser is punished into making lunch the next day.
Although we’re competitive against each other, believe us when we say it’s even worse when we’re on the same team. Paired up in a pickleball match, there’s no way anyone would want to be standing on the opposite side of that net and be subject to our trash-talking masterclass.
While it might seem excessive to some, we wouldn’t want it any other way. Our competitive nature pushes us to be better and, at the end of the day, there’s no way we’d settle for being anything but each other’s number one fan.
As two people who didn’t grow up in Canada, football has given us a chance to build a family away from home, meeting likeminded people with the same interests. It’s encouraged us to foster friendships with players on both the men’s and women’s teams. Helping bridge the gap between teams has brought everyone closer off the field and has led to greater success on it as well.
For over three years, the competition, the encouragement, and the friendships football have gifted us have been core aspects of our relationship. The game has not only driven our personal desires to be better but has also deepened our love, so much so that the we can confidently say there’s now one thing we love more than our beloved Fiorentina: Each other.
