Eye on Fitness: Brett Shepard

I play a sport known worldwide as football, but here in the U.S. it’s better known as soccer

Tools

By Brett Shepard
Bio | Email | Follow: @ktvaweather

Story Created: Jul 5, 2012 at 6:49 PM AKDT

Story Updated: Jul 5, 2012 at 6:58 PM AKDT

ANCHORAGE – I play a sport known worldwide as football, but here in the U.S. it’s better known as soccer.

I've been playing the game for 28 years and have loved every minute of the action. For the past few years I've been playing on a co-ed team called Majik.

There are many reasons we've all continued to play soccer into adulthood. “Teammates. You make a lot of really great friends, and you stay together and play together, and they become your family,” said teammate Talia Robinson.

For Majik player Toi Registe she has other reasons for playing. “Exercising is more of a stress reliever for me. So coming out here, if you've had a bad day you can run it off and by the time you're off the field you forget you had a bad day.”

One of the main reasons I've continued to play soccer is that chasing a soccer ball may have saved my life

I had a big health scare playing soccer when I was in high school. I had a racing heartbeat and doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with me. I got to college and almost blacked out playing a soccer game.

I was rushed to the hospital and my heart was beating 250 beats a minute. It turned out I had an abnormal heartbeat and had heart surgery when I was 19. I had that fixed and have been a lot better ever since.

Asthma has been another health issue that has affected how much soccer and other sports I can play.

However, I'm hoping as long as I have my health I can keep getting my kicks on the pitch for years to come.

According to a 2006 study by the municipality, soccer is the most played sport in the city. More than a third of residents play.

For more information on soccer leagues in Anchorage visit Soccer Alaska at http://socceralaska.com/.
 

Add a comment

Name:

Comment: 1000 Characters Left

KTVA CBS 11 | Anchorage, Alaska News and Weather and its affiliated companies are not responsible for the content of comments posted or for anything arising out of use of the above comments or other interaction among the users. We reserve the right to screen, refuse to post, remove or edit user-generated content at any time and for any or no reason in our absolute and sole discretion without prior notice, although we have no duty to do so or to monitor any Public Forum.
This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled. Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.