Toe Poke

We are indoctrinated from early on with universal dogmatic rules. In fútbol, we’ve been warned to avoid the toe-poke at all costs. Well guess what... today I used it deliberately; my toes were the only thing I knew I could get onto the ball fast enough. 

It was both a failure (the keeper saved it) and it hurt like hell (for quite a while after; that futsal is dense). I will say that the power it generated behind the ball was fierce. I don’t kick very hard (my mom has suggested the weight room more than once after watching me play (as an adult)). 

And now, my toes are likely swollen as I speak. 

So what’s the lesson? 

Well, I think I played three caños this game (the English term for it is “nutmeg,” which I like to avoid). I’ve been trying to incorporate it into my game in a productive, meaningful way. It’s when you play a ball under a defender’s legs. One of my caños was under the keeper’s legs, to score. And I’m not one to brag, but I’m also not one to score, so I suppose when I do, bragging is not so bad. But it isn’t the caño that makes me proud of this goal, it was the build to it....

I had a break alone with the goalie. I had drawn him my direction, leaving a teammate running square of me with an open net; better odds that these are hard to generate. This is the pass I would try to make every time. This time, however, as I dribbled toward the goalie, I pointed my finger at my teammate making the run, slightly feigned a pass to them with my hips and then slotted the ball under the goalie’s legs with a soft toe-poke 

In the end, I’m not sure if we should always avoid toe-pokes. But if you can ever clear your head enough to try something creative and new, something spontaneous, something unexpected, it could be worth it, even if it is as crass and unconventional as a toe-poke.