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From the Pitch - "Celebrate Good Times"

By DEVON WILLIAMS, Louisville City FC, 09/06/18, 10:59AM EDT

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Scoring a goal is the product of coordination and practice. A good celebration is no different.

For me, celebrations are all for the fun and enjoyment.

The whole idea behind celebrating a goal is to inject fun into the game.  I think every goal deserves a celebration; with exceptions of course. You don’t want to be down 3-0, then score to make it 3-1 and start celebrating like crazy. That’s a no-no.

Nevertheless, every player knows that scoring is not an easy task. So why not celebrate that special moment? For a deep-lying playmaker like myself, goals don’t come every day, so I have to make the most of it whenever I do score.

Among commonly used celebrations, my favorite is the knee slide. Even though it's my favorite, you’ll never see me do it. I’m scared to injure myself. It’s a NO for me.

I’ve seen numerous celebrations go wrong but the most memorable one when I saw a player do a backflip and tear his ACL on the landing.

My thought process when thinking of a celebration is whether or not the fans will enjoy it. Is it going to make them laugh? Will it be remembered?

If I had to put a three-point criteria together for what makes a good celebration, it would be:

1
2
3

Humor

Scoring is fun and celebrations should be too. You want to make sure you're putting smiles on faces (even if it's a little harder on the road.)

Memorability

If you get the chance to score, you want to make sure that you deliver something just as impressive to back it up.

Organization

Practicing is important. Especially for a celebration with multiple steps and includes teammates. Practice allows the celebration to look clean and organized.

 

 

One of my favorite celebrations was the South African team on home soil in the 2010 World Cup opener. The goalscorer along with three other players ran over the corner flag and did a dance in unison. It was a fitting celebration for the wonder strike and special occasion.

 

 

On an individual level, my top three players in terms of celebrations would have to be:

1

Asamoah Gyan

I enjoy his dance moves. I might be a little biased because I love African dances, but his celebrations are regularly fun and enjoyable.


2

Robbie Keane

His iconic flip is always well- executed and unique.


3

Jessie Lingard

He’s in my top-three because he’s always ready and willing to celebrate a goal. It’s evident he enjoys making the fans smile.

 

 

My love for celebrations had me contemplating switching to a more attacking position in order to score more, so I can dip in my bag of celebrations.

I’m joking - but you get the point.

On command, I can perform at least five different celebrations. Going into a game I always make a mental note as to which one I might do in case I score. I try to think of the goofiest one. The goofier, the better. If I can’t find a goofy one, I resort to a Jamaican dance move that’s popular at the time. However, I have one in particular that I’m saving for a special occasion - the right game and the right goal.

Honestly, most of my ideas generate from dance moves. I’m always dancing in the locker room, so why not take it to the pitch?

I try to involve the guys in any idea I have, to get some feedback on whether it will be funny or not. The main guys I practice with are Sean Totsch, Oscar Jimenez, Paco Craig, and Shaun Francis. Unfortunately, those are all defenders, so you won’t see what we practice too often. Our attacking players now, that’s a different story. They just can’t dance to save their lives.

As far as practicing goes, you just need to do it two or three times, and you’re good to go.

If teammates are involved, practicing allows for everyone to be on the same page. Choreography and timing have to be synced. Ideal practice time is in the locker room before practice. I have had to laugh at a lot of guys for not being able to dance the way I do and get on the same page. I love It though, it’s all a part of the enjoyment.

Celebrating at home vs. on the road is completely different, though. Your fans will be buzzing at home, but on the road, the away fans might not like it too. To me, it’s much more fun letting it fly in front of your home crowd.

For my goal against Ottawa earlier this season, I had teammates involved. I was imitating speed-walkers and their role was to play the water station. I was pretending to speed-walk while grabbing water from a water station. If you ever watched a long-distance speed-walk race, you might have seen them doing this. The dip at the end was me at the finish line winning the race.

The only reason I would understand a sport discouraging celebration is if it's being disrespectful to the other team or a specific group of people. However, as I stated earlier, celebrations should be fun and enjoyable.

Being disrespectful shouldn’t be your main goal.

Fortunately, goal-scoring celebrations in soccer continue to make the fans happy and put smiles on their faces. Hence, why it’s encouraged and will continue to be encouraged.


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