When Michael Parkhurst thinks about how soccer has changed his life, he gets a distant look in his eye – looking past his pro career, his first international cap or Champions League appearance – back to the early days of recreation league soccer back in Cranston, Rhode Island.
“The real fun memories probably started when I was 7, playing indoor soccer,” Parkhurst says. “I loved indoor, it was just action-packed and fast. I always remembered when it turned to spring season when we went outside I thought, ‘Man, this field is huge I never get to touch the ball.