His team had just lost a semifinal playoff contest, and Terry Carter knew he was done. The 68-year-old goaltender knew he had just played his last competitive game of soccer.
Walking off the field after the handshakes, Carter was lost in his thoughts, swamped by his emotions.
"Things go through your head, like, 'That's it, it's over. Wow, what comes next?'" said Carter, whose RBC Kickers had fallen 3-1 to NT Air in the North Cariboo Senior Soccer League's Masters Division. "It was a very strange feeling that after all these years, you were finally saying to yourself, 'You're finished.' It was a long, lonely walk (from the field to the clubhouse)."
The game, played in mid-September, brought to a close a career that stretched back to Carter's childhood years in Birmingham, England. He was only five years old when he first laced up his boots and headed for the pitch.
Over the years, soccer evolved into more than a game for Carter. It became part of his identity, both in England and here in Canada, where he and his family arrived in 1976.
"It has been my life," said Carter, who lived in Calgary and Mackenzie before he landed in Prince George in 1986. "I've met just about all my friends through soccer. It's an amazing sport. It's a wonderful feeling of fellowship. On the field, it's do or die. Off the field, it's 'Hail fellow well met, let's have a beer.'"
See Wednesday's Citizen for more.
