As President Obama might say, my daughter is a badass. I dont say that just because shes my daughter. As the president did when he met the members of the U.S. womens national soccer team after they won the World Cup last year, I offer that description up in the broadest of terms.That same term applies to many of my daughters teammates through years of club soccer that have seen us travel around the South and across the country. Ive seen them get knocked down and bounce right back up. Ive seen them limp around the field, trying to shake off a twisted ankle to stay in the game. Ive seen them suffer difficult losses and play in pouring rain and frigid cold.Im glad my daughter, Lucy, is part of it. And Im glad I have been there to see it.I am a soccer dad, twice over. My son is in college now, but he also played travel soccer for years. I loved watching him play and seeing his confidence grow as he kept moving up to better teams through the years. But soccer wasnt as critical to my relationship with my son as it has been with my daughter.We have some differences, she and I. My daughter has a clear sense of fashion, while I shop the clearance rack at Kohls. She uses her phone for endless snaps and selfies, while I use mine to check sports scores and play Words with Friends. And there are certain areas where conversations between fathers and daughters are tricky at best. Soccer, though, has provided us with a shared experience since she first enjoyed orange slices and juice boxes at halftime and ran through tunnels created by the parents outstretched arms after games.I didnt play the game growing up, but Ive come to appreciate it and all that its meant to my kids. Unlike the sports I grew up with, there are no timeouts in soccer. Players have to make hundreds of decisions during a game -- without a coach telling them what to do -- about when and where to pass, when to attack and when to pull back and defend. To have any chance at success, they have to work with and rely on their teammates. Its a game that values speed, technical ability, teamwork, intelligence, stamina, athleticism and the willingness to be physical. (Lucy points with pride to the various bruises and scrapes on her legs, treasuring each one as a memento from various high school and club games.)But where the game has helped me connect with my daughter is off the field, on the drives to and from practice or the road trips to games and tournaments. Weve driven through a West Virginia snowstorm to get to an indoor soccer tournament in Detroit in February, flown to Seattle to play against some of the best teams in the country and spent the holidays in Orlando more times than I care to count. Ive rinsed out stinky jerseys and soccer socks in hotel sinks and made late-night runs to get Gatorade. Im always up for arranging some sort of side trip, having nothing to do with soccer, to check out something interesting in the area.All that travel translates into great family time -- time to play card games, talk about how schools going or watch HGTV together in the hotel room. Occasionally the talk is about soccer.One topic of frequent discussion is the U.S. womens national team. We rarely miss a chance to watch them play, even if its just a friendly on TV. The women on that team are rock stars to my daughter and her teammates, and I will never forget the thrill it was for Lucy when she got a photo with Megan Rapinoe, her favorite player, when the team played in North Carolina a couple of years ago. So while Im curious to see how Michael Phelps will do in the pool and whether anyone can beat Usain Bolt in the 100 meters, my daughter and I will be most interested in the U.S. womens soccer team as they go after their fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal in Rio later this summer.I wondered whether the dads of the women on the U.S. national team felt the same as I did about soccer helping their relationship with their daughters. I managed to touch base with Ken Krieger, father of defender Ali Krieger, and Vincent Dunn, father of midfielder and forward Crystal Dunn. Not surprisingly, they also had tales of weekends spent traveling to tournaments and car rides home after games or practices spent listening as their daughters recounted their experience.Both fathers were most interested in talking about who their daughters have become off the field. The thing Im most proud of has absolutely nothing to do with soccer, said Vincent Dunn, a finance attorney in New York. Crystal is just a genuinely good person. She cares about other people and is a fun person.Krieger, a former player who has built a long and successful career as a youth soccer and basketball coach in and around Washington, D.C., recounted an experience years ago when his daughter got a chance to see Mia Hamm play. What she remembered from that day was watching Hamm sign autographs for what seemed like hours afterward. She told her father that she would do the same thing one day if she ever got the chance. Im usually in the bleachers for an hour after her games, Ken Krieger told me, waiting for her to finish signing autographs.My wife and I often talked as our kids moved up (and occasionally down) the ranks of club soccer about how we werent interested in raising soccer players. We wanted to raise kids who would go on to become good adults. Soccer has been one way to do that, imparting lessons in the value of determination, hard work and sportsmanship.Theyve learned how to handle defeat as well as victory. Theyve learned that the calls dont always go your way and that theres nothing to be gained by complaining about it. Theyve learned that while sometimes you have to figure things out for yourself, there are other times when you can rely on your teammates or, more importantly, be there for your teammates. Those are lessons that will serve them well long after their playing days are over.I will also treasure the bonds soccer has helped me build with Lucy. There are plenty of things she would rather talk with her mother about, and Im OK with that. But we have our own connection, and I will never complain about the money and time our family has spent on soccer.Bill Krueger is an editor at the alumni magazine at N.C. 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The (11-11-4) Jets are seventh in the Central Division with 26 points. Fifth place Dallas and sixth-seeded Nashville also have 26 points, but the Stars have three games in hand on Winnipeg while Nashville has two. Wallabies skills coach Mick Byrne has hailed Reece Hodge as one of the best kicks hes ever seen as the Test newcomer prepares to unleash his booming boot at high altitude.Hodge has retained his spot on the left wing and will make his fourth appearance for Australia in Saturdays Rugby Championship clash against the Springboks at Loftus Versfeld (Sunday morning AEST).Having announced his arrival to international rugby by crunching a monster 55m penalty on debut in Wellington last month, all eyes will be on Hodge to see just how much more distance he can squeeze out with the aid of the thin air and generous hangtime of South Africas Highveld region.Byrne, who joined the Australian Rugby Union in July, is rubbing his hands together with glee at the thought of nurturing the strongly-built 22-year-old and his prodigious technique.I just remember the first day I worked with him, I was taken aback by how much power he generates with no step, Byrne said.Id say hes as good as some of the AFL guys when he gets hold of it.Growing up he played AFL, cricket, rugby, rugby league - I think being an all-round sportsman growing up gives you a little bit of hand-eye coordination as well.Its pretty exciting for me as a kicking coach when you get somebody wwith that much power.ddddddddddddts up to me now to harness it correctly for him so it becomes a real good weapon for him.A former ruckman for three different clubs in the old Victorian Football League, Byrne joked the altitude had extended his own kicking range by 10 metres.Its therefore not inconceivable to imagine Hodge splitting the posts in Pretoria from well behind the halfway line - which could, in turn, influence South African tactics and deter them from conceding penalties in that part of the field.Byrne is also keen to see Hodge involved in more field kicking, should the opportunity present itself.If, depending on where hes playing, he gets the chance to send a long kick from inside our 22 into touch from the wing position, thatd be handy, he said.Im just enjoying the fact hes a young fella wanting to get better and hes playing some good rugby and enjoying it. Ive really enjoyed working with him.Byrne said playmakers Quade Cooper and Bernard Foley, who kicked well during the Wallabies back-to-back wins over the Springboks and Pumas, were working hard to ensure they too will adapt to the conditions. ' ' '