There's something special about stepping onto a soccer field at night after spending all week staring at loss curves and debugging RL training errors. Last weekend, my team including some undergrads, a PhD like me — entered Auburn's intramural soccer tournament.
The Setup
We called ourselves "Goal Diggers FC" (yes, really). Our jerseys were mismatched, our warm-up was chaotic, and our strategy meeting lasted exactly 90 seconds: "just pass and don't get hurt."
The Games
We played three matches. Lose all of them because most of us never played soccer before. But we had fun.
The Takeaway
We didn't take home a trophy, but we took home something better — a reminder that stepping away from the screen and into the field, laughing with (new) friends over missed shots and lucky saves, is exactly the kind of reset a PhD brain needs.
Next tournament: we're coming for the title. 🏆