August 11/13
Today's musical recommendation is "We come running" by Youngblood Hawke
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As you'll know from some of the previous postings I coach both of my kids soccer teams at various levels. My daughter is older and has pretty much always played competitive, also known as representative, and my son has only ever played house league, also known as recreational as he has never felt that competitive bug like his older sister did from a young age.
When my son returned to soccer in 2010 after recovering from his brain abscess I was able to call in some favours and get him on a team playing in the U11 grouping. He had a fun time playing but made some comments about how unorganized his coaches were and how it always felt like they were reacting to the other team instead of dictating the pace and tone of the games. I reminded him that he was playing house league where the coaches didn't place the high emphasis on learning that he grew up watching at his sisters games when I was her coach. His coaches were good guys and did their best but my only concern was the lack of knowledge they had on some basic principles that I think the club should have gotten across to all the coaches during orientation. When it came time to register him for the 2011 season he asked me if I'd be interested in coaching a team and before I could respond his mom reminded him that I was more alpha personality than he was used to from a coach and he said he'd rather get worked and learn than just run around like a chicken with his head cut off, so off to coaching I went after a 5 year break.
That 2011 U12 team was stocked with some great players but split between those who attended public school and the catholic school board. The split between the two groups wasn't based on religion but rather on who each player knew from school. It took me almost 7 weeks to get through to them and by the time they realized I knew what I was talking about we were 2-5 but once they bought in we went 8-2 and managed to take 3rd place in the end of season tournament. Last years U13 team was even better and I knew from the start they would need challenges to stay focused so after the 3rd game of the season I asked them to run the table without a loss. There were some close games but they rallied behind one another and ended the season with 16 wins and 1 tie while winning league and tournament.
This seasons U14 team has 8 returning players and 13 new players. I don't think this team is as strong as last years in terms of technical skills as there are a few first year players but in terms of tactical skills and the desire to win they are far superior. We've had some blowout wins and 2 games where we've been down at the half, never happened last year, and come back strong in the second half to go 10-0 and already clinch first place in our league with 4 games to go. They embraced the objective of running the table once again and despite being warned how hard it would be have gone out and swept away every team in our league at least 2x each. Now this has created a monster in trying to keep them motivated as they seem to think they are invincible and no amount of warning has been able to get them to see the possibility of getting beaten, surprisingly one of the biggest culprits of this mentality has been my own son who has accused me of worrying too much about the other teams lol
We played Team W this past week and had already beaten them 3-1 and 7-1 in previous games. The 7-1 win could have been much worse but W has an amazing goalie who made some nice saves that kept them from losing by double digits to us. I mentioned to my son we'd be facing that goalie and he told me to relax. My nerves got a bit tingly with that comment.
We went down 2-0 at the half and at times looked like we'd never been on a soccer pitch. Team W played a 5 man back line that was composed of their biggest players that really confused our forwards and midfielders. We got good runs but couldn't break them down as our players just weren't able to adjust and with one exception when my son managed to convert a cross to get us a goal and down 2-1, we seemed mentally in a fog. We did seem to turn in around in the 2nd half and after we scored our goal Team W quit trying to score and just played 10 on their half of the pitch and basically said if we were going to win it would take getting the ball through their entire team and than beat their goalie. Now to give credit to my boys they did get a lot of shots off but that goalie stood on his head to shut the door and secure the win.
After almost 2 years and 28 games my team had been beaten and I was curious to see how they would react during our post game review. Now something I've never shared with them is that both my assistant and I had been talking about we both felt they needed to lose a game soon as they were getting way too hard to handle as they were beginning to tune us out since they knew everything and could just turn on the scoring machine when they wanted. Reality had something different to say about that theory.
To their credit they were one pissed off group of players and also quite nervous about how I was going to react. I stood there for a few moments and made eye contact with each and every one of them before saying anything and when I did here is what they heard "Great game boys".
The first thing I heard was my son saying "but we lost" and I agreed with him. But I also stressed that they lost a close game 2-1 when they didn't play their best, tuned out the coaches, and were up against probably the best goalie in our league. I told them I was sad to see the streak come to an end but glad it came in a game that required the other team to play lights out to beat us and was as close as it was as they could learn things from this loss that all the blowout wins couldn't teach them.
I reminded them that all good things must come to an end and so this streak was over. The true character of a team comes not from how they handle winning but rather in how they respond to a tough loss and the game they play the next week. Interestingly enough I could see that recognition in the eyes of the better players and knew our practice on Thursday would be intense, and it was.
We never do a post game cheer but on their own they did one out of the blue "New Streak"
We play our biggest rival this coming Tuesday and I'm sure they've seen the updated standings with our loss posted. They like to trash talk and play very physical to try and disrupt our game, but I'm not worried about my team rather I'm worried how I'll be able to reign them in once they get rolling as they aren't going to take any crap and will play the game they are dealt. How do I know this? My non competitive son has been texting me all weekend from his mom's cottage begging me to double shift him if we are short players so he can score the opener and set up his teammates.
My last words to them at practice on Thursday were a reminder of things to come
"And from the ashes did rise the Phoenix"
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