NSC Fall Cup Wrap Up - Finally

A mere three months later I'm finally finding some time to catch up.  Motivated in part by our upcoming trip to Arizona next weekend for the Sereno Soccer Classic :)

You might ask how can anyone now attempt to recap anything that happened in October, after all the Thanksgiving tryptophan and holiday eggnog, but I took a copious amount of notes in my trusty note book, as well as have the benefit of the Hi-Pod and decent video of at least the first two games to look back on. 

It was a beautiful fall morning to kick off the event.  We had registered up to the U13 age group and were matched up against Dakota Rev, who I believe to be the second best team at the U13 age group behind the MTA girls.  I know, I know.... some people in Rosemount might take issue with this statement.  However, it's based on my own experience seeing both teams play.  If I'm proved wrong, so be it.  I'm right on the money in my own world, and most of the time that is all the really matters :)

Regardless, it was sure to be a tough test for the U12s.

I had prepped the girls numerous times in the weeks leading up to this event for this first match up, focusing on our overall play rather than getting a final result.  I told the girls it would be very difficult for us to win the game, knowing what I knew of Rev's overall skill level let alone athletic ability as compared with the younger girls, but also that an end result was not my focus here.  As it many times does, my words were lost somewhere in translation or in the brain process of some 11 year old minds and it somehow got back to the parents through the players that I told the girls they had no hope of winning the game.  Again, this misinterpretation (or my lack of communicating effectively) has happened a lot throughout my years coaching young players.  I am constantly amazed that adults believe I would say anything like that, but I can't blame them when I think about it.  After all, it is what the girls heard me say, and what they believe I believe.  Another good reminder that I have to make sure I explain certain things more clearly, important things that I want the girls to really grasp.  And focusing on our play over the end result is key. 

I look at our winter Futsal sessions.  For 4 years my teams have played their very best soccer on Sunday afternoons in the Lake Junior High School gymnasium.  Why?  To me the answer is crystal clear.  Futsal is fun, the girls love playing, there are no parents cheering them on or yelling our instructions, and there is minimal pressure on the girls to perform.  Tournament games are fun, the girls love playing, but there are external pressures from parents and coaches to perform as after all, the girls' performance reflects positively or negatively on us, doesn't it?  Oh, and equal if not more and worse pressure can come from adults away from the soccer field itself; in cars, at home/hotels, etc. 

Pressure to perform leads to tension/stress and fear of making mistakes in the girls, and it is nearly impossible for young players to perform to their abilities under those circumstances. 

Ever been caught off guard at a drive thru window or toll both without the correct change?  Sure, if there were three cars ahead of you and you made the realization that you has $.50 in your hand instead of the needed $.68, you'd leisurely reach down to your passenger side cup holder that doubles as one of your spare change reserves (along with the center console armrest cubby and the pop-up coin slots in your glove box) and calmly and quite dexterously work your nimble fingers to pluck out a dime, a nickel, and three of the hundreds of useless pennies in the stash.  Even though the McDonald's has the drive thru timing down to a science and the cars at the pay window are barely coming to a complete stop before moving on to receive their breakfast reward at the next window, you have time to find what you need and even chuckle at yourself for your obvious daftness.  You even congratulate yourself as you get to whittle down that mound of change in that other cup holder so someday very soon you will be able to fit both your medium Diet Coke AND your Vanilla Latte (that you always get with your #4 McDonald's breakfast combo) in their appropriate places, rather than precariously balancing one or the other on the armrest hoping that you don't make any sudden movements in rush hour traffic between eating your Sausage Biscuit with Egg, dipping your hash brown in the ketchup that you've squirted onto the Sausage Biscuit with Egg wrapper in your lap, and talking on your phone.

Now, imagine that you make the realization of incorrect change as you're handing the money to the women at the drive through window.  "Ah, excuse me sir.  I said that would be $4.68 as you upsized your meal, not $4.50" she haughtily says in her broken English.  Oh.  No problem, I've got that right here you say.  As you begin to turn away from the window and deftly pick out the 5 coins from your hoard of change, two things catch your eye.  the first is the huge green sign in the window that says "Please have your money ready, idiot".  As if that wasn't enough, you also catch a glimpse in your driver's side mirror the bottleneck of merged of cars behind you from the double drive thru lanes.  Uh oh,  you better make this quick.  Blood begins to boil as your normally lithe fingers have all of a sudden turned into 5 Hillshire Farm Smoked Sausages.  You look down to your center console but all the coins look like an MC Escher work, and you can't seem to differentiate one coin from another.  Just a second, I have it here, you say trying to make idle small talk, hoping to distract the drive thru attendee who has already begun to mutter in Spanish.  Got the dime.  Yes!  A nickel!  But somehow you can't seem to find enough pennies.  Where did all the copper go?!?!?!  Ah ha!  There's one!  Nooooo!!!  Somehow the lone penny is stuck fast to a quarter due to the Vanilla Latte that you spilled on the entire middle console last Tuesday morning in an attempt to serve out of the way of minivan's ass that somehow came to a sudden stop behind 100 other stopped cars on the parking lot called I94E.  I've got to call you back man, I just spilled my coffee.  Finally, in desperation, you hand the muttering Latina an additional quarter.  Dang.  Gave up one coin and getting 3 back.  You'll never get rid of all this change...

Stress and tension don't help performance.  Add in fear of making mistakes and you lose needed creativity and risk taking that are essential to top level soccer.  Focus on winning adds pressure, pressure lowers performance.  Moreover, focus on winning, which is ultimately out of the players' control, sets the players up for failure.  This is a big reason for the Controlling the SEAS skillzys that I use.  For all the skillzys as a matter of fact - rewarding kids for controlling what they can control (Sportsmanship, Effort and Energy, Attitude, and Smiles) and for skill demonstration in competition rather than for the end result of any given game.  Focus on these controllable aspects and the pressure to get results is minimized.  Focus on skills in competition and development accelerates.  Moreover, minimizing pressure raises performance level and results come. 

Man, I didn't even get to posting about NSC Fall Cup.  Hopefully I'll get to that by April.