So the U9 Boys are three games in and since their impressive 4-4 tie in our season opener they haven't looked very good. In that first game they were at their best, showing off their individual skills and intellect and also occasionally managing some connected/cooperative play. Despite giving up four goals, I thought they looked more stout in defending than I'd have expected and of course having Jonah back there cleaning up the mistakes helps a lot. But, and this will sound harsh, in their next two matches they were really exposed.
I haven't lost any of my confidence in the ability of these players to improve and become high performers. They've got the athleticism and the love of the game and some flair for creativity and they improve every week in their ability to stay focused for longer and longer periods in our training sessions. Developing that ability to train well is an incremental process and I'm happy with our pace of progress. But I want to be clear here, for myself and for the parents, what it is exactly that they are lacking and what we will have to accept as the team's main shortcoming. And this is an aspect of their performance that will probably require a lot of patience from me and from the parents. One season may not be enough to fix it.
So what is it? When I talk to the team at training sessions and matches I frequently talk about what it means to be a "Player" as opposed to being a kid who just likes to play. Players are obsessed. Kids who just like to play enjoy the game but they aren't obsessed with it and they can, even during a match, be distracted into paying attention to something else. I said above that they "have the love of the game". Well, I think it would be more accurate to say that for most of them they like the game and they like it as much as they like all the other stuff they do when they show up for a match or for training. They like to play soccer, but they also like to wrestle and spray each other with water and dump other player's water bottles out and kick balls away. They like to nag and tease each other and argue over unimportant things. But do they "love" it? Not most of them, not yet. And that's okay. It is what it is.
We have one player in the squad who comes just to play soccer, who is focused and even obsessed with playing every time we get together for training or a match. Luckily for his teammates he's also very patient with their shenanigans. We have a few players who can get into a very game-obsessed state once the whistle blows for a match but prior to the match they are just as likely to think that pulling a teammate around by his hoodie is the most fun you can have. But given time they will, I'm sure, come to accept that I won't tolerate any of the nonsense. They will come to understand that my training sessions and my match days are for Players, not for kids who just happen to like playing a bit of soccer now and then. Helping them to reach that understanding requires a fine balance between discipline and patience from me as their coach. I demand a certain level of focus and attentiveness at training and I'm trying to teach them what it means to be committed to each other as teammates, especially in competition. But I also have to patiently accept that they are a U9 team. They're little kids and it will take time.
I've been through this with young teams before and the guiding principle that I will keep trying to teach them is this: "We are here to have fun...playing soccer. It's got to be fun or there is no point in doing it...but it's got to be soccer fun." I have and will continue to speak to them about the difference between a kid who plays rec soccer and a kid who has taken the leap into select soccer. Here is how I describe that difference to them: "A recreational player is a kid who plays some soccer on the weekends. But for a select player, being a Player is who you are. You've decided that soccer isn't a game you play, it's who you are." That may sound a little lofty for eight year olds but I think you just have to look at the difference between the players on our Fusion Grey team and our own team to see that it's not about size or skill, it's about the level of desire to play that the Grey team has. It's about the level of fascination or obsession the players have for the game. I use the words fascination and obsession intentionally as distinguished from words like "attentiveness" and "focus" because I don't want anyone to think that I think these boys on the White team just need to "pay more attention and be more focused". They do need to do that but I know it's not a matter of a conscious choice for them. Players like Cuttler or Frazier on the Grey team didn't "decide" at some point to be really focused on soccer. It came naturally to them. They walk onto the field on match days with a body language and attitude that clearly says "there is nothing else."
So that's what I'm trying to guide our boys towards. I'm trying to create an environment at training and on match days where they can fall in love with the game. Their skills and game knowledge, their ability to play together tactically will all continue to improve if we work hard in training. But the secret sauce is love of playing and commitment to your teammates. We will get there.
