Losing Control

It is only fitting that we concluded our non-traditional spring season wrapped in our warmest winter clothes, sliding on a wet and muddy field in less than ideal soccer-playing conditions. You would think that we mistakenly started the season too early and tried to play a game in February, but really, it was May 3rd and another miserable weather day for spring 2008. The cold lingered longer this spring, and the rain pounded harder than anyone expected, but maybe we just all forgot that we are in Wisconsin after all.

We started the spring season with a commitment to the theme of control. Time on the ball in tight quarters of racquetball courts and limited space in the multi-purpose room forced the issue. We had to keep the ball from jetting out onto the track so it would not take out an unsuspecting sprinter. We had to soften our first touches so we could make the ball stay close enough to manipulate the way we wanted. We took control of what we could, but our bigger challenge was with letting go of expectations that we can control everything.

This spring was more an exercise in letting go of a need to control because we had no choice. We couldn't control the lingering winter and the stubborn spring weather. We couldn't control the soggy and dangerous field conditions. We couldn't control the prioritization of in-season training or our ability to work ourselves into available spaces. We couldn't control academic schedules and conflicts with ever-changing practice schedules.

Yet, the season came and went and we gained a handle on what it means to control. Control means recognizing the places you can effect change. Sometimes control simply means keeping your emotions in check when you recognize that there is truly more you cannot control than those things that you absolutely can.

Mirror Mirror

Just because the outside soccer has stalled temporarily, it does not mean that I have stopped contemplating about things that I believe influence the ability to compete. My inspiration often comes from the strangest of places, but anyone with children would concede that they are often an excellent source of the most profound thoughts. I was with my two-year-old at her gymnastics the other day, and I was struck with an epiphany of sorts.

As with most gymnastics gyms, there are a number of mirrors that cover one entire wall. My daughter was getting ready to mount the low balancing exercise when she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She watched herself walk to the beam and then attempted to make the step up to where the balance beam was. She awkwardly managed to get up continuing to hold her gaze on her own reflection. She tried then to navigate the beam and it was immediately apparent that she was not going to be able to watch herself walk across. She stepped off the side and fell the short drop to the ground. “Watch where you are going,” I encouraged her and as soon as she stopped watching her reflection she was able to walk the entire length of the beam with no issue.

I really don’t think that this small episode is too unlike the struggles that many athletes face when they are working to compete in a team sport. It is very easy, especially with cultural influences that promote individualism, to become too focused on what you are doing as an individual athlete. Of course it is extremely important how you choose to motivate yourself, how hard you train and the individual choices you make, but when it comes to competing, the best athletes on a team are those who are able to shift the gaze from the mirror to the task before them. To see the world around them as a part of their own experience, but that they are only a part and not the entire action.

I admit that there have been times in my life, and as a competing athlete, where my focus was too selfish and to be honest, by game suffered. When I finally pulled my gaze away from my own reflection I was better able to see what I was intended to do and it made me a much better teammate. There are some athletes who are able to compete looking at their reflection the entire time, but imagine how much better they would be if they saw the whole picture.

Youth Players Far from Winter Weary

The field is buried in about half a foot of icy coldness. The goals have been stored underneath the stadium for almost three months and it is hard to imagine the stands cleared of snow. It seems as though soccer games in warm, pleasant fall weather were ages ago, and with temperatures hovering in the single digits, it is hard to imagine that spring training is creeping up on us. It is easy to become a little winter weary, but thanks to the interruption of January youth soccer clinics, I get to breathe a whisper of rejuvenation.

Most of the Stout players have been home for a few weeks, while others are milling around campus for winterm classes. Preparations are being made for the captains’ practices that will commence once the players are all back at Stout, and I am lucky that I’ve had a chance to kick a ball around again….even if those who kick back to me struggle to use the right part of the foot.

Together, with a small group of players, the Stout team has been putting on winter skills sessions for the area youth. There are some regulars who have found their way back into the MPR of Johnson Fieldhouse, and there are some excited newcomers too. The ages range from five through high school and the energy level is of course high. It has been fun this year to note the growth of so many of the young players who frequent our camps and clinics.

They’ve grown into bigger shoes and they’ve also grown into well-skilled, sure-footed soccer players. It is fun to watch the maturation of young players. To see them get excited about an element that I would never have been able to show them a year ago, but because of time on teams and with coaching throughout the year they have matured into better players.

I see them through a window of sorts…a few hours here and there at different times throughout the year. I know little else of what goes on in their lives except that they play soccer and they want to play it enough to continue to get better. I’m excited for the potential that so many of these young players possess. It is a refreshing reminder of what passion for soccer looks like…a quick breath of fresh air when it’s still too cold to go outside.

An end and a beginning

We closed out our season against two of the top four teams in our conference, and although the results were disappointing, we have set ourselves up to continue to make strides in the seasons to come. We have spent the last few days as a coaching staff talking to each player individually to get a feel for what they think we can do to continue moving forward. It’s good to hear that we are all convinced that we have not yet exhausted the potential of the players on this team, and there is a willingness across the board to invest personally for the future successes of the group as a whole.

We are coming up on the important months for any college soccer program…the offseason. It is truly the time of year that separates the mediocre players and teams from those teams that are still playing at this point in November. This gets more at the character of the women on any particular team than what can be orchestrated by coaches.

The off-season captains have been chosen by the team, and it will be up to them and the other “leaders” in the group to motivate, inspire and push each player to continue to improve. We can’t stay where we are right now. Where we are is sitting on the sidelines watching the other teams in our conference play for the WIAC championship. That’s not where we want to be. We want to be announced at the start of the big games, a force to contend with throughout the entire season and recognized as one of the top four teams in the WIAC conference. That doesn’t just happen by itself. It happens because everyone involved in the program sets sights on those goals and makes the necessary commitments in and out of season to attain them.

We are planning for the end-of-the-year banquet, but it is also a gathering to celebrate all that is yet to come. Our seniors will be beginning careers and life outside of soccer and college, and the remaining players will start to turn their attention to what can be, and what will be better. It is the end of one season, and the start of the next.

Prepping for a big game

We are in the midst of preparing for an incredibly tough game this coming weekend against Stevens Point, and it is refreshing to feel the consistent focus that has found its way into our practices and into our preparation. Our goal is to field the best Stout team that we can, and to play a game that we can be proud of. What might that look like? Well, I never focus on the stats that would traditionally define a successful game, because if we do the little things well, the stats will take care of themselves.

We have turned our attention to the simplicity of the little things. We plan to make the most of every possession we have, to defend as a unit all over the field and to think and play one moment at a time. We know we’ll need to communicate effectively and to be intensely involved. We need to be present and challenge for every 50/50 ball and to sacrifice physically because we want to make a difference when we have the chance. It all sounds simple, but any player who has faced a worthy opponent knows that maintaining focus despite the reality of the opponent is more of a challenge than running for 90 minutes, controlling a ball that is on your feet and taking effective shots when given the opportunity.

This game is an important one, and the way to play an important game is to make every moment in the game THE most important moment. We need to stay focused on each play and to let those minutes add themselves up without being overwhelmed by the entirety of a 90-minute game. What a wonderful way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

Stepping up

I have to admit that I am an incredibly competitive person, and I have always enjoyed winning much more than losing. I have learned, over time, to take from the losses what has made me grow, but that doesn’t mean that I enjoyed it. It always feels even better to win because you should, to win because you’ve prepared well, and to win because you wanted it more. That is why the win against River Falls felt so good. We have managed to grow from the losses throughout this season and to pull from those growing experiences to get to a place that we should learn to expect.

I think it is fair to expect the level of play that we had against River and Whitewater and Hamline on a daily basis. It is a mark of a maturing team that where growth can happen it does, and then there is a humble recognition of the fact that there is always room to grow more.

We are no where near finished growing to the potential of this team or this program, and the best part about all of it is that we never will be. There will always be room for development, a chance to be challenged by better players and by better teams. We have a ways to go and we’ll go that way one game at a time, one half at a time, one play at a time and we’ll do it as a group!

Staying in the moment

Watching practice yesterday and the intensity with which the players are continuing to train and play, an outsider would hardly believe that we are a team who has only won four games this year. It was a good week last week with a win on the road against Hamline and then a very tight 2-1 loss to Whitewater. It is easy to be discouraged by the numbers and to write off a season when you have been in games and come up short most of the time. The women on this team have not done that. They are still committed to lifting, to training with intensity and to playing every game with the desire to win. It is partially the mark of a young and hopeful program, but more than that it is an indication of the character each player possesses. They’ve each made the individual choice to live in the moment. To work past those frustrating moments and not worry too much about what is coming down the line, but to stay focused on the here and now.

We face River Falls tomorrow in what will be the most important game so far this season. According to the numbers we are equally matched, but I know something about the Stout team that is not on any stat sheet. They will be there to play…they will play for each other and with an intensity that will be hard to cover, and no matter what happens on the field we’ll have done everything we can to play the best in the moment at hand. Isn’t that the point?