Go again

I can remember another stadium, another quarterfinal city playoff game, another time (well, Fall of 1998).......... That season the school I was @ had quite possibly the best team of any school I'd ever been involved with.  We were matched up w/ a school I was to teach/coach  @ a few years later, but I didn't know that @ that point.  We had played them twice in the regular season.  We beat them on penalties @ home, and they beat us on penalties @ their field.  Now we met in the quarterfinals @ a neutral field. 

What I remember most about that day happened after the game.  It was a third OT and a third penalty kicks decider in a row - and we lost, ending our season abruptly.  The lasting image was of one of the coaches - not me - sitting dejectedly on the grass with his back on a goal post.  We had such a good team, it seemed unfair to reach the end that soon.

So - go forward 10 years and another of my teams is in the quarterfinals playing a great team.  Again a stadium, a great grass field, and .....another loss.  I will not kid you this time -although I was full of bluster about possibly winning this game and advancing to the next round - I feared we would be overwhelmed.

We weren't.  C MF brazened her way 92 seconds into the game and we were up 1-0.  Oh heaven and an upset were in all of our minds.  And we played well - although the other team was murderous, we were doing our best to stay above water.  But the lead could not last forever - half time the score was 1-3.  However, we were playing well and the wind would favour us in the second half.  Lots of hope.  

But the girls were upset.  I actually got yelled @ half time.  They had several concerns.

A concern-

Most of them wanted me to ease the scale of the substitutions.  They were saying that too many changes were fucking up the chemistry on the field.  They had a bit of a point.  Up to now I had wanted to give all the girls a fair amount of time on the field.   That means playing everyone.  But in this game I should have played the starters more and only put in the bench players a bit.  I was too nice.  I even had Pito, an old colleague coach, who said the same:  when the playoffs start, the bench players should be happy with the amount of time they got during the regular season - and play the ones who will give you the best chance to win. 

I have learned this lesson.  

Another concern-

The girls wanted me to stop shouting @ them on the field.  In the beginning of the season, these kids really had to be coached.  In practice, in games after games, etc etc etc....  Since I was the J-V coach, not varsity, I did a lot of teaching.  Remember, most of my kids were somewhat unfamiliar w/ the sport.  This necessarily entails a lot of coaching from the sidelines in the early games - kids really have to be told  WHERE to position them selves most times.  But in the payoffs, @ the end of the season, generally speaking : i'd done my job well.  The girls out there generally knew the expectations I had for them.  Some tweaks needed, but they knew what part they had to pay for the success of the whole.  They maybe didn't need so much coaching from me during the game.  Plus, i'm so fond of yelling out "WELL DONE" whenever one of my kids does the rite thing.  

However, contrasting me to the other coach @ half time, who shouted nary a word , and the girls were complaining about me.  My sideline demeanor hadn't changed all year, but the girls were upset @ playing such a great team and this was the form it took.  however, next year I will restrict my coaching near the end of the season.

And, final concern from them...

My prized stopper wanted to pay offense.  again, all girls, except for the very scared, want to pay offense.  Stopper, was just too valuable in the defense to put her up in the attack - our team defense rested just too  much on her. However, the rest of my team had grown over the year so that i could - by now - actually involve her more in the attack and play Green in the stopper position. Evcen against a great team like we played this Saturday it mita worked.     

And another concern, simply from me.

Despite the reservations and mistakes, it was a great season. I coached them well, and I got far more out of them than I would have guessed in Feb. Discernibly, they were a team. But the team we lost to was just far beyond us. The example i give is that we kept getting called for offside. Again and again, more than any other game this year. It was because the other teams defense was sow el coached that they would walk up to the half lune each time the ball went out of their zone so that our forwards - u unknowing -would be in an offside position. Since it was a close run game, we continually got the ball back int hre midfield - but each time, one of two of our girls would be caught offside.

I realised that i was so happy that i'd gotten positioning, marking, and some skill out of my defenders (all soccer neophytes) that I'd stopped @ that. Now I realise that I should have taught them even more. Did i fail them? In someways, but I fully realise that they profited from my presence. And the great thing about soccer - like life -is that there is another season soon.

So, after another goal from C MF -our last of the year and one that cut the lead to 3-2 w/ 32m left in the game - the other team kept killing minutes off of the game. Final score was 6-2. It was a bitter loss, but.... well, there's next year.

For the first time in many a sun, I went for an afternoon drink @ Keegans. Felt sleepy and bloated the balance of the day.