I made the high school soccer team when I was a freshman. It was easier then because soccer really wasn’t a popular sport to play. Today, the competition is much more intense.
Some of your players probably won’t make it. They’ll want to, badly, but they won’t quite have the skills, or the fitness, or the speed to make the team they want so much to be a part of. It’s tough to witness broken hearts when those same hearts have always given your team (and you) everything they have.
But you need to seize this opportunity and teach that rising up from disappointment can build character that will last a lifetime. It’s hard to explain this concept to someone who is fourteen years old, but it will be absolutely true in every aspect of their lives. And you know it. You’ve been there.
This is the time to learn discipline and dedication to a goal. They have seen where their abilities might be lacking and you can help them focus on changing that evaluation in a positive way. You can convert moderately focused practice players into the most dedicated contributors on your team.
Commit yourself to helping them achieve their goals and ask, no require, that they do the same. Be there for them. Look them in the eyes and smile. Believe in them and give them good, hard, honest feedback so that they trust what you are saying.
Not making the team will shake their confidence to the core. Re-focusing their attention on improvement and being dedicated to their goals will build confidence that cannot be shaken again.
The longer you work with players the more likely it will be that they get knocked down. Hard. But they can get up again, and that’s what you can teach them.
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