Get Activated
It seems like tradition now to start off each season with a learning from the u12 (now u13!...where does the time go?) girls soccer team, so here we go…
We had a subset of the team play recently in a 3v3 tournament. What you need to know about 3v3 soccer is that it is a fun and fast-paced game, but played on a small field with small goals and no goalies and in very short duration. So whereas the girls were used to playing on a big field with big goals with goalies for 60 minutes, now it was the opposite compressed into 24.
Which sets the stage for variance…
We won our pool games going away and so therefore all of the other teams had their sights set on us. Come the semifinals, we came out complacent against a team that didn’t. They got an early lead and our girls didn’t help themselves either by being errant on some shots on a small goal that might have gone in on a bigger goal. And starting with about 10 minutes left in the game, the other side started clearly trying to run out the clock.
It worked. Our girls lost 3-4.
Facing a dejected group ahead of our consolation match, I said, “Hey, is this field bigger or smaller than normal?”
“Smaller,” they replied.
“And is the game longer or shorter?”
“Shorter,” they replied.
“So if the field is smaller and the game shorter, does each touch and moment matter more or less?”
They kind of looked at me funny.
“Guys,” I said, “on a small field with short time, every touch and moment matters more. So get activated. If we come out flat, luck and chance are going to decide the game. But if you’re activated and play the way I know you can, you control the outcome.”
And I think that resonated because the girls won the consolation game in lopsided fashion.
I’ve said previously in this space that sometimes it feels like the world conspires against us. And while it can certainly feel like that is the case, I think what’s more true is that the world is full of competing interests and also that there are a finite number of outcomes, which means that we all don’t always get what we want. Further, it may be the case that the field is always smaller and time shorter than we would like. So if you’re complacent and come out flat, you might get an unpleasant surprise.
This isn’t to imply that everything is zero sum like the outcome of a 3v3 soccer match, but rather that if you’re not activated, you should be and particularly so when (because?) fields are small and time is short.
-Tim