Day 14

Good evening, and welcome to day 14. I have officially completed two weeks of my 365 day quest. Today, Lex's soccer practice went pretty well. I didn't do the main coaching. I could tell that their coach was hesitant to say "Hey man! Their all yours!" I wish. I had a few exercises for them, but decided to just help along side of her. That worked out pretty well. With us both there, I do believe the girls learned something. First she had the girls partner up and pass the ball back and forth.

She kept telling the girls "Make sure you kick with the inside of your foot." After a little while of passing back and forth, I stood beside the coach and asked her why exactly they should only kick with the inside of their foot. She said "That's what we were told, to have them kick with the inside of their foot." I was like "ok, well that is still correct, there are actually two 'right' ways to kick. With the inside of your foot, and with your laces."

Ally kept doing hand stands while she waited a few seconds for her partner to pass back. I hollered out "Lex, what sport are we playing?" She was like "Soccer?" I was like "Yup! So why are we practicing our gymnastics here?" She was like "I was just practicing!" I was like "But this is SOCCER practice. Not gymnastics." To try to get the point across to Lex, I tried something. Lex's partner had to run to the restroom, so I filled in for her. Every time Lex tried to do a hand stand right after she kicked me the ball, I kicked it back at her pretty quickly. One time it hit her in the hand on the ground. The other time she couldn't stand up in time to stop it. It went right past her. When it went past her, one of her team mates that was on my side turned to me and laughed, saying "thats funny. She should stop doing those huh?" I was like "That's why I am trying to kick it back at her while she is doing a hand stand, teach her that she will not be able to see the ball."

So next came two lines, dribbling to the goal passing back and forth, and then one of them shooting it at the goal. At first, they kept passing it behind their team mate, and they would have to stop and come back to get it. The coach called the team back to the center line and talked to them for a second. Before she resumed the drill, I stepped in and used Lex as an example. I was like "ladies, when you pass to your team mate, pass ahead of them. That way they run to catch up to the ball. Lex run that way." As lex took off, I kicked the ball about ten feet ahead of her, and she sprinted to it, just like I was wanting her to do. Then the coach resumed the drill, and now the girls did a really good job at passing. Occasionally they passed behind them, but most of them passed ahead just like I had shown them.
Then, noticing that a lot of the girls kept trying to take the ball all the way into the goalie before shooting, I stood on the outer box and said "Ladies, by the time you get to the line I am standing on, shoot!" The coach looked at me and was like "They can take it in the box though." I was like "that's true, they can. The point is this. The closer they get to the goal, the more likely the goalie will stop them. If they prepare to shoot when they hit this line, it is harder for the goalie to stop it."

So, they started doing that. Not only that, they were kicking harder. The coach began randomly chatting with me about last year with the team and stuff like that. I think that was a good sign. I'm glad she seems open to letting me help her teach the girls. I'm hoping she will open up more and let me teach the girls some drills of my own that I learned as a player when I was younger. I'm sure she will. This is all new for me, as a coach I mean. I have never coached, but now I actually like the idea. Who knows? Maybe I will become a coach on a regular basis. The great thing is this. When Lex and I were driving back home, I commented to her that I think she and her team mates learned some good stuff today and made good progress. I felt really good about how it went with me assisting the regular coach.

So in closing, I will say this. I believe I might be tapping into yet another thing that can and probably will be a positive change in me. If you asked me a year ago I would have told you there would be no way that I would ever be a coach. Now, I have surprised even my self. So I think Erin and I will probably go to the YWCA and I will volunteer myself as a coach. At least for next season since this one has started. We will see what happens. I will keep you all updated. I will write more for you all tomorrow.

Thanks for being here.

CB