Eleven As One

My hopes for Ben this soccer season are simple. I want Ben to have a positive experience on his first Varsity team.  After all, it’s a simple game.  Put a bunch of kids on a field with a ball and whatever team kicks the ball in the net most wins.  But like everything else in the world, even the most simplest of things are anything but.

Home games at night under the lights at Bleeker Stadium are fun.  They make it a big deal for the kids by announcing the starters and having them trot out onto the field one by one, showing a little flash of the big time.  The starting players stand in the center of the field, arms locked during the National Anthem.  The parents and families all sit in the stands behind the bench and the high school fans sit in the Falcon’s Nest on the opposite side of the field and you can hear them cheering and laughing throughout the games.  Everything seems ideal at first glance, but the Scoreboard isn't working and the united front doesn’t always last.

When Coach Weiss posted how this team reminded him of the 2007 team, I vaguely remembered going to those games and watching Sam’s friends play, the days of Rory, Connor, and Joe.  They were the team that made it the furthest into the sectionals by playing “eleven as one”.  Coach poised the question as to whether this team had the courage to do the same.  It was an interesting challenge and I wondered if any of the team would get it.  After reading the post, I started to notice not only the actions but the attitudes of the boys playing on the field.   The game isn't so simple after all.  And coaching them, at times, might be equivalent to beating your head against a wall.

In 1979, my field hockey team made it to the State finals where we eventually lost to Berlin High School in a shootout.  I played right wing.  Did we play as a team?  I think so.  I don’t remember having one star, but many good players.  It was one special season where we all came together as one, as a team.  We did not have parents telling us that we were the best and that “so and so” or “that kid” weren’t up to the task or interfering with the coaching.  Quite frankly we did not have many parents watch us, after all, we were girls playing a sport on a Saturday afternoon when there was a football game being played elsewhere.  What spectators we had, were few.  I was raised to do the best I could and that was always good enough.   It was probably a New Hampshire thing, because most of us were raised the same way.  Maybe that is the key to playing as a team, everybody doing their best and that being good enough.

This is a Falcon’s team of individuals.  This is a team that gestures with disbelief when one of their team mates makes an error.  This is a team that yells at one another, where players play as if they are afraid of making a mistake.  This is a team where individuals believe they can dribble the ball through four defenders.  It is not playing “eleven as one”.  There are flashes of it, there is even whole halves of it, but I haven’t seen a entire game of it.  Maybe it’s because I’m a girl that I notice.  Maybe that’s how boys treat each other.  It could be a guy thing.  But I know it’s not a team thing.  Being supportive of one another, encouraging each other, working toward a common goal, that’s a team thing.  But they have time still to put it together, to buy into being supportive, to effectively communicating, and to be vested in everyone playing well together as a team.  There is hope that with more playing time together, they can figure it out.  These are good boys, boys who have the coach, the skills,and the desire.  But do they have the courage?

It’s not so simple after all.  What they will realize as adults is that the experiences they had playing on a team will be with them forever.  That by playing as a cohesive unit and recognizing and promoting the individual strengths everyone has is something immeasurably special.  But to put it simply, to play together as a team, “eleven as one” means more than just winning.  The win is just the icing on the cake.  That's what I want for Ben, a positive TEAM experience.