Play Your Way into the Move
By Douglas Groesser, Education Director
Some coaches gear their approach for their most hardcore, competitive clients/players/ participants. That high-pressure approach wasn’t the most successful for me as a kid or even now as an adult. Let me tell you about what does work.
I had a rough start when I began playing soccer. My first-ever coach was a harsh critic, laying into us with what we were doing wrong and how we could do it right. We’d have to sit in a circle and talk and talk about the best way to pass the ball while running. When he finally allowed us to move, he ridiculed us if our passes weren’t spot on. “Poor, poor, poor!” I heard from the sidelines. My pumped-up running stride down field dropped to a limp. Oh yeah, I was 8 years old. No wonder this “blame, fame, and shame” style of motivation is something we seriously discourage at the Academy.
By the end of the season, I was deflated and insisted to my mother that I didn’t want to play anymore. But my friend Kurt said his dad was coaching, and I should try to get on his team. Kurt was a fantastic player - still is - so I grudgingly agreed.
On the first day of practice, Kurt’s dad showed up with soccer balls, cones and a huge sack of oranges cut into fours. This was the common halftime snack for AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization) soccer youths and after half an hour of play, it always went down our throats like nectar. I was excited he had brought them to just a normal practice day. After we drilled for 30 minutes, he brought out the bag of nectar. We were ready to pop them in our mouths and crunch on the quarters. Instead, he asked us to put them in our mouths but not to bite on them. We were going to practice heading the ball and not let any of that orange liquid fall back into our throats.
The goal? Not to clench our teeth when using our heads on the ball. I think he was trying to protect us from grinding our teeth or getting TMJ. Or maybe he was preparing us to use mouthguards. Whatever his rationale, I had fun and got better at heading!
As the season progressed, it was night and day between my old coach and Kurt’s dad’s coaching styles. He allowed us to play many positions on the field and encouraged us to discover whether our strengths lay in midfield, defense, wing, etc. I was playing soccer and enjoying it, learning for myself what I liked and what my body was good at. Believe it or not, I ended up playing left wing because I found out I was pretty ambidextrous with my kick. Back in those days, only lefties were put on the left side of the field.
As I was learning to play and make Body Discoveries, I heard from the sidelines one day from Kurt’s dad, “Play your way into the move, Doug, play your way!” And I was.