I Got My Comeuppance
Well, I got my comeuppance for gloating about clever penalty kick strategy. See, the u13 girls were playing the first place team in the league and since they’d been playing so well recently, hopes were high they’d get a result. Unfortunately, one of our fullbacks got called for a silly foul in the box early in the game and the result was that the other team was awarded a penalty kick.
Our keeper (the regular, experienced one) lined up a step or two to her left like we’d talked about to turn the PK shooter into an uncomfortable forced actor, but the PK shooter stepped up and calmly slotted her shot into the smaller space to our keeper’s left.
“Our goalie didn’t even move,” one of the other coaches said.
“I may have told her that if she lined up that way she didn’t need to worry about that side,” I said.
Because who does that? Someone choosing not to shoot at the wide open side wasn’t supposed to happen! The u13 girls ended up losing because of that goal, but I have to say that if conceding that PK was the result of other u13 girls’ soccer coaches in Missouri having started reading Unqualified Opinions to get the scout on our team, I have to tip my cap.
“Maybe we shouldn’t be playing quite so many mind games,” the goalie’s dad said to me after the game.
“I dunno,” I said. “The strategy has merit and the track record is still pretty good.”
The point is no matter how great or clever your strategy, sometimes it won’t work. When it doesn’t, there might be doubters. And those doubters might have a point, but they also might not.
So stay humble and constantly re-examine things, but also stick to your guns if you believe what you’re doing will work more often than not. And maybe don’t share your trade secrets in a daily email?
– Tim
