SG Soccer: Learning Lessons

 

Because the losing team is going to be hungry for revenge. And the winning team is going to be complacent. It’s hard to avoid. It can happen to everyone, even the pros.

 

So the coaching staff tried their hardest to warn the players. To scare them. Remind them that the only reason we won last time was because we played desperate soccer, where every minute was more important than the last. Six days ago, we put every ounce we had on the line for 80 exhausting minutes. We gave it ALL. We had to, to give ourselves a chance. And it worked out.

 

But it is so easy, after a win, to think the same thing will happen this time because it has already happened once before. To assume a positive result just because you won last time. To forget the quote from my favourite coach Gregg Popovich (San Antonio Spurs): “Approach every game with appropriate fear.”

 

You can predict what happened next. The opening whistle blew, Galt flew out of the gates and your Spartans got their butts handed to them for the entire first half. It’s not like we didn’t try at all; we played at a solid 80%, but 80% is going to get you shellacked against a team as good, as talented and as hungry as Galt. 80% means you are second to every loose ball. 80% means you are on your heels, flat-footed, instead of on your toes expecting the ball to come to you. 80% means chasing, trailing, hesitating. It means being unfocused mentally. It means not communicating.

 

80% means losing 2-0 after 40 minutes of play.

 

After an honest, no-bull talk during halftime, your Spartans ramped up their effort, matched Galt’s intensity, desperately tried to catch up, and won the second half 1-0. But we still lost 2-1. All that second-half effort was wasted, because we couldn’t be bothered to try our hardest in the first half. A loss from lack of effort is the single WORST thing that can happen in sports.

 

One more thing. I’ve always hated the expression, “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.” BOTH things matter. Equally. Why did we just barely lose a critical ETIAC league game to the defending champs? Not because of how we finished. But because of how we started. How we play at the beginning of a match means JUST AS MUCH as much as how we play at the end.

 

Let’s summarize:

1) Approach every game with appropriate fear.

2) There is never an excuse for, and nothing worse than, getting outworked by an opponent.

3) The start of a game is just as important as the end.

Three of the most important lessons in sports. If we really learned these three lessons, then this loss will be worth it. Did we? Let’s see what happens in two days vs BCS…