My daughter has been playing recreational soccer since she was in pre-school. This year she decided to try out for the competitive travel team. This was her first time doing something that was not guaranteed success; only 12 players get selected. They had three sessions and she attended all of them. After her first session she was confident as they spent a lot of time demonstrating their footwork and shooting skills, two things that she does quite well.
The second practice was a different story. Most of the session was a scrimmage on an extremely small space. Most of the time was spent watching kids try to out-maneuver each other in very little space or defenders just kicking the ball as hard as possible because the opposite goal was only about 20 yards away. My daughter prefers to play position in open space and she tends to shy away from hard kicks so she struggled. After practice she had a meltdown because she thought that she wasn't going to make the team. I told her that she basically had two choices, she could shake off the bad practice and do her best in the last session, or she could just give up.
Session #3 went much better, and she even did well in some of her weaker areas. Tonight we got the call that she made the team!
I took her out to celebrate and made sure to point out that part of the reason why she made it is because she didn't give up. Funny how I can coach her to keep on fighting but it's a struggle to remind myself sometimes. I've been going at it for 144 days. I've struggled some; especially in the last 40 or so day, but I still haven't given up. I hope I can get to the end of this year and see the same success my daughter saw today.
Congrats Liz, I'm very proud of you!
Stay Strong!
You can do it! You already are :)
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