A Question to Learn From

For as long as I can remember I have been playing soccer. Ever since I was 4 years old in the Little Dribblers program in Litchfield I have been playing. Looking back it doesn’t feel like I have been playing for 13 years, but time flies when you’re having fun I guess. I was never a stellar player and I was definitely not the star on the team. I was always just playing because it was fun for me even though I wasn’t that great, but when I got into high school, and definitely my sophomore year I noticed and I think a lot of my team noticed that there had been a big change. During my freshman year, I was stuck playing JV and I felt I never got the chance to show the varsity coach the fight I had in me, but that isn’t to say I didn’t learn a lot. In the matter of a season, I found my speed, I was able to control the ball, see the field, and I was able to shoot the ball with some real power. I feel that these parts of soccer are the hardest to perfect based on the skill curve it takes to be able to perform them. Also mentally I felt much more confident in my abilities. I was and am still very little, but for the first time that wasn’t a problem. I became a secret weapon for my team, not looking that impressive at first, but soon showing my true colors and proving that I too was a serious offensive and defensive threat. After finishing my senior year this year I took some time to look back at how far I had really come along. From my time in rec soccer with Coach Tony, to playing on an indoor league during the off-season for the first time, to playing with all my closest friends my sophomore year where the starting sophomores outnumbered the upperclassmen eight to three. Every time I look back I always think of the same story when I was in fourth grade and it really shows how far I have really come.

For context, I’ll explain the events that brought me to this situation. It was fourth grade and it is the first year that Litchfield didn’t have a rec league. This meant I had to play on the Sabattus and Wales team and while I had been going to school with most of the people on my team for a year already, I still didn’t know many people and I was one of the few people still playing soccer from Litchfield. I was doing my best to not make any mistakes and trying to make friends on the team, but this one event haunts me to this day.

Just for those who do not know, in soccer, there is a rule where if you are on offense you cannot be behind the furthest back defender. This is to prevent standing right in front of the net all the way down the field and getting the ball. It also makes sure you don’t get an unfair head-start on the ball before the defender can get back. Basically, at this point in my soccer career, it had never been called because at the level most kids gravitated toward the ball like magnets. However, while I was playing offense I was just trying to get open and in one game, in particular, I was offsides on several occasions and kept getting called when I got the ball. My coach at the time Tim Leighton tried so hard to explain to me that I can’t be behind their furthest back defender, but I truly didn’t understand the situation he was explaining without seeing it. After more and more calls of offsides, I finally asked him to explain it slowly in practice so I could see it in action. After Coach Tim explained it out in action, I finally understood what he was trying to explain to me all this time and I felt so dumb, for not getting it in the first place. I wished I had asked him earlier to explain it better so I wouldn’t have given up that many calls. I think deep down I was too scared to ask Coach Tim because it was my first year on the team and I didn’t want to look like I had never played before. Looking back now it seems silly not to ask the question and it is definitely something I regret not asking now, but hindsight is 20/20 and this experience, while embarrassing, has helped me ask important and meaningful questions even today.

Ever since this point that haunts and embarrasses me to this day I haven’t been afraid to ask a question. It also has helped me improve my instruction taking skills so I get it the first time. I can’t imagine what would have happened if I never asked the question. I probably would have continued to make the same mistakes over and over until my Coach finally explained it further himself. I think that would have been even more embarrassing than asking the question in the first place. I feel like ever since this point I haven’t been afraid to ask a question that might embarrass me because I know I will always achieve learning that I never would have received if have I not asked the question. These little moments that you experience in life, the ones that resonate in your brain like an echo in a cave, these are the ones that are truly the most important to growing as a person. It is important to always look back on the experiences you had and try to learn and adapt from them.

Photo by Alex E. Proimos on Foter.com / CC BY-NC