Team Effort: Soccer Lessons

"You can't win a game by yourself. Soccer is a team sport."

   Once I had a player who was very much a me player. She felt she had to do everything herself. She would dribble up the field instead of passing to the open player. She would shoot from strange angles. And, if she did pass to her teammates, she would yell at them if they messed up. It just wasn't the greatest situation for her or the other girls on the team.

   I thought about what I could do to help her understand that soccer is a team sport. I enjoy doing what I call experiments at practices. If my team is having a problem I do an object lesson to help them learn a lesson. This time I asked for 4 volunteers. I set up goals on a small field. Then I had one player against the other 3 players. That doesn't seem fair does it? Well, it wasn't but I was making a point. The girl by herself lost. The 3 girls won. The 3 girls won because they worked together to score. They played as a team. The girl by herself had to play every position.

   It is the same way in life. If humans were meant to be alone God wouldn't have created Eve. We are relational beings. We don't all have the same abilities either. Romans 12:4-5 says: "For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another." Just like in soccer there are many positions, there are many positions in society. Every position is important. If we didn't have sanitation workers everything would be dirty. If we didn't have builders we wouldn't have buildings to work in. If we didn't have assistants we wouldn't be able to focus on big projects.

   It's the same way in the body of Christ. Everyone in the body of Christ has different gifts. If we didn't have someone in the body then the body wouldn't be the same. We all work together to reach the lost for them to join the body of Christ. It is a team effort. One person can't reach all the lost. It is a team effort. I pray that we support one another as we do our work for Christ.

   So, are you trying to be a lone ranger and reach others on your own? What can you do to reach the lost today?

   Image from here.

The Thankfulness Challenge

   Nowadays we have problems remembering to be thankful for what we have. That could be for many reasons: we advertise for Christmas and skip Thanksgiving, after Halloween we want to start making wish lists, we are not happy with what we have etc.
   At the beginning of November I took it upon myself to do a challenge. Each day in November I chose one thing or event from a category and was thankful for that. I called it the thankfulness challenge.
   For this challenge I thought of different categories of things people could be thankful for. Then I organized them into 30 days. I came up with rules like: each day you had to say the thing you were thankful for to one person, you had to say why you were thankful for that thing, and you had to thank God for that thing/person.
   I'm not quite done with this challenge yet but there are a few things I discovered already. First I realized how hard it was to pick one thing or person in each category. For example, one day I had to say a hobby I was thankful for. I have many hobbies that I'm thankful for, for different reasons. I discovered when I focused on the thing I was thankful for the problems of the day didn't seem to be as big of a deal. Finally, I discovered when I told others what or who I was thankful for it got them thinking about what they are thankful for as well.
   Think about it: do you have a lot to be thankful for? If you had to choose one family member, friend, possession, etc. To be thankful for would you only be able to choose one? I encourage you to really think about what you have to be thankful for. Don't just think of tangible things or good things. I'm sure you've had problems in your life that you may not have liked at the time, but they helped change you for the better. Are you thankful for those problems? Will you give thanks to God for all you have?

   1 Thessalonians 5:18, Philippians 4:6, Psalm 106:1

   Image from here. 

Respect: Soccer Lessons

"Respect our team, the coaches, the other team, the refs and yourselves."

   Right before every game the coaches and the captains meet with the refs. During that time the refs do a little speech. In that speech the refs say to basically be respectful of the fans, refs, the opposing team, and your team. They need to do that because nowadays people have issues respecting just about anyone, even themselves sometimes.

   Thus why I began to say this quote to my team. Was it hard at times? Yes, especially when the other team is swearing at you, the refs are missing blatant calls, or the fans are heckling you. I remember many times I'd have to calm my team down because they'd want to retaliate. But, what does retaliating actually do? It just makes everyone angrier. Then things get out of control and people get hurt.

   Respect is something that I believe is beginning to be lost nowadays. People don't say sorry, excuse me, please, or thank you. People look out only for themselves. People don't respect their elders, police officers, doctors, teachers, and many more jobs that used to have automatic respect. Yes, I know some people in those professions have messed up but that doesn't mean that all people in those professions are bad.

   Romans 12:10 says: "Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor." Respect could also be known as love. Before you say or do something put of anger you need to think. Are you going to show love and respect in what you are about to do? It's okay to have emotions but in acting in them will you regret what you did or hurt someone you love? It's not always easy to respect everyone yet that's what we are called to do. That's how people will see we are different.

   So, are you showing respect to others? What can you do to show respect to someone today?
   Image from here.

How Motivated Are You: Soccer Lessons

"You choose how much you give on the field. Be motivated to give your best to make the team better."

   I have coached at many different levels for soccer. One time I was coaching a JV team. This JV team had many different level of players. I had some players who had never played. Others had played for years. Looking at my team's ability I knew I'd have to go back to basics.

One of the players on my team came to me about halfway through the season. She said that she doesn't feel motivated or challenged in practice. I asked her why she felt that way. She said she'd been doing Brazilians and passing her whole life. She felt she was ready for the next level, varsity. She also said she was having a hard time staying motivated during practice.

   Those things that she said didn't concern me as much as the fact that she said she was having a hard time staying motivated. There are certain things you cannot teach as a coach. One of those things is motivation. I can't give my players a cup of motivation and it's taken care of. I can encourage and I do. But, that doesn't always work for every player.

   I talked to this player about what I was seeing and where she needed to improve. Then I talked with her about motivation. If she's not motivated in practice she needs to find a way to stay motivated on her own. She needs to challenge herself. She needs to say I'm going to get at least 7 out of 10 touches back to my partner in this drill. Because, if she's not motivated, she's not only not helping herself but the team as well.

   In life it's the same way. Many of us go through our days stuck in the same routine. We wake up, maybe eat breakfast, go to work or school, come home, eat, do some things around the house, relax, go to bed, and then get up and do it all over again. Doing that day after day may make it hard to stay motivated. That's when you need to find a way to stay motivated. You could help someone, encourage someone, or challenge yourself with something new each day.

   Another reason we should stay motivated is because we aren't just doing the things we do for ourselves or others. We are doing them for God. 1 Corinthians 15:58 says: "Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." We are doing everything we do for God. That should make us motivated to do our best every day.

   So, are you stuck in a rut? How can you help someone today? How motivated are you?

   Image from here.

How Do You Play After You Lose: Soccer Lessons 13

"Success isn't determined by how many times you win, but by how you play the week after you lose." (Pele)

   Losing isn't easy. When a soccer team loses it is very rare that they are okay with it; and, to a certain extent, they shouldn't be okay with losing. However, winning and losing shouldn't be the measure of that team's success.

   When a team loses they have a choice. They can wallow in that loss. They can think, "we are never going to win so why try?" Or, they can use that lose to push them to be better. They can think, "Yes, we had a setback but I'm going to get better and we will play better next time." To me, as a coach, I would rather see my team lose games and improve over the season than have them blow out teams and win all the time with no improvement. Thus, why I introduced this quote by Pele to my team.

   In life we don't play games where we have wins and losses. We do have obstacles and setbacks though. Hard times are going to come because that's life. Our success in life isn't determined by how many setbacks we have but by how we deal with those setbacks.

   James 1:2-4 says: "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." We choose what we are going to do after we face a trial. We can decide to wallow in that trial and let it rule our lives; or, we can choose to use that trial to make us better. We can choose to lean on God through that trial.

   So, what do you do when you face a trial? Are you choosing to use trials to help you grow? Do you lean on God through trials?

   Image from here.