The Summer league continued as normal but unfortunately for the goalie, the fixtures are played every fortnight, which meant a full 2 weeks between competitive matches before he had the chance to get the previous game out of his system.
He said to me he would have preferred to play sooner but what can you do? As it was, he had a few training sessions, either grassroots or with CYG, in which he didn’t show any signs of repeating his mistakes from the game. This is usually the case though. He’s very committed to all the training he takes part in, plus you don’t get nervous in training do you? We got a 1:1 session in, on the Sunday morning after the 4-3 win because I thought it would help him relax and move on from his errors, especially as we did the 1:1 on the same pitch where the game had taken place.
You might think it’s a bit of an over reaction for a couple of mistakes by a 12 year old but from my own experience of playing at his age, I know I would have wanted to get back to playing as soon as possible, just to convince myself I was better than my performance.
I suffered with nerves when I played, on the odd occasion to the point of feeling physically sick.
He never used to get nerves but the last year or 2, they’ve crept in a little bit. It’s probably a combination of playing for a good team in the top division of a well-respected league, along with the amount of spectators that watch Junior League (and Summer League) matches these days and of course, the most likely reason, the position he plays. Rewind back nearly 30 years to when I was his age and the number of players easily outweighed the amount of people who went to watch. I asked him not long after he started playing if he ever got nervous – “why would I get nervous?” was his reply, so I left it at that.
The 1:1 session went really well.
The usual combination of fundamentals, distribution and footwork drills with a bit of crossbar challenge chucked in at the end did wonders for him and he seemed very relaxed. We’re really lucky to have new facilities nearby and as much as possible, I want to use them regularly but in a structured way to help him improve. He’s at an age now where although he wants a bit of a laugh at the end of training – especially if that’s at my expense – he wants to be worked hard and he wants to improve.
The next fixture came round and he seemed quite relaxed. It’s fair to say I felt like my 12 year old self again. Stomach in knots and unable to think about anything other than hoping he had a decent game, as it got closer to kick off. His warm up went well apart from the one that went straight through his hands and into the goal. He turned round and smashed the ball into the back of the net. I went over and had a word with him. In this situation, with him, the words have to be well chosen, otherwise he thinks I’m having a dig and the mardy face comes on. We carried on warming up for a few more minutes and all the same sort of shots that he faced, he kept out without any problems.
A mistake is a mistake, as long as it doesn’t keep happening.
I should say at this point that I’m very aware how important it is to remember the age he’s at, that he’s growing up and going through changes so sometimes his fuse is shorter than others. It can be a difficult enough time without thinking somebody’s having a dig at you when you’re doing your best.
The game went well. He looked the complete opposite of the goalie from a fortnight ago. He was nearly reaching half way with his goal kicks – mixed up with short balls to his full backs when it was on. Communicating more with the back four, asking for pass backs and dealing with them comfortably. He lined up a 2-man wall to defend a free kick (maybe something to work on, now there are more players and a bigger goal to defend) which the striker placed inside the far post but he’d read it and scampered across to deal with it. The lads eased to a 4-1 win and he couldn’t have done anything with the goal he conceded, so it was relief all round.
A fortnight can be a long time in junior football but in the end, the result and his performance was all we could have hoped for. And I didn’t throw up.
Keep the faith.
Keeper of the faith 