I’ve talked about nerves and how they affect me. As far as me watching him playing junior football, there doesn’t seem to be any pattern to how bad they’ll be. When he was in the u11’s, in his first season for his new team, the nerves were fairly bad every week. I think this will be no different to anybody else whose son or daughter moves to a new club – especially if they’re a goalkeeper.
The hardest position on the pitch can be unforgiving at the best of times.
Although there aren’t league tables you can see, he moved from the equivalent of probably the 7th division up to the 4th, into an established team with some very good players. I knew what he was capable of, having watched him for the previous 3 seasons and helping out with his training but he had to prove how good he was to his new team mates, the manager/assistant and the other parents.
He got over the first hurdle – the trial – then it was into pre-season training with a few friendlies thrown in to get ready for the upcoming season. He did OK in the friendlies but I didn’t think he’d really shown how good he was and a couple of the goals he conceded, he may have dealt with a little better. Over the course of the season, the teams were regraded several times and they found themselves in the top division out of 11.
The strange thing about the nerves affecting me was that in this particular season, they were at their worst when he was in the ‘no lose position’ for a keeper. Penalties. A cup final that they were leading for the majority of the game, saw his team concede an equaliser with about 2 minutes of normal time left. He was unfortunate with the goal, as were the team. They deserved to win but penalties were going to have to decide it. As soon as the final whistle was blown, I felt sick. I’ve got no idea why because obviously the keeper has the chance to be the hero of the moment – maybe I was worried that the opposition keeper would end up with the glory? To add further nausea, the penalties ended up going to sudden death but he, along with the scorers, ended up being the hero.
As it turned out, I was just relieved it was over.
On Friday night, the Summer League came around again but with a bit of added edge. An ex-team mate playing for the other team, along with a couple of his current school mates. One of the school mates is only playing for them in the Summer League as he’s at an academy, so won’t be allowed to play in the grassroots league. This also applied to one of their other players. On the following day, the team were entered into a tournament. Also in the same tournament were Friday night’s opposition.
We were both a bit nervy but no more than usual. He seemed to be pumped up for the Friday night game because of the added incentive of having to see his school mates again on the Monday. I hoped he’d have a decent game, so that his confidence would be high for the tournament the next day.
He did.
The team played really well, especially in the first half and kept the academy lads quiet. They were leading 2-0 but in the second half the opposition had a good go at them. At one point it was one way traffic and he found himself having to make quite a few saves to keep his team in it. It ended 2-2 but he’d done well and I thought with his performance he was in with a shout for Man of the Match.
Because of England’s quarter final game with Sweden, the tournament organisers had brought the kick off times forward to try to ensure it would be completed in time for everybody to get home to watch the World Cup match. So we had an early start on the Saturday morning to get to the ground and get set up. This left less time for nerves to set in and probably helped us enjoy the day more.
Over the last couple of seasons the team has had quite a good record at tournament football. In the same competition 12 months earlier, they were beaten in the final by an academy team. Again, in keeping with preparing for the new season, the tournament was 11-a-side to get more practice in. A couple of teams had dropped out meaning 2 groups of 4 teams, top 2 from each group qualifying for the semi-finals.
After a slow start and a 1-1 draw with the hosts, they woke up and picked their game up.
The Friday night opposition were in the other group but after our lads won their other games 4-0 and 2-0 without any real drama, they won their group and met in the semi-final about 16 hours after they’d drawn 2-2. Unfortunately for the other team, the academy lads weren’t there and so they only had 10 men. We took a 1-0 lead and that’s how it stayed. A free kick, heading for the top corner was the only scare but he got across his goal and palmed it away to safety.
So they were into the final again, and once again, playing last year’s winners.
They lost 2-1 but for most of the game were the better team, just couldn’t quite take their few chances and were punished at the other end. Another great tournament for the lads, another runner’s up trophy with a few great saves thrown in on Friday night and during Saturday.
It always helps if you can keep the faith.
Keeper of the faith 