The inspiration for this post comes from the night match that my team, Archangel Michael, had on Wednesday. We got done pretty badly by the other team, I think the score ended up being something like 4-2, in either case I was not a happy player. Neither was the coach. He gathered us around in a circle and started going off at us. I didn’t blame him for being upset because I sure was and you could see the look I had in my eyes, it’s as if I could kill

Why Was I So Angry?

Because we could have won the game so easily, and as a collective group of players we were just too good for them. However, we didn’t gel as a team. I wrote a post about team cohesion yesterday which is a good read. Back to the point at hand, I’m not the smiling type in life, I just don’t smile for the sake of it, maybe that’s why when I do smile, and it looks weird

What Was The Coach Saying?

He got us around in a circle and went off at us. Goodness me, he was annoyed. He went on to say something like this:

That had to be one of the most disgusting performances I have ever seen from this squad. It’s as if in training you come with determination and effort, but when it comes to the actual game, everything we learn at training goes out the window!

I agreed to a certain extent, but I knew why we played the way we did but I didn’t cut in to say anything just yet, I let him continue, but little did I know he was to start talking about the wingers:

Wingers, you complain and say that “How come we never get the ball?” It’s because you never make space for yourself and you never help out the defenders.

I really didn’t like what he said here because I could see the wingers working their butts off running up and down the field the entire game trying to get back to help the defenders and trying to help the attackers. He simply put too much on their shoulders. The three wingers on the team weren’t too happy about it either. I could have talked up and given my own response to the coach and let him really have it. But I didn’t. Read on to find out.

Respect Is Reciprocal

And that is what I needed to display here. Sure I could have pointed out the different things that he said wrong and threaten to stop playing or something stupid like that. However, this is your coach, who is only interested in making sure that you do well and the squad does well. He is the one who will help you become a great player like Ronaldinho and the bringer of the improvement needs to be respected and honoured. You don’t necessarily have to agree with what he says but do as he says and both you and he benefit from it. That is how to keep the harmony and the level of play to a high. If you ever get a chance to see how Coach Rijkaard for Barcelona conducts his team you would be lucky to see that he is a man of reason and order. He is the glue that keeps the team together and working with one another.