The will must be stronger than the skill

Weekly Reflection 4th – 10th March 2013

On Tuesday we played another friendly against a 2e klasse side. I started the game as a number 8. Immediately from the off, I was going to have problems. I was completely confused on who I was supposed to be marking and how high I should be pushing up the pitch. I was getting told different instructions from the centre backs behind me and the coach. So I couldn’t focus and consequently played another bad match.  I knew I was going subbed off at halftime, I could hardly make any impact, even though I wanted to badly. So I came on the last 10-15 minutes again, but this time as a winger. Within 5 minutes I created a chance and put a ball in the box the striker from 6 yards out missed. I think it’s clear here. I’m not a defensive mid. I don’t know why I played so well in those first friendlies I had with JOS as a centre mid. Maybe it’s because I was training with Zeeburgia an extra 3x a week and fresh from training with Volendam. Hmm..

I didn’t have a great training session on Thursday because Jermaine caught me out a few times letting other men get the ball too easily, so before I saw the team lists on Saturday I had a feeling I was going to be dropped. My hunch was right and my name was nowhere to be seen. I was devastated. I just got dropped from the reserves. So now I’m on the way to play with the 3rd team.

But I ask myself, do I deserve to be dropped? I would lean more to yes then no for my on field performances, but only because I don’t think I’m being utilized in the right positions. The same thing happened when I was playing with Woden a year ago. The coach told me that I was with a pool of 10 or so players who were being considered not to be in the entire squad (first team and reserves!) because although my “technical skills were professional level” they didn’t know what position I was. But when I finally got to play right wing, I shined, got promoted and ended up scoring 4 goals in my first 3 matches for the 1st team. So I’m going to talk about this with Jermaine next week and see how we can work things out.

I played 60 min in the 3rd team match as a right wing back. It was 60 because one of the players from the other team broke their ankle and the match was called off. Did good going forward and defending was okay, although when an attacker makes a run, sometimes I don’t pick him up properly and that’s probably where my biggest weakness lies when I’m defending. But now I can take this feedback in account and focus on not letting it show if I’m put in this position again.

I need to plan. I waste time by not planning.

Thursday – Sunday was party after party which took a lot of time, so I missed 1:45 of work. Awesome Amsterdam!

There’s a great Muhammad Ali motivational quote below:

Goal Journal

3. Ongoing – Find out what makes great players, great. What separates the “great” from the “good”

The will must be stronger than the skill

4. Defend better