Well, do you want the good news or venting first? Oh wait...well, I guess I'll save the good news for last.
So, about soccer...hmm, where do I start...I guess I will start by restating my biggest frustration, which I know most of you already know, which is: I know that my best soccer is high-school level soccer. Again, could mean 1/a combination of two things:
1) I didn't play my best at tryouts
2) I wasn't noticed
First you have to understand that I am not a flashy soccer player. Although I admire flashy, in-your-face players, I'm not one of them. My style of soccer is hang out in the middle, be aggresive on defense, irritate the other team, make solid passes, and create scoring opportunities for my team. As you can see, none of those aspects included dribbling or scoring. Whenever I get frustrated with my "lack of flashy-ness", I remember something that my uncle James told me one time when I was getting frustrated about not having scored in a long time. He said,
"You just play your position and be where you're supposed to be and the goals will come. Don't go looking for goals because if you do that, you may lose scoring opportunities by being selfish."
I have since realized that some of the best players in the world do very little besides being in the right spot at the right time and taking solid shots when they see an opening. This has proved successful as I have scored several goals over the last couple seasons. In a tryout setting, however, being the "sit in the middle and try to create opportunities" guy gets very little recognition. Looking back on tryouts, I don't remember one specific time that I flat-out lost the ball or made a horrible decision. That is one of the biggest reasons why I feel that I should be on the team.
One of the things that the coach told us before tryouts was,
"I'll be looking for players with quick-thinking and a brilliant first touch." (He's British so he uses words like "bloody brilliant", it's awsome) Now if I had to pick the one thing that I think I do best, it would be my quick thinking. On the field I am constantly thinking, "if this ball comes to me, what am I going to do with it?" This is one of the biggest reasons why I rarely dribble, because I usually know what I want to do with the ball. I have also always felt like my first touch is good, not great, but good. One of the things which will help you most with your first touch is juggling, and I'm doing all right in the juggling department, so my first touch isn't half-bad either. The coach also said that, "if you have those two qualities, we will keep you on the team." This is one of the other reasons that I feel that I should have made the team.
The last reason is the people who made the team. There are a lot of players who I think deserve to be on the team, but there are a few who I don't view as being better than me at all. For example, there is one freshmen who made it who might be 2 inches taller than my little sister Elizabeth. He couldn't weigh more than 90 pounds either. The biggest difference between high-school and club soccer is the physicality. SOOO many more fouls get let go in high school soccer than in club. It's not all bad either, but when your 2'1", and you weigh 24.3 pounds, your gonna get run over by some senior from alta. Why did he make it then, you may ask. Because his brother is one of the senior captains, that's why. Now I'm sorry, I know that my view of myself as a player is different than the next guy's but there is no way that a kid that's probably 4'8" is a better high-school soccer player than me. No way, no how.
There is a lot more I could say, but I'll spare you because this post is already extremely long. Like I said before though, the only thing I can do this year is work harder so I can make the team next year. Everyone says that boys soccer is the hardest sport to make at Viewmont both because of the talent and because of the amount of people that try-out.
As for the good news, I scored an 88% on the AP Euro test today!!! WOOHOO! That's the best I've gotten all year in an extremely difficult class. So ya, I'm pretty amazing.
That's all I've got to say.
9 comments:
Nice job on the test! I understand what you mean by the players that made the team and pretty much everything else... Here's a question for you though... How does indoor soccer on Saturday with Gerrit at the Kaysville indoor field sound?
Great job on the test. That's great. I always loved history in high school.
I'm sorry you didn't make the team Josh. I have been in a similar position before, and I was devastated. I did have some great experiences and learned some really important lessons as a result of my being left off a team.
Every team needs players like you. The Cristiano Ronaldos of the world are obsolete without the tireless work and vision of the Michael Carricks and the Paul Scholes of the world.
I think there are advantages to being short, but not lite.
Josh...Sorry to hear about not making it! Don't give up on next years tryouts. Keep practicing and you'll get noticed.
Way to go on the test!
awww, josh i'm sorry. all i gotta say is keep your chin up and work your butt off to be out on the field next year.
about the test well, i'm glad that you did great but it scares the crap out of me that you, a genius, got an 88 where as i, not such a genius will be taking that class next year and totally bombing it, ahhhh!!!
Ya, when there's 70 players all trying out for the team, it must be hard to find out which players are the best in such a short amount of time; especially if your a great solid player rather than a flashy player who gets too much attention. Hey, well I hope you can make it next year
Great job on the test. I love history. I almost majored in History in college. One of my favorite classes in college was a history course on the Ottoman Empire and it was so amazing that after the last lecture the entire class (roughly 35 people)started clapping and then our big burly overweight bearded professor ran out of the room because he was going to start crying. It was awesome.
That sucks that you didn't make the team. You are a solid center midfielder. I always find it interesting who coaches decide to pick and who they decide to leave out. I remember extremely skilled players and friends being left out but other less skilled players being picked up. 3 days of tryouts is such a short amount of time to evaluate that many players in my opinion.
Sorry that you didn't make the team:( But i'm sure club will be great this spring. Honestly..I think you learn more in club than in high school. Idk about guys but for girls, it's a totally different game for high school, it isn't a team game at all. Anyway-good job on this test..oh and i'll back "jesse c" up..because it's true, and..well, because Man U rocks:D
I woulda picked you FIRST, Josh. I'm sure that holds a lot of weight with my extensive soccer background, but I second your uncles' opinions, and they do know. I also love history. Love it. Good job on the test. You are a great young man and a great soccer player.
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