BEHIND THE PLAY #10

As you may have guessed, I don’t mind writing emails. Given it’s the end of the season (for most) I thought I’d pull out one of my two favourite ‘end of season’ emails from years gone by. It’s from April 2013. I was going to post both now but I said this would be a short newsletter so I’ll save the other one, from my son’s team, for another day.

I coached a group of girls, including my daughter, that became the Roadrunners when they got to 11 a side at U13. It was a fantastic experience. We had such a great group of players in terms of commitment, behaviour, ability and competitiveness. Also had a super supportive parent group. Combined it meant we had success on the field and enough buy in off the field to go to Europe as a team twice. Their successes continue eleven years later as I expected. There’s so many great stories about them and what they’re now doing. So this one wasn’t just an end of season email, it was an end of final season email.

Here’s the more relevant parts of the last email I sent them as a team.

*******

Hello all,

Welcome to your last Roadrunner email... 

 [Thanked our team managers, my wife, the parents on the team and my daughter at the start of the email]. The last two parts of the email were addressed to the players and what they whole experience had been about from my perspective.

The players

And of course, the Roadrunners themselves. Their commitment to each other, to developing as soccer players, to playing the game the way it was meant to be played has been fantastic to watch. I got to see them grow as players but also grow as mentally tough, resilient young women. There is so much leadership and determination in this group. It's great to be around and really helped keep me motivated to push them and challenge them. I am blown away that they managed to train and play so consistently well while maintaining such great academic standards (yes, I did shake the hands of all six who were accepted to McGill - I think that's amazing on a team on a team of 15). I'll miss so many things about this group but the last two years have been particularly great as I could joke around more with them and even swear every now and then. It became more of a collaboration as they tried (sometimes successfully, sometimes not) to sway what I wanted to do in training and what formation we played in games. Laughter can be a scarce commodity on teams. Teams that aren't doing well often aren't happy at training and teams that are fighting to stay on top often squish the joy out of the game by taking it too seriously. They managed to find that balance and navigate a path that saw them succeed on the field and enjoy the trip as well. Thank you girls. As I said after our last game, I likely won’t have another experience like this in my coaching life and I'm very grateful to have been able to share these past years with you.

The bigger picture

There's a few things that I tried to bring to all of this in terms of a framework. I really wanted an environment that felt safe and welcoming but that had expectations. Training was a place they could come and know they would be treated with respect as athletes. Where there would be no comments about their appearance. The only judgment being on their willingness to train and become a better soccer player. I wanted our practices to be a second network for them. As they go to so many different schools, training was a chance to be a respite from the difficulties of being a teenage girl at high school and be with those they have worked hard with and shared success with. They embraced that and I think some of them will miss the training sessions more than anything else.

But they don't all have to be best friends for life. It's enough that they have a bond and a comfort level that, for some, goes back five plus years. This will last. As I told them, I recently had the chance to re-connect with about 20 former UBC teammates. Some of those guys I still see regularly, some occasionally and some I hadn't seen since leaving UBC. But it was easy and fun to see them all because we had what felt like so much history. So many stories that we can laugh at (and can only share with each other!). I hope our girls have that.

For all the wins, the league championships and other triumphs (like completing the pyramid* and not blowing out any ACL's) the last sign that this has been a success will indeed be when they bump into each other, or me, five or ten years down the road and the initial reaction is happiness and a urge to embrace and talk about what they shared on this team.**

I hope they keep playing and I'm sure they'll find other team environments that they will enjoy. I hope to get the odd email down the road from them telling me of great things in their lives. University graduations, other sporting successes, careers, marriages (way down the road), babies (way, way down the road) etc. I hope they stay in touch with each other and I hope they stay happy. Because that's my main memory of this team: happy girls laughing on a soccer field. Kicking ass. 

Gregor

Coach, VUFC Roadrunners

• U14 Gold 1 League Champions

• U16 Gold 1 League Champions

• U17 Gold 1 League Champions

• U18 Gold 1 League Champions

• Participants: 2009 Dana Cup, Denmark (Vanity Fair photo of them)

• Participants: 2011 Donosti Cup, San Sebastian, Spain

* The pyramid was a warm-up exercise we did. Sequential keep-ups starting with the right foot, then right thigh, right shoulder, head, left shoulder, left thigh, left foot and then popping the ball up to catch with their hands. It forces every touch to be very intentional as it has to set up a touch with a specific body part. They simultaneously hated and loved it. See video below that captures three Roadrunners successfully completing it in warm-up. It’s a a great video. It captures their camaraderie so well. And yes I know it looks like it was shot on an iPotato.

** Can confirm this has happened with a few of them over the years :)

_{A song you may not know but will surely like once you have. Wetsuit by the Vaccines . (Apple Music) (Spotify)(YouTube)}