Goal Streak

There was a period of time in soccer where my 6 year old daughter E and 4 year old son C were scoring goals almost every week. They were on a goal streak, and it was exciting for them. During the scrimmages, there would be one versus one, two verses, two, or three verses three. They ended up learning to love scrimmaging, even though that wasn’t the case a few years ago.

Looking back, they made a lot of progress. In the past, they used to cry and whine about scrimmaging because they didn’t understand that someone had to lose. They also didn’t like that usually it was them on the losing end. I was consistently telling them that losing is the best teacher because you learn what you need to work on. If you always want, you may not work as hard and you may not get better as quickly. Losing is a privilege and it’s up to you to fight out what you can do to win next time.

When they were on the goal streak, they were really excited to keep going to soccer. Then one weekend, the streak was broken. It was really difficult to score any goals. I was still really proud of them because they were so persistent in playing defense and getting up quickly after falling. They were a little bit bummed on the ride home, but we had a good talk about showing persistence and making sure that they played really hard. By the time we got home, they felt a lot better and were really proud of themselves for being persistent.

It’s hard to score goals in soccer, and it’s really hard to score multiple weeks in a row. When it’s one of those days where it’s a defensive match, those are the days where you get a lot better. You learn how to keep going after the ball and making sure you’re kicking it away. You also learn how to play better offense because the defense is sticking on you more.

I think they learned a lot that day and it’s carried over since. Now when they don’t score any goals, they keep playing hard and I don’t have to remind them. That being persistent is the most important thing. Now they say they love scrimmaging and it’s such a different tune. It was a long road to get here, but I’m glad we’re here.