The flip side of calling out those who can’t compete is taking responsibility when you fail your team, or you fail yourself. I feel like tonight I did both. We lost again, and I was a very selfish player. I didn’t move the ball well, and I didn’t play solid defense. When I had the ball at my feet, I did generally make good decisions, but I also generally failed to execute.
Now I’m trying to figure out what to do when I don’t trust half of the team to make good decisions. There are just people who don’t know how to play soccer, and the level at which we play is too high for someone who is a recreation level player. So what should I do? Is the right thing to do to not include them in the decisions that I make?
I won’t pass him the ball. I won’t trust him to get back on defense. I will play as if we’re a man down when he’s on the court.
That doesn’t seem fair to me, or to the team at large.
I’m trying to improve my level of play, and that includes making the other people around me better as well. It’s selfish to be any other way.
Acting as if that person doesn’t exist really hurts the team as well. We need to become a better unit. We need to move better, and maintain a shape that works on the indoor court. It needs to be a team effort, and a team responsibility.
All of that said, mainly out of frustration, I need to set goals for myself for the next match. First of all, I need to be a more positive force on the team. The important thing for me is to get back to the basics, and force myself to play 2-touches max, and focus on moving the ball, and my body position around the field. Finally, I think I need to just push the individual to work on improving one piece of his game. Work on defense first, and let’s get marking, body position, and general defensive techniques down. From there, we can really accomplish anything.
I failed myself, and my team today, and I’m not going to let it happen again.