Some Things Can’t Be Taught
The players were waiting for the coach to tell them what to do. That’s why they lost.
They lost the game 3–0 and it showed. Instead of playing with fluidity and rhythm, they played mechanically. When stressed, and faced with adversity, the kids simply could not adjust
Soccer has an element of art and creativity that just doesn’t exist in most other sports. In soccer, it takes time to understand the mechanics and the basics. Many players never get past that point to realize the creativity that is needed to excel at the game
Much in life is the same.
You can only be taught so much by others. At some point, it is up to you to imprint your style, your flair and your creativity in order to put your “signature” on the task at hand. Real learning needs struggle, effort and an openness to creative thinking.
For children today the task is even more difficult because the curriculum of education and sports has become much more about simply passing along information. The reason is because factual information is easier to index and more “searchable.”
For example, when I was a kid doing math homework, I had to struggle on my own if I did not understand the problem. There was no internet, or message boards, to go to. I would struggle with it and use all my time and resources to figure it out. Its in that struggle where learning takes place. With all the accessible options at the fingertips of today’s students, kids no longer have to struggle through the unknowns.
Sports are no different. With all the advances in nutrition and technique available, coaches are willing to pass that information on through coaching. Contrast that with my background. I learned how to play soccer in Ecuador kicking a ball around with my cousins and figuring a way around failure. Today, my children are trained in an academy with instructors where the rules and regulations are governed by a coach, not by a child’s imagination.
The fundamental part of learning is “learning” from mistakes. Playing, goofing around and trying new tricks lead to failure which, in turn, lead to developing something new in order to “get back up off the ground.” In today’s world there is no place for failure.
My kids play academy soccer and these clubs all are about finding only the best players in order to win. There’s no time or place for errors, or players who are less than winners. In my own life, everything I learned came from making mistakes that led to losing… correcting… and self-correcting until I hit the mark.
In order to offset this myopic aspect of today’s soccer training , my daughters also play on an indoor soccer field. They have a soccer guru who teaches them how to move with the ball similar to the way that a dancer moves with a dance partner. They are taught how to “dance” with a ball while salsa music is played! Goals aren’t counted until a requisite amount of passes are made. Tricks are taught and tried until a player is so comfortable with the ball that the player and the ball become one. Although the mechanics are taught, creativity is the focus. Their teacher said ” The only way to get out of tight places and defend is through creativity; not through mechanics.”
Useful advice for soccer…and life.
Because my daughters can play soccer creatively, they were given a scholarship to play Division 1 soccer after having a coach watch them play for only 20 minutes. When the coach was asked why she would give a scholarship after seeing them play so briefly, she responded that their creativity was so much higher than anyone else’s that it was a “no-brainer.” She continued, “Most players are just too mechanical and what is needed to win games is creativity.”
In music, as in soccer, there are many artists who know technically how to play an instrument; yet, it takes a really great musician to create something new and special. In the book The Sun and the Moon and the Rolling Stones there is a passage where Ry Cooder, the great guitar player, teaches Keith Richards some tricks in order to draw a different type of sound from his guitar. As a result of that lesson, Keith Richards wrote some of the best guitar riffs and incorporated them into some of the groups best songs. Cooder later said the Stones stole that from him.
However, author Rich Cohen pointed out that all musicians steal from each other, taking variations and techniques to form new sounds. Cohen feels the difference between Cooder and Richards was that although both were talented, Keith Richards was a high level creative individual who could bring new ideas to make beautiful music. Commercially, it is Keith’s creativity that made the Stones more successful.
Great soccer coaches know that soccer is an art that comes forth from one’s spirit, as in music. Training is there to provide the framework but genius comes from within. Whether soccer, music or life, success comes from overcoming adversity through creativity and learning that failure is an opportunity…not a fatality.
Steve Clark
Originally published at abovethefraypodcast.com on December 6, 2018.
