2008 Soccer Blog - Week 3

by Kim Johnson - September 20, 2008

After a crushing lost against MCLA, we decided to think about why it was that we lost. What could we do to improve and to make sure we didn’t lose like that again? We had a team meeting about mental practice, which is a way to improve your skill by visualizing playing and imagining the way playing feels. It’s a very difficult skill to learn; instead of visualizing, many of the girls will use breathing techniques to focus their energy on soccer. We now have mental practice every day, and I think it really helps. It allows you to put your worries aside and to concentrate on soccer. After discussing mental practice, the team got together and talked about team goals. We all sat around the dinner table and each recited what we wanted from the team. Out of all the goals said, we chose a select few. They are:

• Utilize our potential to the fullest
• Increase effective communication on and off the field
• Place at least fourth in the NEWMAC tournament
• Never give up

After a few days of practice, we had a chance to prove ourselves again against Connecticut College. I was particularly excited to play this game for a few reasons. The first reason is that my friend, Sharon from back home, was in the starting lineup for Connecticut College, and it's fun to play against people you know. The other reason was that it was a night game. There’s nothing more exhilarating than playing under the lights while the fans cheer you on. We played so hard that game. Everyone left everything out on the field. Even the players who didn’t play have never yelled and cheered for our team that loud before. Even though they scored (my friend Sharon is the one that scored, the stinker), we still played our hearts out. We left everything out on the field, and by the end of it, we had no regrets. It’s important that we win games, but it’s just as important to feel like winners at the end, even if the game is lost. After the Connecticut College game we felt like winners, and we deserved to.