Building Family OR "Talk"
Did Christmas come early?
On Friday, on a futsal team that I've been playing on for a couple of years now, full of good people who I love and have grown close to and familiar with, I also got to play with two guest players: Marcos (a friend of mine who I've been playing with for almost fourteen years) and Alex (she's another friend of both of ours who we've known for almost a decade). To get to play with people who are that close of friends is a gift. By that point in a relationship (and in playing soccer) you have built understanding, trust, and care to a point where they become assets in soccer that you can't get any other way.
There is something that is commonly shouted at soccer games that has grown to annoy me: a stock word that players yell during certain moments in soccer games. If you've ever played enough soccer you have definitely heard someone yells out: "TALK!"
It is usually shouted when players on your own team are either in the mist of, or about to be in the mist of, a situation where confusion might arise. The most common example is when two players (of the same team) are in a position to take control of the ball, but it is uncertain who will.
Why does it annoy me that anyone would yell out "TALK"?
1) To start with, it is too obvious a statement. Duh.
2) What it really means is: "Someone make a decision and communicated it." But this requires an understanding of who that should be, of hierarchy.
3) "Talk" isn't really required at all (although some form of communication might be, even if it is subtle and subconscious). In my experience, those moments are sorted out quite smoothly when it is between players who have developed chemistry, players who have learned each other intuitively, so well that the understanding is instant. So maybe instead of yelling "talk," we should yell, "Build chemistry and understanding from years and years of playing together!"
There is something odd that happens when I play Pictionary with my brother; he draws a single line, I yell George Washington, and I get it right. We are in tune like no other. It is subconscious. Magical. Beautiful.
And this is the point I'm making...
Getting to play with Marcos and Alex is such a different experience, the level of understanding is intuitive, fluid, natural, we are all a unit. It isn't that we don't "talk," but we communicate and understand each other way beyond words. We have built memory into our game. When Marcos and I play (and we have been playing for years in several different contexts) we know each other's movements, tendencies, preferences and playing styles. This lends itself to becoming an extension of the other. We get into pockets of zone together and the play is fluid, natural.
Beyond that, to get to be on the field with friends that you know have your interests in mind, will work hard for you, will keep you accountable, will prop you up, is the most motivating, comforting and rewarding thing ever.
Thank you, my friends.
On Friday, on a futsal team that I've been playing on for a couple of years now, full of good people who I love and have grown close to and familiar with, I also got to play with two guest players: Marcos (a friend of mine who I've been playing with for almost fourteen years) and Alex (she's another friend of both of ours who we've known for almost a decade). To get to play with people who are that close of friends is a gift. By that point in a relationship (and in playing soccer) you have built understanding, trust, and care to a point where they become assets in soccer that you can't get any other way.
There is something that is commonly shouted at soccer games that has grown to annoy me: a stock word that players yell during certain moments in soccer games. If you've ever played enough soccer you have definitely heard someone yells out: "TALK!"
It is usually shouted when players on your own team are either in the mist of, or about to be in the mist of, a situation where confusion might arise. The most common example is when two players (of the same team) are in a position to take control of the ball, but it is uncertain who will.
Why does it annoy me that anyone would yell out "TALK"?
1) To start with, it is too obvious a statement. Duh.
2) What it really means is: "Someone make a decision and communicated it." But this requires an understanding of who that should be, of hierarchy.
3) "Talk" isn't really required at all (although some form of communication might be, even if it is subtle and subconscious). In my experience, those moments are sorted out quite smoothly when it is between players who have developed chemistry, players who have learned each other intuitively, so well that the understanding is instant. So maybe instead of yelling "talk," we should yell, "Build chemistry and understanding from years and years of playing together!"
There is something odd that happens when I play Pictionary with my brother; he draws a single line, I yell George Washington, and I get it right. We are in tune like no other. It is subconscious. Magical. Beautiful.
And this is the point I'm making...
Getting to play with Marcos and Alex is such a different experience, the level of understanding is intuitive, fluid, natural, we are all a unit. It isn't that we don't "talk," but we communicate and understand each other way beyond words. We have built memory into our game. When Marcos and I play (and we have been playing for years in several different contexts) we know each other's movements, tendencies, preferences and playing styles. This lends itself to becoming an extension of the other. We get into pockets of zone together and the play is fluid, natural.
Beyond that, to get to be on the field with friends that you know have your interests in mind, will work hard for you, will keep you accountable, will prop you up, is the most motivating, comforting and rewarding thing ever.
Thank you, my friends.
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