"Man On"
Today, I was bored and ready for something to do. My game with Meaty Greens, a coed futsal team I have done for a few years with wonderful people, wasn't until 10:10 at night.
Marcos, my good friend of many, many years, being of the same brain as me, texted to see if I wanted to meet up at futsal before the game. He and I have played together forever and often go to facilities to watch other games (this is more entertaining for us than television, each game being an unscripted story of drama, suspense, comedy, mystery, horror, every genre).
If, while we are there to watch one of the games on the three courts at that facility, there is an opportunity to jump onto a game due to need, we will fill in and help out.
We were a few games in, watching, commenting, analyzing, criticizing, learning, being entertained and mostly, really just bonding and spending time with each other as friends when we saw a team we've helped out before in need of a few more players. They asked us to join and we obliged. It is a lower division mens' team full of friendly players with great hearts who are limited in skill and knowledge but have enough experience to have adopted some strategies and language commonly seen in the world of local soccer.
I would fit right in.
At one point during the game, I was sitting on the bench next to two other players from the team. We were waiting our turn.
Marcos is extremely talented: technical and intelligent. The control he has of the ball when it is at his feet is astounding; it is rarely stripped from him. Add to that incredible vision and awareness.
Knowing that, on the wood court, not more than ten feet from us, Marcos was holding the ball at his feet with a rival player literally all over him, pressing up against him from behind as he made space by leaning his body and stretching his leg, the way he knows how. The guy was holding on to him, trying to get the ball, his entire body all over Marcos.
As this was happening, the guy sitting on the bench next to me was frantically yelling to Marcos, "Man on! Man on!"
And this is the topic I want to write about: this phrase that is so commonly thrown around.
In other entries of this blog, I have talked about other stock phrases that get used because we learned them (see the entry titled "Building Family OR 'Talk!'"). When one starts to question the language we use in the game, and also when and how this language should be applied, things get fun.
For me, the guy yelling "Man on!" at Marcos—as Marcos is being physically pawed at, and has been for a few seconds—is the extreme example of how useless this statement often is. It is beyond clear that there is a "man on," almost literally "on." Marcos is likely the most aware of this of all of us. The "man" has been "on" for a while.
I personally don't like it yelled at me. More often than not, I am already aware of what I am being told, that there is a "man on" (the ratio is extreme (65/1?)). 1) For starters, I have already scanned the field and have a sense of where my options and pressures are before I receive or take control of the ball. 2) The carrier of the ball is by the nature of the sport a huge fucking target for defenders. The ball is a defender magnet. One should assume there will be pressure on you either immediately or shortly after establishing possession of the ball or even when one is in its proximity.
So, when my own teammates are upset at me for not having yelled at them that there is a "man on" before they have the ball stolen from them, I think to myself (if I am comfortable with them, I actually say): Look around (before hand).
And I want to amend at the end of that mental (or spoken) statement: Stop being lazy and outsourcing your responsibility of awareness to me.
Of course, there are times when it is evident that one is about to be blindsided and they do need your eyes, but again... for me, the ratio is low; a player should be aware of dangers or assume their likelihood.
By this point it is clear that I have issues when it comes to having it yelled at me personally (and like I explained, there are players who are upset they don't have this yelled at them, whereas I'm upset to have it ever said to me).
I have at least three problems with having this statement yelled at me:
1) The first is the implication that the information is useful to me, it usually isn't, I most likely already know (remember the ratio), so what's the point? You're distracting me. But not only is it distracting, it is also confusing, which leads to the next problem:
2) The second issue I have with it is the implication that if there is tight pressure, that I am in trouble, that I will likely lose the ball, that I am unable to maintain possession of the ball in the physical proximity of a defender. That's just rude; might as well just yell, "Hey, you are awful! Someone is about to take the ball from you!" Being handed this information of "man on" also implies that there is a solution that I am not already aware of in order to solve the problem of pressure. The information is unclear, only presenting a perceived problem that has no perceived solution. Are you wanting me to release the ball early, to clear it out of bounds, to brace myself?
3) And lastly (and this can be an issue beyond just this specific statement, it is an issue of communication, but this specific statement is special for this) is the fact that most of the time, this statement is yelled in a certain tone, one of stress and panic. The soccer I like to play relies heavily on a degree of mental and physical composure. When communication on the field imbues panic, stress, uncertainty, doubt, worry into the players and team, it undermines what is required to play the style of soccer I enjoy and strive for. When someone yells "Man on!" in a panic, as if there was someone behind me (which again, they believe I am unaware of, but I am likely not (remember the ratio)), and they usually yell it in the tone as if the person approaching has a knife lifted and ready to stab me in the back with. It throws me off a bit, it sets me into panic, it unbalances my mental stability and shakes confidence. Them yelling it almost becomes the self fulfilling prophecy (see other blog entry about this topic) and now I am actually more likely to lose the ball, make a panicked decision, a mistake.
Also... psst... by the way... don't look behind you now, but... "Man on! (the entire time you were reading this!)"
Also... issues and assumptions of gender and the sport?
Also... when I coached a club team of girls who I carried from U10 through U14 and then into the high school, I made them substitute this statement with the Argentinian warning: "ojo" (literally meaning eye, but figuratively meaning "watch out"). And I taught them to use it discerningly, sparingly, and with a tone that would yield information and at the same time not shake confidence and composure.
Marcos, my good friend of many, many years, being of the same brain as me, texted to see if I wanted to meet up at futsal before the game. He and I have played together forever and often go to facilities to watch other games (this is more entertaining for us than television, each game being an unscripted story of drama, suspense, comedy, mystery, horror, every genre).
If, while we are there to watch one of the games on the three courts at that facility, there is an opportunity to jump onto a game due to need, we will fill in and help out.
We were a few games in, watching, commenting, analyzing, criticizing, learning, being entertained and mostly, really just bonding and spending time with each other as friends when we saw a team we've helped out before in need of a few more players. They asked us to join and we obliged. It is a lower division mens' team full of friendly players with great hearts who are limited in skill and knowledge but have enough experience to have adopted some strategies and language commonly seen in the world of local soccer.
I would fit right in.
At one point during the game, I was sitting on the bench next to two other players from the team. We were waiting our turn.
Marcos is extremely talented: technical and intelligent. The control he has of the ball when it is at his feet is astounding; it is rarely stripped from him. Add to that incredible vision and awareness.
Knowing that, on the wood court, not more than ten feet from us, Marcos was holding the ball at his feet with a rival player literally all over him, pressing up against him from behind as he made space by leaning his body and stretching his leg, the way he knows how. The guy was holding on to him, trying to get the ball, his entire body all over Marcos.
As this was happening, the guy sitting on the bench next to me was frantically yelling to Marcos, "Man on! Man on!"
And this is the topic I want to write about: this phrase that is so commonly thrown around.
In other entries of this blog, I have talked about other stock phrases that get used because we learned them (see the entry titled "Building Family OR 'Talk!'"). When one starts to question the language we use in the game, and also when and how this language should be applied, things get fun.
For me, the guy yelling "Man on!" at Marcos—as Marcos is being physically pawed at, and has been for a few seconds—is the extreme example of how useless this statement often is. It is beyond clear that there is a "man on," almost literally "on." Marcos is likely the most aware of this of all of us. The "man" has been "on" for a while.
I personally don't like it yelled at me. More often than not, I am already aware of what I am being told, that there is a "man on" (the ratio is extreme (65/1?)). 1) For starters, I have already scanned the field and have a sense of where my options and pressures are before I receive or take control of the ball. 2) The carrier of the ball is by the nature of the sport a huge fucking target for defenders. The ball is a defender magnet. One should assume there will be pressure on you either immediately or shortly after establishing possession of the ball or even when one is in its proximity.
So, when my own teammates are upset at me for not having yelled at them that there is a "man on" before they have the ball stolen from them, I think to myself (if I am comfortable with them, I actually say): Look around (before hand).
And I want to amend at the end of that mental (or spoken) statement: Stop being lazy and outsourcing your responsibility of awareness to me.
Of course, there are times when it is evident that one is about to be blindsided and they do need your eyes, but again... for me, the ratio is low; a player should be aware of dangers or assume their likelihood.
By this point it is clear that I have issues when it comes to having it yelled at me personally (and like I explained, there are players who are upset they don't have this yelled at them, whereas I'm upset to have it ever said to me).
I have at least three problems with having this statement yelled at me:
1) The first is the implication that the information is useful to me, it usually isn't, I most likely already know (remember the ratio), so what's the point? You're distracting me. But not only is it distracting, it is also confusing, which leads to the next problem:
2) The second issue I have with it is the implication that if there is tight pressure, that I am in trouble, that I will likely lose the ball, that I am unable to maintain possession of the ball in the physical proximity of a defender. That's just rude; might as well just yell, "Hey, you are awful! Someone is about to take the ball from you!" Being handed this information of "man on" also implies that there is a solution that I am not already aware of in order to solve the problem of pressure. The information is unclear, only presenting a perceived problem that has no perceived solution. Are you wanting me to release the ball early, to clear it out of bounds, to brace myself?
3) And lastly (and this can be an issue beyond just this specific statement, it is an issue of communication, but this specific statement is special for this) is the fact that most of the time, this statement is yelled in a certain tone, one of stress and panic. The soccer I like to play relies heavily on a degree of mental and physical composure. When communication on the field imbues panic, stress, uncertainty, doubt, worry into the players and team, it undermines what is required to play the style of soccer I enjoy and strive for. When someone yells "Man on!" in a panic, as if there was someone behind me (which again, they believe I am unaware of, but I am likely not (remember the ratio)), and they usually yell it in the tone as if the person approaching has a knife lifted and ready to stab me in the back with. It throws me off a bit, it sets me into panic, it unbalances my mental stability and shakes confidence. Them yelling it almost becomes the self fulfilling prophecy (see other blog entry about this topic) and now I am actually more likely to lose the ball, make a panicked decision, a mistake.
Also... psst... by the way... don't look behind you now, but... "Man on! (the entire time you were reading this!)"
Also... issues and assumptions of gender and the sport?
Also... when I coached a club team of girls who I carried from U10 through U14 and then into the high school, I made them substitute this statement with the Argentinian warning: "ojo" (literally meaning eye, but figuratively meaning "watch out"). And I taught them to use it discerningly, sparingly, and with a tone that would yield information and at the same time not shake confidence and composure.
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