Getting Up Off the Ground

As some of you know I coach my son's soccer team. They are a bunch of energetic five year olds that I'm trying to teach soccer to. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. But hey they are having fun and that is really what it is all about. I want to talk about something that happened in last Saturday's game that is not just a soccer lesson but a life lesson.

My son is not the biggest five year old around. In fact he is one of the smaller players on the field. Even so he is very smart and has a never surrender mentality. In the game last Saturday he had several opportunities to dribble the ball down field and try to score. Unfortunately there was a kid on the other team that was faster and bigger than him. The bigger kid would catch up to Sam and shoulder him to the ground (OK sometimes he would push him to the ground). Now as a coach I have two options, complain to the referee or encourage Sam to get up and go after the ball. I chose the latter. Sam listened and got up each time and went after the ball.

It's amazing to me how we have similar things happen in our lives. There are times when the bigger and faster kid will push us down to the ground. It's then that we have two options. The first is to complain about what happened and try to get someone else to take care of our problems. The second is to get up, dust ourselves off and "go after the ball". Personally the second option is the one I prefer because I can do something about the situation. It gives me a goal to go after and a chance to prove myself.

It seems that the ability to get up and "go after the ball" eventually pays off. In life it makes you stronger and more determined. In Sam's case it led to a goal on the last play of the game. Had he given up or complained he might not have had the courage to try again and achieve his "goal".