The Terminator

Juliette made the roster of a competitive soccer team. I couldn't be happier. Last year, she was one of the best players on a house league team and I thought that her chances of making a competitive team this year would be a very high. As it turns out, her style of play and her passive disposition towards aggressive girls resulted in a horrible try-out experience. The try-outs were mostly drills and skills. Juliette's strengths are size and power. So when I got the call that she made the team over 6 other girls, I was shocked. I guess they figure that you can't teach size. Needless to say both daughter and father were ecstatic. We both had high hopes for the season.

In her first game of the season Juliette came out nervous and passive. She didn't have the aggressiveness of her teammates which made he a bit of a liability. After the game, I asked her what was wrong and she explained that she didn't want to hurt anyone out there. So I told her that it's not up to the players to decide what is within the rules and what is illegal, that's the job of the ref. There are three things a ref can do in a game to tell a player that they are crossing the line; awarding a free kick, giving a yellow card or giving a red card. I explained that in all the years of soccer, Juliette hadn't ever received a card (yellow or red) or a free kick. She also told me that she didn't want to use anger to fuel her aggression so I asked her to try and kick the air out of the ball. I figured being aggressive towards an inanimate object could provide her with the excuse of trying hard without her worrying about the wellbeing of others. I also added that the reason she made this competitive team was for her size and strength and that if she continued to play passively, she would be a liability on the team. That last comment was a bit close to the line of "crazy soccer dad" but I stand behind the statement as being the truth even if it wasn't very politically correct.

Since the first game she's been playing great. She even came home one day after practice and told me that her coach had given her the nickname the Terminator. Then she asked me who the terminator was. I couldn't be prouder of her. She is starting to really own her part of the field and takes balls away from opponents and knocks them down all the while never receiving cards or even a free kick against her. I'm so happy about her success to date and I look forward to watching her improve even more as the season goes on. Who knows, maybe she will even score a goal this year.