By Joeelle Beale
Echo Staff Reporter
Winning or losing a game can be very overwhelming, which can make it hard to focus while playing. The fear of disappointing fans or making a mistake that costs points can be nerve wracking.
In addition, the coaches must prepare the team by making new plays or doing new drills.
Sometimes it can be hard to not get upset when one of the team members screws up or they lose the game. However, the coaches and the team must be persistent and always know that one game does not make them a bad team. They learn from their mistakes and how to do better next time.
Grace Moschino, an RCTC soccer player, explains some of the different ways they do this.
Moschino says being a soccer player requires tough mental discipline. She says she has to have a talk with herself to calm herself and get her nerves under control before games.
Moschino says she recognizes the importance of the game and tries to scope out how it will go, including each play and how to beat the opponents.
Also, she practices by herself with her soccer ball, drinks plenty of water, and stretches. When she is with her team, Moschino takes notes of the drills they do, such as shooting, passing, or playing “rondo” (a keep away drill).
Another thing the team does, according to Moschino, is they look at stats of their opponent to see how good the players are. After this, they decide how to defend the net or goal to prevent the other team from scoring.
Bryan Weiss, the women’s soccer coach at RCTC, shared some additional comments about how they prepare for the game.
He says the whole team prepares by talking about routines, videos, and whether they’d be using plays. The videos he shows are from previous games that display what the whole team needs to improve on and what they did well.
They also watch opponents in different games to see how they score, analyzing every movement they make.
From there, the team performs what they practiced and make decisions on the field, reading every situation.
Also, Weiss says, getting to know your team is essential because then you know how they will play each game and can trust that they can make the right calls. As a coach, he encourages this because he knows that a team must work together, and that if this doesn’t occur, games can be easily lost.
They have movement drills and do stretches for training to work on cardio. Then they work in individual groups to improve skills, like dribbling and passing.
Finally, they do scrimmages, which are practice games that involve the whole team, that help with focus and decision making.
Being a soccer player has its challenges, some of which can be overwhelming. However, each team has its own ways of being prepared. Following routines, planning, and having good mental control are essential to being a good player.
Without them, games can be very difficult. However, the coach and the team do what is necessary to earn a well-deserved win.