Tag Archives: soccer

Inspiration

Stay in bounds

By DAVID TEPERA | Posted: Tuesday, December 13, 2016 

Most sports that use a ball for play will have an out-of-bounds line. Typically, within these sports, the ball is turned over to the opponent for going out-of-bounds.

Let’s use soccer for today’s lesson. Like many other sports, the whole idea is to move the ball down to the other side of the playing field to score a point in the opponent’s goal.

Of course, the drive down the field is not just a straight line. The other team will have defenders trying to steal the ball, knock you down with slide tackles, and force an out-of-bounds.

So, in order for a team to score, they’ll need protect the ball, go through or around defenders, and most importantly — stay in bounds.

Maneuvering the ball through defenders is a skill that takes practice and patience, but with persistence, will usually score a point.

I think we can all agree, our lives are like trying to score goals in soccer.

The soccer field represents our life’s journey. We are all doing our best to reach success and happiness. But, as we’ve learned, it’s not a fast straight line to reach our goals.

There will always be obstacles and people getting in your way to stop or slow down your progress. Just like in soccer, sometimes you have to regroup, take a step back and maneuver around them.

We all have human flaws too, so don’t get discouraged when you get sidetracked and fall out-of-bounds. I look at this period as a timeout. It’s easy to get depressed if you dwell on the mistake of falling off track.

Just know, you can’t control what happened yesterday, but today is all yours. So get back on the field and get moving again.

When I was coaching high school soccer, it was easy for my team to get frustrated when the opponent kept stealing the ball. But, I explained that we needed to step up to another level and focus on our game plan.

Never lose the will for the ultimate goal which is to score. It’s already within you. Create more passion with every attempt.

Now, just like in soccer, stick to your game plan in life and don’t stop until you’ve scored the winning point.

I can hear it now “Goooooaaaaal!”

Inspiration

Learn to get back up and never quit

By DAVID TEPERA | Posted: Tuesday, August 30, 2016

As parents, one of the best lessons we can teach our children is to get back up after being knocked down. These lessons will be needed throughout their whole lives.

For example, when I was a youth soccer coach, it was countless how many times parents would run to their kid’s rescue after they fell from being tripped. The fallen kid would look for their parents then start crying.

Now wait a moment and keep reading before you get mad at me. There is a difference between being hurt and being injured.

At the beginning of each season, I would tell the parents that if your kid falls, I’m going to yell at them to get up and get back in the game. I wouldn’t give them an opportunity to cry or have their parent over-pamper them.

Also, once the kid was up and running, I would yell encouraging words letting them know how proud I was of their effort. Those kids always received extra high-fives from me.

It was amazing to watch a young kid learn to self-power and transform into a determined athlete.

The second part of this lesson is I never allowed my kids to quit any sport or activity either. It didn’t matter how much they weren’t enjoying it. I told them to finish the season, and if they never wanted to play again, then don’t.

Besides, my kids typically would end up liking that sport anyway. They just had a discouraging game or practice during a particular week.

Once we teach our kids to quit, quitting becomes a way of life. Believe me, my kids have deleted the “quit” word from their vocabulary.

I know a family whose parents came to their son’s rescue in every situation possible, not just sports. Their son never learned to get back up or problem-solve. They allowed him to quit every activity he was involved in. Now he’s in high school and has no ambition because quitting comes too easy.

Throughout our whole lives, we will be in situations that require us to find courage to never give up.

We’ll encounter divorce, unemployment, life-threatening diseases, death of love ones and so on.

Yes, you will fail, you’ll get hurt, and you’ll lose. But, you’ll also come from behind to win, cross the finish line and fight your way back in life.

You’ll always find a way to land back on your feet because quitting was never an option.

Fitness

Formula helps coaches reach kids

By DAVID TEPERA | Posted: Tuesday, February 23, 2016

We all love to hear compliments from others. It typically inspires and motivates us to elevate ourselves with the tasks at hand.

Recently, a parent friend of mine named Scott volunteered to coach youth sports. Scott was asking my advice for a method to get kids to listen and be encouraged to learn the skills he was teaching.

Each year, there are a lot of new parent volunteer coaches and maybe this article might be of help. Also, parents just know I use this same technique on my own kids to get them to complete chores and other responsibilities.

The formula I’ve put together is as follows: compliment — explain problem or skill needed — solution — encouragement.

Let’s take youth soccer for our example. Little Bobby keeps kicking the ball with the front tip of his cleats, which is very common among beginners. I’ve been trying to teach him, but he’s not correcting the mistake.

I start off telling Bobby how impressed I am with his speed and how he is one of the fastest players on the team. But, if you would start kicking the ball on the proper placement of your cleats, then I could move you into a position to score points.

As long as you keep kicking with the front part of cleats, I’ll have to keep you in a defensive position. Bobby, you’re an amazing player and we are lucky to have you on our team. I know you can do this. Now, give me a high-five and show me what you’ve got.

I guarantee Bobby feels great about himself and starts doing his best to kick properly.

For all you youth soccer coaches, here’s a little trick that helps kids to kick properly.

I would put white medicine tape on the contact areas of cleats, so when they get dirty, the kids know the kicks were correct.

Now, when it comes to disciplining our kids, I’m sure most of us learned old-school methods from our parents, if you know what I mean. But, try my formula. It has worked very well for me to which my kids have learned to stay responsible.

Inspiration

Determination can knock down barriers

By DAVID TEPERA | Posted: Tuesday, February 2, 2016

In 1995, I was the boys head soccer coach at La Marque High School. At that time, there had never been any girls teams.

Well, there was this one pesky little freshman girl named Mandi Tapia who kept bugging me to be in my boys soccer class. She even refused to go to her assigned P.E. class and argued with the counselors.

Eventually I sat Mandi down and explained that she could be in my class and join in all the training, but she would not be able to play this year. Instead she could be a manager and a ball chaser.

At first I tried to modify the workouts to be easier for a female. Mandi rejected the modifications and worked at the same pace as the boys. To my surprise, she applied more effort and determination with impressive skills than some of the other guys.

The following season, Mandi recruited two other young ladies named Kelly O’Dell and Selene Valdez to join the soccer class.

I was also a football coach during the 1990s state championship run under Alan Weddell. My soccer offseason program mimicked the same intensity we put those football players through.

If these young ladies want to compete against young men, they would need to prove their physical and mental toughness. Yet again, they stood the test with Mandi becoming one of the leaders.

Well, that season all three girls made the boys JV team and were the only females to play boys soccer in the entire district. Sometimes it was quite humorous to see opponents’ boys getting frustrated with girls scoring and slide tackling them.

These ladies taught me and their male counterparts that when you hit the field, there’s no boys and girls, just a bunch of determined athletes.

Because of their efforts and through Mandi’s leadership, these girls and I petitioned the school and added the first-ever La Marque girls soccer team in 1997.

Recently Mandi and I had an opportunity to talk and reflect back on those special years. Mandi told me her experience in my soccer program was influential in her becoming the successful woman she is.

But what I want Mandi Tapia to know is that once pesky little freshman girl influenced the way I’m raising my daughter.