You're playing sports, and nothing is going fairly. How do you react?

[Bourne]

I play coed and mens soccer. Pretty sure every player has gone through playing on bad teams. For the most part, if we are getting destroyed, I just try to keep it simple. Focus on my role on the team. Usually it's defensive anchor or shutting down the opponent's most dangerous player. Making sure my passes don't get sloppy or that I get so tilted I start doing stupid stuff and playing way out of position.

Yelling at your teammates isn't productive and will just make things worse. For players who are worse than me, I try to communicate to them and give them instructions. Like "make that attacker dribble to the outside." Or "Watch his strong foot". "I got the space behind you covered". Just reminders and general communication to strengthen team cohesion and shape. These are your teammates and you are going to have to play with them every week... so you have to build trust and teamwork. Your teammates may never be as good as you, but there are small things you can do to help them play at their max level.

As for the person who mentioned refs.. refs are refs. I've gotten royally screwed over by some really bad calls too... some that directly led to my team losing the game. There are a lot of dirty and sly players out there. Of course, I have my own defending tricks that I use to give myself an advantage. It's just part of the game and you never see a ref reverse a call after it is made so it's better to just forget about it.

............Really? You are one of the dudes who never sub? Nobody likes those people lol

Great point about the refs.

As for not subbing out, I'm the only one on my team who voluntarily plays defense, which I feel gives me the right to play more minutes. It's a dirty job that no one else is willing to do, so I feel like if I'm willing to shoulder that task, I should get to play more. Would much rather play forward and score goals and have no responsibility, but when other people play defense on my team they just gravitate forward and never run back on defense like they are supposed to, so I have no choice but to play D so they can get their rocks off. fair trade, no? (Plus I'm the only one who gives it their all, whereas the others lounge about - that counts for something where im from).

what ive yelled at teammates for more than anything are two things: neglecting defensive responsibilities, and not being aware of the clock.

Neglecting defensive responsibilities: Your main objective is to defend your goal, not to score goals. We have forwards for that. So in every situation, your first thought should be whether you are still adequately defending your goal. you cant just join the attack, and in doing so lose position, then not get back into said position. that is being extremely selfish. so in those times I am more apt to yell.

Not being aware of the clock: I see it all the time... the game will be tied or we are down 1 with like 1 minute left, and the ball is out of bounds... and the player on my team is just walking to pick it up. could be 30 feet away, and they are walking. completely inexcuseable regardless of skill level... urgency is common sense, not a developed skill.

in all instances though I've pretty much stopped yelling at them. although last game i was very frustrated and yelled at the guy on the other team who kicked me from behind pretty blatantly when i was on a breakaway, and im not proud of that. i would have preferred i just accept it and punish him by scoring next time, not by saying if-you-want-to-play-that-way-we-will.

meh

[PullupJay]

[falc39]

Great point about the refs.

As for not subbing out, I'm the only one on my team who voluntarily plays defense, which I feel gives me the right to play more minutes. It's a dirty job that no one else is willing to do, so I feel like if I'm willing to shoulder that task, I should get to play more. Would much rather play forward and score goals and have no responsibility, but when other people play defense on my team they just gravitate forward and never run back on defense like they are supposed to, so I have no choice but to play D so they can get their rocks off. fair trade, no? (Plus I'm the only one who gives it their all, whereas the others lounge about - that counts for something where im from).

what ive yelled at teammates for more than anything are two things: neglecting defensive responsibilities, and not being aware of the clock.

Neglecting defensive responsibilities: Your main objective is to defend your goal, not to score goals. We have forwards for that. So in every situation, your first thought should be whether you are still adequately defending your goal. you cant just join the attack, and in doing so lose position, then not get back into said position. that is being extremely selfish. so in those times I am more apt to yell.

Not being aware of the clock: I see it all the time... the game will be tied or we are down 1 with like 1 minute left, and the ball is out of bounds... and the player on my team is just walking to pick it up. could be 30 feet away, and they are walking. completely inexcuseable regardless of skill level... urgency is common sense, not a developed skill.

in all instances though I've pretty much stopped yelling at them. although last game i was very frustrated and yelled at the guy on the other team who kicked me from behind pretty blatantly when i was on a breakaway, and im not proud of that. i would have preferred i just accept it and punish him by scoring next time, not by saying if-you-want-to-play-that-way-we-will.

meh

For an advanced player, it will be easy for you to find areas where your team can be improved because you hold yourself at a higher standard. I don't see anything wrong in your thoughts as some of the things that irk you also bug me too. I think it's just more of communicating it better. There's a difference between yelling at someone (out of frustration) compared to calmly and assertively instructing. It's also okay to constructively criticize, just try to pick good times to do it at and for every negative thing you point out you should also follow up or lead with a positive/encouragement also. Also, it's usually bad to criticize someone immediately after a mistake as they are probably frustrated and it can go right over there head.

One thing I like to do is hold myself accountable and vocalize that to my teammates. Like you, I play a lot of defense, and if I make a mistake, I will definitely vocalize it. I'll even say what I did and what I need to do to correct it. "I should've closed down the space better". Or "Sorry, I should've marked the runner on the opposite side. We'll get it right next time." I don't do this just for communication, but I do it in hopes that my attitude will rub off on my teammates and they start trying to take more responsibility and recognize areas that they can improve in. When people see you as someone who is accountable, they will be more willing to listen to you. No one likes the person who thinks they are the greatest player that can do no wrong and criticizes everyone else. Because if you have that vibe, as soon as you make a mistake, your teammates will not take you seriously (and probably secretly laugh at you).

[Goon Time]

you sound like a real lame, it's co-ed soccer and you're crying about playing time. glory days are over dick head, just enjoy the exercise and competition