Following week one of youth football two things are clear. To begin, I need to find a lot more balance in my life.
I woke up at 3 in the morning on a Saturday to get ready for youth football. I wasn’t excited–I was overwhelmed. I was worried about all of the little things I needed to get right and ready in preparation for the game and I missed a few things still. As a result of all this I spent the day strung out–a condition that worsened as we went from a loss to a second game blowout (proof that good players and coaching yield success) to a 3rd game loss (proof that size matters and we need to learn how to compensate for what we do not have). I was strung out and sad and missing my partner. What sucked even more is that instead of calling her when I had a moment, I texted and missed a really valuable opportunity to connect.
I have to learn to pick my spots. I have to learn to step away and do what matters. This is a very tough lesson because it blows contradictory to the winds of what everyone around me in these situations is demanding. I need to fight harder against the gale and hold on dearly to what matters most.
In game terms I probably needed another week of game prep personally. In addition I need to create more opportunities to get the ball to receivers in space and build those opportunities around a lot of this very useful misdirection. I wasted my 4 backs in the I formation, meaning week 2 needs to see me moving the ball around in a lot of screens and quick passes which will eventually lead to some shots downfield once my QB is ready to do so. Here’s the new plan for me: compartmentalization. I shied away from that, mostly because it felt like such things were fueling relationship problems. I need to recognize that while this is real it is more how I carry it out that causes problems.