Finding the Positive in Every Game
Is there such a thing as a positive loss in soccer?
Many players think of performances in “black or white” terms… A win is good, a loss is bad… I played great or I had a horrible game.
But there is an entire gray area when it comes to performance, such as the following examples:
Your team was dominating the entire game but gave up two goals late in the match to lose what should have been an easy victory.
The positive takeaways could be lessons learned such as; the need for better communication among teammates, focusing on closing out a game or motivation to not take any team lightly.
As goalie, you gave up three goals in the first half of the game. Two of the goals you were caught out of position.
In the second half, you played the angles much better, made three spectacular saves and shut out the opposition. The fact that you were able to make adjustments at halftime is a great, positive takeaway.
Your team played the defending champions who were undefeated the previous year and beat your team 6-0 last season.
This year, your team lost a close match 2-1 but dictated the pace of the game and had several shots on goal but their goalie made some outstanding saves.
The positive takeaways are that your team has improved dramatically and played with great confidence.
Losses and mistakes can be difficult to take but those performances do not need to be devastating.
All performances are opportunities to learn and grow your game. In order to improve, you should look for the positive takeaways and not focus solely on the outcome of the competition.
This “positive takeaway” mindset is how the University of Penn women’s soccer team approached their 5-1 loss in their season opener against No. 3 Stanford University.
This early season match up was the first time Penn played such a highly-ranked team in its program history.
It would have been easy for Penn to become devastated losing by four goals.
Penn could have taken the loss as a sign that they are not capable of competing against top-ranked competition. These two perspectives would only serve to chip away at the team’s confidence and zap their motivation to improve.
Penn chose to see the game in a different light. Senior Penn goalie Kitty Qu’s positive takeaway was the team’s ability to keep looking for scoring chances, even being down 5-0 and scoring with minutes left in the game against one of the best teams in the country.
QU: “One of the biggest takeaways is that we scored a goal. I think that it shows that we can compete on the highest level.”
Penn head coach Nicole Van Dyke viewed the loss as a necessary component of growing as a team. Also, Van Dyke noted another positive takeaway as the team continued to battle throughout the entirety of the game.
VAN DYKE: “We have to be able to play those big games. It is a massive growing experience for us… Our girls walked away just confident that we have so much room to improve, but we just ran 90 minutes with the top team in the country.”
Every game has positive takeaways, whether it is something you did well or recognizing something you need to improve upon.
By adopting this mindset, you will keep your confidence growing and your game improving.
Find the Positive in Every Game: Win or Lose
Each experience can be a teachable moment. Instead of merely ruminating over mistakes and losses, find 2-3 positives from each performance and 1-2 lessons learned from each game.
Every game is an opportunity to evaluate your team and improve your performance for the next game.
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