The issue we are talking about next is considered quite sensitive, and we want to approach it from a perspective of maximum respect. However, we sadly have to say that this is a reality for all the goalkeeping coaches. A reality we must accept… whether we like it or not.
WHY?
We demand quality, but we are not willing to pay for it!
A social evil. But we must not forget we are part of that society!
When we sign with a club, when we talk to the Sports Manager, when a dad wants to sign up in our school or campus and call us… one of the first questions arising is: what training do you have?
- Training levels I, II, III
- Goalkeeper Coaching Specialist Master by the RFEF (The Royal Spanish Football Federation)
- Physical Activity Science and Sports Degree
- Courses, Conferences, Training…
This education is not just money. Money that, by the way, probably comes from our pockets. This training and education mean something more valuable, but in today society we usually value very little: TIME.
If the clubs, the sports managers, coaches, mums and dads… want educated goalkeeping coaches, high level goalkeeping coaches… They must pay for them! Isn’t it? But sadly, this is not our case.
We have to listen to words such as:
- We don’t have any money
- We are looking for someone who believes in the project
- We start with this amount and then will see…
- It’s expensive (parents)
- …
ACCEPTANCE
What else can we do but accept it? Should I let it go? Get angry? Fight against the flow?
To accept it does not mean losing your essence, nor surrendering, nor losing your value… To accept it is a clever choice that will define you as a person. Remember: our deeds define us as individuals. If we hold fast to criticism, to the thought that “it is not fair”, we will not be able to grow up. Change is not possible in that state; we do not get any improvement. I assure you that the only thing we will boost is an eternal state of “bitterness” that will destroy us little by little, as well as our dream of coaching goalkeepers.
This is just a situation in which you and your club are “confronted”, meaning you have opposing positions and apparently, different needs.
From this emerges the need for making adjustments and changes so your positions can be compatible. Those adjustments could mean that one or both sides disagree, so this may end in a deadlock.
When this situation happens, state your position. Explain your circumstances, give your opinion, say what you think/what’s in your mind, fight for what is yours, for that you think belongs to you, for the “price” you think you are worth (professionality, quality, training, time invested…). But watch out! Not by force, or verbal aggressivity, or absolute truth, trying to make them see you have the only and absolute truth. Maybe you’re right but, trying to read these situations with intelligence and with prospect, can help you to win the battle.
Problem solving has to do more with acceptance than being right. Acceptance in this context means something very different from resignation. Resignation means being carried along by the situation, avoiding every chance of resolution and giving up: “I do not wish to speak with the club. What’s the point? I’m not getting anything…”
AMBITION
What matters is channelling properly those emotions that little by little arise and are so hard!
For most of us, it is natural to feel unhappy when coaching costs us money or the club offers us a low-paid contract. But at this point it’s important the role that factor “expectations” plays.
The expectations we have regarding an experience marks the lecture of what we will do after that. And we always have expectations, a different thing is clinging to them too much or just letting them go with a more “mindfulness” attitude.
EXAMPLE
We’ve been working all year long, giving quality to our goalkeepers, improving the club goalkeepers with the consequent profit for the club… It’s time for the contract renewal and:
- There aren’t any better contractual arrangements
- They offer us the same
- Our professional status in the club does not change
- …
Here is where our dissatisfaction comes from. Is this situation fair? Surely not!
Dissatisfaction may arise when we cling to expectations and reality give us the opposite we had in mind.
However, it is at this point when we can decide if we want to keep that emotion or just realize that emotion is the result of expectations of our own ambition.
Ambition is not a bad thing per se, since it allows us to set goals, even the hard ones to achieve, and in so many cases, to reach them:
- Becoming a professional football player…
- Starting your own Goalkeeping School…
- Getting trained little by little…
