This has been a topic lately for me in multiple conversations. I was speaking to my Dad about all God asks for is effort towards Him. Effort costs nothing. It’s literally the easiest and cheapest thing we can do as a person to prove we care and want something. In the case of God, we as humans just have to try and love Him. We will never give enough of ourselves or love Him enough to repay his mercy, but we must at least put forth the effort.

The same is true in sports. Last soccer season, I thought, “Hey, if I can get kids to care enough to practice on their own time and put effort towards getting better, we will win.” Now that logic is sound, but it’s also a long-term team goal, not a one small season goal. The kids who did just that and have done so for two or three seasons are returning this season as better players off the rip. My daughter asks me every year who is the best player on the team, hoping I say her, but I have to explain to her I take her to practice every day more than any other kid gets. I bought cones and a mini goal to practice at home on and she refuses to. I told her that with a little effort, she would be the best on the field easily because she is athletic and built for soccer. She has a great kick and is competitive. She just has no drive to be the best. Well, let’s rephrase that she wants to be the best she just doesn’t want to work for it. I know once practice starts, she will out practice everyone and work harder than the whole team to win, but off-season and extra time she would rather sit and stare at the clouds.

I was at the pool last week watching the senior team get ready for this week’s swim meet. I try and stay out of Zoeys prep work because I want her to work a certain way, and her coach has different plans, so I stay out an let the person I pay to train her do so. So I was watching the older kids and getting them fired up. I was talking to the senior coach, who is also the head coach of the team, about the effort levels of the kids. They were swimming 75m sprints for time. You could tell the kids who knew that this is how you get better. The kids whose hands were on their heads and hips breathing heavy from putting out. The kids who pushed so hard to beat his best time on the last lap cramped up and was lying on the side of the pool in pain, but he beat his time. These are the kids I want my kids around. The ones who just got out told their times to the keeper and walked back laughing and joking are the ones I warn against. There is nothing wrong with having fun in your sport, but when it’s crunch time, your coach rented a professional starting tool for the correct beep sound and takes the time to do the sheets and brings in a recorder you should see that as your chance to get better. Putting out the effort to get better that day hurts for 45 seconds at a time.

I had a poor showing last season. My team and my wife’s team that I assisted on both had 1 win. I actually wanted at points to just quit. Then the last couple of games we lost, but a girl I coached 3 seasons hits a bomb of a goal and then a kid I truly wrote off a few seasons ago as a hide him behind a couple good kids to make up for his game hit a goal and assisted a couple. The next thing I know, kids while losing started to show actual effort and improvement. At this time, I saw the difference between talent and effort. Effort shows when you’re down by 4, and the superstar of the team gave up and is playing passively. The kids who went out and said not on my watch coach are the ones. I made a true effort to recruit back this season, and I got them back. I lost a couple, but I know the kids I got back will work hard. You can teach skills you can’t teach effort. I can’t wait to get back to the pitch and start grinding this season. I owe them my effort, and they owe no one anything but their best on any given day.