In Reply to: That kind of “coaching” can work. THe game can… posted by Fuzzy on January 21, 2026 at 10:16:12
Coaching AYSO, we had a team that started out pretty bad, but got pretty good. I think they still had a bit of an inferiority complex. We beat a couple of teams in the playoffs to win the league, that were considered "upsets".
I forget the terminology, but if you win your league, you go to a 4 team playoff with other leagues. If you win that, you go to another 4 team playoff.
The game for the championship went to PK's. Both sets of girls were stressing out. I'm thinking we're going to be lucky if these girls can even put their PK on goal. So, I started asking the girls who were lined up to take PK's what the plans were for after the game. Not like, "after we win" But, just, "where do y'all want to go after the game?" Everyone looked at me like I was crazy. The girls started talking about where to go. The opposing coaches were incredulous that I wasn't yelling at them "You got This!." Our girls put all our PK's on frame, the other team was stressed out of their minds, shanked a couple. We advanced.
Pretty sure it occurred to me to do that, because I heard a story about a key end of the game drive in the Super Bowl, where Montana entered the huddle and said "hey, I think I saw John Candy in the stands."
Your story is cooler. But, I thought I'd share mine.