A coach tells a young athlete that college recruiting means facing constant criticism about size and speed. The athlete shares how he played only five minutes per game at a Las Vegas tournament but stayed and earned more time. The coach says every player gets benched, and handling it matters for a decade-long commitment to elite sport.
My real big question to you is, and your father kind of already answered this, in this process it's not going to be easy. You're going to be told by some coaches at the college level and at the club level you're not good enough. You're going to be told you're too short. You're going to be told you're not fast enough. How do I know you're not going to quit when things get tough? Can you give me an example in your life, and you can use the one your dad kind of used, where you were told you're not going to be play minutes and you continued anyways? Do you have an example like the one your dad kind of talked about?
So the first cup in Las Vegas I got invited to, I went to it and I pretty much just sat on the bench the whole time. I might have played like 5 minutes in each game and the kids were better than me because, yeah, I, I've been playing AYSO, but I decided to stay and I kind of, I just beat them out. Excellent.
That's a fantastic answer because there's not a single player in the entire world that doesn't end up on the bench. Not one. And if you can't deal with that, then this life is not for you and you should quit while you're— don't have to suffer through all the suffering that you're about to endure over the next 10 years. That's why I'm trying to make you quit. If you have a son or daughter who's 10, 11 years old and you think they are very committed to this college process and you'd like some guidance, book a call. Links in the bio. I'll talk to you soon.
