Soccer at St. Paul's

I'm having a lot of trouble writing this post... I can't decide if it's really relevant or if I'm just being a big whiny baby... Probably the latter :-)

Back in the 1960s soccer was not that popular in Canada. Both lacrosse and curling had a much greater fan base :-) So it came as something of a surprise when St. Paul's added intramural soccer to the P.E. program during my sophomore year...

Since I had played center midfielder at a German boarding school I figured I'd end up playing a prominent role. Especially since most of my St. Paul's classmates had never touched a soccer ball before...

But that's not what happened...

I ended up on a team coached by a priest from Malta. He had a pretty decent grasp on the game and I thought he'd quickly recognize my skills. You know - those skills that had been praised by the two coaches at Aloisiuskolleg who had played on the German national team?

But the Maltese priest just ran us through some simple drills like dribbling the ball through a series of cones...
Now - I had never tried that before - and my first couple of attempts were pretty sad... I don't want to go on a lengthy rant, but soccer is played with speed and aggression. You throw a quick fake and go hard - that's the only way to get around an opposing player. Slowly maneuvering the ball through some cones does not approximate that skill...
I mean - if he'd asked to see some step-overs - or a heel kick - or a pull-back - or a back foot pass - or dribble at top speed while maintaining full control - or curve a pass either direction with either foot - or even do a scissor kick? No problem - those things are actually useful... Dribbling through cones? Not so much :-)

I was immediately labeled as "not as good as he thinks" (Or maybe a big showoff? Who knows...) And I got stuck at left defender on a team where only one other kid had played soccer before...

As it turns out, defending against novice players is rather easy compared to what I faced in Germany... I never allowed a single shot on goal - not that the coach noticed...

You know - I guess it really wasn't that big of a deal - I truly enjoyed playing again. To be perfectly honest I found it rather amusing to be underestimated... Of course, being misjudged ceased being funny when a paycheck became involved - but that didn't happen until years later - and I digress :-)

One of my favorite soccer moments at St. Paul's was when an opposing player elbowed Chris Kiazyk in the ribs. Yeah - Chris was in a light body cast to correct his scoliosis. It was barely noticeable and only a few of his classmates knew about it. The guy who fouled him found out the hard way - almost broke his elbow... Instant karma :-)

But this post isn't really about that particular coach... It's about how our perceptions are based on expectations (or lack thereof). We all misjudge - and we all get misjudged... Sometimes it's amusing - sometimes it's tragic...

It's really not fair - but we must enjoy doing it or we'd stop... Right??