G’s coach was putting the girls through drills that involved new challenges and techniques, novel patterns of decision-making and agility. All the kids were struggling, but G was uncharacteristically spacey. Missing assignments, repeating mistakes, mind a’wander.   There was some consolation in her knowing she stank. She came off the field pissed off, complaining she didn’t get to play enough. Complaining about the weather, the drill, the practice and the team.

I’m a technician, about skills and approaches to skills.   Obvious mistakes scream at me, the loudest shriek coming from G’s shitty attitude.   Frustrated with watching her and not being able to square her away during practice, cranky from having a laptop roast my junk at 105 for an hour, my initial reaction was anger.   But that was too self-indulgent; coaching is about the player, not the coach. Its such a difficult lesson to embrace, but G’s professional coaches do it everyday. The loudest shriek coming from my shitty attitude.   G is so coachable with comfort and dialog,

I told her she ran hard, she had some good plays, let’s talk about what you did well — you didn’t get beat physically, and you learned the scissors. She nodded. I told her she missed a few turns cause she was spacing, got beat quickly not paying attention to the flow of the game, i told her she was part of the problem, and she was cool with that. she says ‘i’m really hungry‘.

We both nod, talk about snacks and bars i’ll stow in her pack, a simple problem we’ll solve together. Genevieve appreciates more about hunger, thirst, mindset and preparation than many adults. Trust and coachability too. She is years ahead of where i was as an autonomous athlete. The moments she shows she gets it…are so utterly unsurprising, so expected. She knows she needs to eat, she knows needs to drink, she puts on sunscreen and steps on the shade in her bare feet. Its only afterwards i am stunned at her adaptability.

She stopped thinking about her failures and started thinking about what she did right. She wanted to show me the moves she learned. We spent 15 minutes going over drills, then I asked her to repeat what lessons she learned today.   I did this on long solo rides from Phoenix back to Tucson —   squirreling away a few nuggets of improvement to pay the ante, to be better tomorrow.   She was   totally stoked on the idea and feeling great about practice.

2 hrs later, i only had to help her with spelling.