Kicking to Nowhere

I love soccer. It’s called the beautiful game for a reason. It’s the combination of skill, speed, and endurance. I have had the pleasure of watching all of my children play at one time or another in their lives. I know they tired of me yelling commands from the cheap seats but the things I would tell them actually worked if applied. I played a little back in the Stone Age myself!

There is a tendency in the beautiful game that drives me nuts. You would think that with a team of eleven players and two goals from which to choose, no one would ever simply kick the ball without a purpose. But, it happens all the time. I call it kicking to nowhere and I have probably yelled that phrase equal to or greater than the number of soccer matches I have attended or watched on the television.

In a team sport that requires max participation of all involved I can’t for the life of me understand why a player is so quick to get rid of the ball and toward a direction with no tangible yield. If you think of it in terms of what happens when you do the opposite – meaning kicking to somewhere – it puts it all in perspective. Kicking to somewhere leads to opportunities which lead to goals being scored which leads to victories. That “somewhere” could be a teammate, a section of the field that starts a run on the goal, or to the goal itself. The “somewhere” has a purpose behind it, “nowhere” does not.

I can’t help but liken this phenomenon to our lives. How many of us spend inordinate amounts of time kicking to nowhere? Think about it…….

Do you get yield because you are making well aimed passes to your life teammates? Do you set up the conditions for success because you place your ball (metaphor for energy and effort) in a portion of the field where something positive can be done with it? Are you willing to pull the trigger and take the open shot or even the hard shot because the goal is in front of you and it’s yours for the taking?

I have yet to see any soccer team, no matter how skilled the individual players, have any degree of success or victory by spending 90 minutes kicking the ball to nowhere. In contrast I have seen teams suffer many losses and players disenchanted with the game because of that very tendency.

So too have I seen this in life; from others and from myself. If you equate your time on this earth to a 90-minute soccer match, you might realize how important it is to take the time and make the commitment to kicking your ball to somewhere. It’s unfair to let your teammates bear your share of the responsibility and you’ll never truly appreciate your own skill in life unless you own your actions and ensure they have purpose.

The next time you see a soccer match in progress, take the time to have a look and see if you don’t agree. Kicking to nowhere is wasted effort and leaves you with nothing but a sore foot.