27/10/2025
Not every position on the pitch gets noticed, does it?
The league will keep a list of top goal scorers… but there’s no tally for the midfielders who made the smart decision with the ball the few touches before, or for the defenders and goalkeeper who made sure the goals didn’t happen on the other end.
The scoreboard keeps track of goals… but there’s no spot to keep track of the number of times a player disrupted the cadence of the other team’s play with their presence, or how many times a player dove out to keep a ball alive.
The stats show how many shots the striker had … but there’s not a running list of how many times a centre back defended perfectly so those plays could even happen, or how hard those kids worked at practice to make sure they were prepared, as a team.
But all of those moments?
They matter as much as the ones that make the headlines.
They’re the outside pieces of a puzzle that hold the team’s shape.
The good coaches out there value that and make sure the team knows they do.
The teammates who are strong leaders make sure those athletes know their non-scoreboard contributions matter.
The parents who "get it" take time after the game to let a kid know they saw the little things they were doing out there.
That matters, too.
But also?
Here’s to kids learning to do the hard work whether they get the spotlight or not…
… the kids who do it because it's simply the role on the team with which they’ve been tasked.
And here's to the coaches and parents who instill in these athletes they’re learning a valuable life lesson that they won’t always get the outside credit for the work they do, so they have to keep working to find that drive within themselves.
It doesn't mean we shouldn't take the time to recognize them for the work they're doing out there. We all need a little outside motivation sometimes.
It means along the way we never stop teaching them to hold themselves to a high standard of effort regardless of if it's noticed, and to know the value of playing for something bigger than themselves. Their team, their family.
No matter what.
💛💙💛💙💛💙
