I came across a few draft blog entires that I never ended up publishing today, and felt that some of them were well worth publishing. This post was originally written on October 25, 2009, shortly after Cambrian’s soccer season came to an end. Cheers to all of my teammates, the coaches, and the administrators. It was a blast, we had a great season!
After a season filled with up’s (beating Algonquin, Fleming and Seneca) and downs (losing to La Cite, drawing with St. Lawrence, and having 3 goals scored against us in the opening 20 or so minutes against Fleming), the season has come to a close. Our inconsistency followed us into the play-offs. We traveled to play against Humber, not as the proud squad who battled tooth and nail for a play-off spot, but as the complacent, confused squad that fumbled around in losses to easy teams.
It’s no simple task to point out the causes of our many collapses this season. We had a number of factors that contributed to our season not ending as we had hoped (for the most part):
Injuries not a factor
We dealt with a slew of injuries during the season. Whether they were nagging injuries (Arthur Vaies’s season-long groin injury, or Mark Bauer’s season-long knee injury for instance), temporary injuries (Kyle Westenenk’s concussion trouble in the latter half of the season, or Jacob Quinn’s leg injury), or season-ending injuries (Jason Simons’ leg injury), they all pushed other players to step up their game. At times, some of those players were able to step up, and take over the roles left vacant by these injuries. Injuries happen, and any team has to be able to overcome them. For the most part, we dealt well with the injury trouble we were faced with. Most of the players were willing to dig deep and sacrifice to give the team their best, even if they were injured. Injuries were not a significant factor in our season.
Player’s lack of focus and inability to sacrifice an issue
At times, the team suffered from a tremendous lack of focus. This doesn’t just rest on a handful of players tuning out, because it was a fault shared by the entire team. We had a tendency to lose our focus completely, and become a scrambled mess on the pitch. Marking opposing players was generally a strength of our defensive team, but in games like the one against Humber, we made several mistakes that cost us important goals. At least two of the goals were a result of non-existent marking on our part. Another large part of the game that we failed to take advantage of was setting the pace of the game. Against a team with skill, we had to stick to the gameplan: sit back and invite. We also needed to make sure that we upheld the team’s strategy by attacking our opponents at the point on confrontation. We were supposed to make sure that when we do attacked their ball-carrier, we let them know they will not gain space easily. We were relatively successful at this for the first half of the game against Humber, but in the second half our resolve diminshed. We weren’t as physical on them as we could have been either, which was uncharacteristic of our team.

Sports are competitive in nature, and tend to bring out the aggressive side of a person’s personality. I’ve been an athlete for a long time now at 23 years old, and I’ve seen my fair share of aggression on the pitch, rink, and court. Usually these events are harmless, and are forgotten when the players walk off the pitch. However, occasionally something happens that should makes everybody take a step back and reflect on how much aggression is too much.
The reason I bring this up is simple. I witnessed and participated in a lot of soccer this week. Tuesday night, my indoor team, Mean Machine, participated in and won a playoff game. Some of my teammates and myself then watched Southend United play against the LU Gunners following our own game. Wednesday and Thursday night, I participated in the Sudbury Athletic’s annual 3 v 3 indoor soccer tournament at the Exhibition Centre, and there were a few events that struck a chord with me. It is important to note that this is a cash tournament, BUT it is held with fun in mind. That being said, the tournament was a success overall, besides the lack of attendance.
Getting back to my point, I felt this week of soccer, plus all of the recent controversy with headshots and ugly hits in the NHL, highlighted all that is ugly with “competitive” sports. The headshots have been discussed at length, so allow me to give a more local perspective by discussing this week in Sudbury indoor soccer. First of all, the leagues and the tournament are not even classified in the competitive realm of sports, as they are technically recreational sports. This classification provides even more punch to the shameful actions I witnessed this week.
The playoff game on Tuesday was nothing too out-of-the-ordinary. It featured some rough challenges, some fairly brutal fouls, and some insults that would result in brawls if they were said face-to-face at a local bar. The game between Southend United and LU Gunners was even chippier, and featured some very questionable challenges. Several cards were handed out by the referee, Giuseppe Politi, and they were mostly for dissent. The league is lucky Politi was reffing, because I wouldn’t have felt confident that many other referees could have kept that game from escalating more than it did. The amount of chirping was not altogether surprising, considering it was a men’s first division indoor game, and several of the players often forget the seriousness (or lack thereof) of the sports game they find themselves in. That is not a slight against Sudbury soccer just a realistic observation.
The most surprising thing about the game was the way the teammates communicated amongst themselves. Rather than offering any sort of positive reinforcement when a teammate made a mistake, many of the teammates pounced on one another at every opportunity. Both of the teams behaved in this manner. Rather than comforting their teammate, who already knew he had made a mistake, some members of the team would be quick to criticize the error in a shameful display of how NOT to be a leader. This sort of behavior would be completely unacceptable in the professional world, but seems to thrive amongst some of the athletes at more competitive levels of sport, in this city at least.
I had a discussion with several of my teammates regarding these issues, and though most agreed with me, some disagreed. The common arguments can be summarized by two explanations. The first argument was that these athletes play at a high level, and their aggression was a major reason for their success at that level, so they did not have a way of just turning it off. Anybody who has played sports with me understands that I respect playing an aggressive game. I am known as a fairly physical player, who can sometimes throw some fairly crushing slide tackles. I think the difference between my game and some others is a matter of intent. My slide tackles and challenges are never malicious, and my single career yellow card is a testament to that, as are the handshakes and compliments I often exchange with the players I guard. The second argument was that these athletes are very hard on themselves, and also carry these expectations over to their teammates. I understand having high expectations for yourself and your teammates, because I often play a leadership roles on the teams I play on. That being said, you would be hard-pressed to find a teammate I have ever yelled at, or put down for their actions (unless there actions are malicious, which I have a notoriously low tolerance for). There is a way to motivate your teammates and improve their play, without negativity. In my experience, it produces much better results as well.
Some of these problems carried over into the 3 v 3 Tournament, even though it featured only six men’s teams, and only one true competitor for 1st place. I want to speak to a specific series of events that occurred last night, which caused my team’s final game to end, and forced one of my teammates to visit the hospital. There was no foul called on the play, although I will not debate the merits of that here. The incident occurred in a consolation final to decide who the 3rd place team was. The game was not a rough one by any stretch of the imagination. Many players from the teams had played on teams together in the past, some are playing together currently, and there is generally a very high level of respect amongst the athletes who were playing against each other. Jokes bounced back and forth all game, there were smiles and laughter, and most of the players were very apologetic about their fouls. Our second half keeper, Derek Morgan, even corrected the referee, Greg Sutton, in a friendly manner and refused to take a goal kick because it was truly a corner kick. This action is an uncommon demonstration of sportsmanship.
So how did my player, Mike Laplante, become injured in such a friendly game? First, I will update you on the injury. Well, Morgan facebook messaged me this morning to update me on Laplante’s injury: “apparently Mike was pretty hurt, he spent most of the night in the hospital, underwent a CT scan and has bruising on his brain and can’t perform any physical activity for at least a week.” Notice what I’ve put in bold. Anytime a player suffers bruising on his brain, I consider it a serious injury.
There was another game being played inside this soccer game. Two players were battling each other fairly hard all game, which is fine in and of itself. The issue is that it started to go too far. Both players involved are known to play a physical game, which is fine. The problems arose when the player on my team began to hack the other player maliciously, and consistently. It was obvious their player was becoming frustrated, making several comments about the uncalled fouls. The situation reached a climax when my player fouled their player from behind, causing their player to fall and lose the ball. Upon taking the ball, my player mocked the other player and told him to get back up. Their player was enraged by this, and commented “oh, so that’s how it’s going to be buddy?” The rest of the game featured the two of them taking every opportunity to guard one another. Every time their player had the ball and ours was gunning for him, Ed Veilleux would urge, “no foul!” However, the cries were in vain, and the fouls continued from both sides, without calls.
Eventually, Laplante, a player that was not involved in the dispute in any way, had the ball and was running up the field. Their enraged player ran to catch up to him, and because he could not overtake him, decided to foul him viciously from behind. The player who challenged him from behind outweighs Laplante by an easy 60 pounds. When a player 60+ pounds heavier sweeps a player’s legs out from behind, there can only be one result. Mike flew through the air, landed awkwardly on his back and bounced his head off the floor. The floor is a thin layer of turf, covering solid concrete. Everyone stopped and stared. Laplante tried to get up. He sat up, and tried to get to his feet, but doubled over in pain, his hands shaking. He started coughing, and continued shaking. We crowded around him, helpless to really do anything. We asked if he was okay, he replied “no,” and gave up even trying to sit up. The referee ended the game early. We stood with Laplante, as he coughed and shook, and told us he tasted blood.
So what happens now? Nothing. There are always going to be aggressive players, and players who end up going too far when they are lost in anger. Ultimately, the referee is responsible for protecting players, and after that, the disciplinary committee is. The referee let a game slip away from him, a player lost control, and now someone has been seriously injured.
It is important to make one critical note. I’ve watched the player who committed the foul play for several years. He is not a malicious player generally, and it would be wrong to say that he meant to injure Laplante. I believe he meant to stop him, but had no idea this would be the result. I know the player feels very remorseful for his actions, and rightfully so. He acted with respect afterward and understood how poor his judgment was on committing the foul. He is not known as a goon in the league, or amongst players, and should not be as a result of this injury, as this injury was the result of an uncharacteristically poor judgment by him.
I want to offer advice to all athletes; calm down! Sure it is a competition, and you want to win, but in the end, it is just a game! Sports leagues don’t need to be polluted by players who can’t control their anger issues. If a player continues to hurt other players, it is up to the league they are in to toss them. Nobody should have to worry about damaging their brain when they’re out trying to have some fun. Act responsibly, and think of the example you’re setting for the younger generations of athletes. If you have aggression issues; grow up or get out.

So after the stress of trying to balance soccer, work, school, and a social life; I finally decided to just bull-rush my way through them all the best I could. So far, it’s been rather enjoyable. The road trips have been great fun overall, even with the bus breaking down, and our team not quite achieving the results we want. The team is 3-3, which leaves us one place out of a play-off spot, with 6 more games to go. The rest of the season should be a blast, I’m anxious. Follow me on Twitter during our road-trips. I’ll be writing more frequently once soccer is over. For now, feel free to check out my articles on The Shield’s website as well.

-Andy

Classes have finally begun for the year and I have found myself faced with some difficult decisions. I am currently working one job, playing varsity soccer, and being a journalism student (obviously). I have been finding the prospect of working a 2nd job (a reality I will be facing soon I believe), to be frightening. I haven’t even begun to focus on my articles for The Shield yet, and I am already left wondering, just where is the time for all of thee events going to come from? The simple answer, nowhere. There simply isn’t enough time in the day to balance all of this stuff, and still have enough downtime to function efficiently.
This is where the hard decisions come in. Do I give up on the potential second job, and therefore give up on the prospect of doing a journalism placement abroad, or moving away for a job upon my program’s completion? Do I give up on soccer, and finally accept the fact that soccer is a hobby I participate in for fun, rather than a profession? Do I try to balance it all out for a few more weeks, and see how thing go from there? If that fails, will it set me too far back to recover in decent time to salvage the school term?
The questions build, and no answers are forthcoming. The decisions has to be made before the season opener. Potentially it will be made tonight in my one-on-one meeting with the coaching staff.

The training camp for Cambrian’s varsity soccer began, unofficially, last Wednesday. In the seven days since it began, we’ve practiced 6 of the days. We’ve still got 3 practices in a row (tonight included) before we get a much deserved break over the weekend. Practice will resume on Monday, cutting into long weekend plans. The Labour Day practice is important because it demonstrates an important characteristic for any successful team; commitment.Some guys were shocked to find out we had a practice on a Sunday last week, or on a holiday next week, but it is precisely that sort of commitment that can make a team successful. We will be opening up our season against Algonquin on September 11th at 8PM, and they are not a team to take lightly. They have won the nationals in recent years in the college division, and are always a favourite to make the finals. That being said, we’re in for a tough opening day. There are a lot of new faces on the squad this year, but some key figures will be returning as well. For more on that check out Ed’s article here.