Soccer Sin #1 - Players who pass up on shooting opportunities are of no impact on the game.

Soccer Sin #2 - The silent player who cannot communicate on the field is invisable to all.

Soccer Sin #3 - Strikers and midfielders who fail to track back on defensive transition, or unwilling to hunt down the opposition with the ball are should get accoustomed to a new sport like bass fishing, or bocce ball.

The High Maintenance Player

There are presently thousands of extremely talented players in both genders. No college coach or regional coach is going to need the high maintenance player. This is the player with the ATTITUDE that you need me and I don't need you. This player usually even dresses the part, unkempt, shirt hanging out, sleeves rolled up, socks hanging down. The body language also usually does not lie, from rolling the eyes when coaches talk, to hands on the hips, with a stylish walk that obviously says I am bored and I don't really need this coach or team.

The high maintenance player arrives late to practice, and even if she is on time she lounges on the grass, usually disassociated from the rest of the team for obvious reasons, number one she is too good for all and all to good for us. This player needs to be prompted to warm-up effectively on her own. More often than not the high maintenance player creates her own tactics and seems disinterested in the coaches perception of the tactics of the day. This player always refers to her old coaches as the real interpreters of the game, the real fountains of knowledge, and I am somehow stuck with this coach like a tumor.

The high maintenance player is the Princess of Whinning, constantly in physical and mental pain, and usually spreads it to others on the team like a contagious disease, and yet cannot understand how the coach sometimes believes this individual is the root cause of the problem. Apples do not fall far from the tree.

If you meet the parents of the High Maintenance Player most coaches will suddenly realize the symptoms are either genetic or learned behaviors from Ma and Pa. These players also have a difficult time catching the team bus, following dress codes, and all basic team routines.

Coaches know these players well and what can be done with them. As a player, be introspective about this, and analyze yourself and deceide what if you have a full-fledged high maintenance personality or a partial. Start to get a grip and realize there are four regions to this country feeding the US National Team, and there are simply thousands of excellent players developing in every state.

Tony DiCicco and all other National and Regional Coaches will easily pick out the high maintenance players, because who needs'em? Certainly not college coaches, trust me there enough players with attitudes in colleges already who know it all in every division. Change for the better now and become part of the answer not part of the problem.

Questions? Email Coach Vagell