At the start of the year I laid out a challenge to my group. I said, by the end of the year I would like to see if any of them could juggle a ball 500 times. This seemed like a monumental task for the players who, at the time, could barely keep a ball in the air five times, let alone 500.
I assured them that with consistent effort before training when they arrived, they could achieve this goal. Just because you can juggle, doesn’t mean you can play, but for me it was a tool to measure the players’ intrinsic motivation and ‘grit’. I never once had a go at a player for talking or not using their time before training wisely. It was their time to waste. What I noticed was that there was always one player who stood out from the rest, practising by himself, a long way from the group, in order not to be distracted, never wasting a minute. I was very proud today when that player, Jye Elliot-Buhargiar, reached the milestone with 506 before training.
A fine example of what can be achieved with a little grit and determination. Congratulations Jye!
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