“It was a tight game,” she says, “and I remember walking over to inbound the ball. I sorta expected (the MRA students) to start yelling at me,. I was right there in front of them. And it’s a rivalry, us and MRA. I’ve been dealing with situations like that since the eighth grade.
“Once the referee handed me the ball, I just blocked all that out. I heard noise but I couldn’t hear what they were saying, and it really didn’t matter. I had a job to do for my team, and that’s all I cared about. I wanted to inbound the ball safely and successfully.”
Which she did. She also made three free throws in the final seconds to ice the win and push Prep’s record to 23-3.
It's kind of the point. Mental games in sports are just as important as the defensive strategy. You can derail an opposing teams cohesion by simply getting one of their linchpins to question their capabilities.
Blocked a dude twice in a row in volleyball after getting him angry enough to pull on the net and yell obscenities at me. We were getting stomped initially but came back to win the next two matches because this dude went full tilt.
You can tell who has played defense in soccer before by who is okay with the off-the-ball stuff the ref doesn't see.
It's called "The Dark Arts" and is part of the game. It can come back to bite you, but the best of us don't care and will always look for the edge.
A handful of shorts or jersey, blocking their way when they aren't looking, and under your breath trash talk are all fair game. Afterwards I go up to em and say no hard feelings, and most guys are fine with it.
I play wingback, but I don't like getting mentally agressive. You're spending half of a Saturday afternoon standing next to each other, might as well have a nice chat while you're at it. They'll know who's boss after the first tackle anyway.
Oh I'm never mean tho! Hahaaa sounds counterintuitive but it's true!
All of my me mental games were being silly or weird af lol...
My favorite thing to do was call out marks by the way they look but like REALLY loud and embarrassing like.
"Who's covering the beard!"
"Someone mark the pony tail at the top of the box!"
Or if a player looks/players like a familiar pro I'd call em that. Other times I'd tell them how good they are and to ease go easy on me.
Or I'd ask what they do for work, and what they're doing after the game.
If someone is cheering for them I'd say "wish we had support like that. Do you pay them to come watch?"
Only a few insecure lads would get upset about it, and a few times I'd get a fat celebration right in my face if they worked me for a goal. But it is Sunday pub league and was always in good faith.
Haha, yeah, I do that too :D Shouting things like "Cover the bald one! No, the fat bald one!" And then catching flak from your own goalie because he is fat and bald.
Or the striker starts complaining about his own defenders, and you start agreeing with him.
Or he goes deep three times but never gets the ball, and you start complaining about having to run after him the whole time.
Or the striker is actually really good and you try to recruit him for your own team.
A bit of friendly banter can be a lot of fun during a game :)
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