My son, a goalkeeper, then age 9, had completed his first year of travel soccer.  He’d had an irregular season, sometimes doing outstanding, sometimes doing poorly.  We were looking to change coaches, hoping to find someone who could tease a little more consistency out of him, and so took him to tryouts at larger local club with three teams for his age group.

He attended three practices with the new club, and the coach had raved about him, telling us he definitely had a place for my son, perhaps even on the silver elite team.  In practices, he hustled, he was aggressive, he was commanding, and he displayed a high technical ability for his age.  But then, the coach asked him to attend a scrimmage.  He went in with a lot of enthusiasm, but when actually on the field he played tentatively.  He dropped several easy balls.