So, I heard this story the other day and decided to tell it to the two teams of 13-and 14-year-old girls I coach.

My players, most of them anyway, like story time. They have learned to expect something completely unexpected, and it often leads to an interesting conversation. Others, those who on the other end of the “Things I Find Interesting Scale,” just listen and kind of give me that open-mouth stare while thinking, “What the heck is he talking about?”

Anyway, this story was an attempt to explain to my players one of the challenges girls that age face — getting out of their comfort zone and testing themselves in difficult environments. That is, after all, where the most progress can be made. But every time some of my girls go out on the field, they will place themselves in their comfort zone, that area of the field they are used to, the spot that offers no surprises.

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Coaching young soccer players has its unique challenges, and one of them is getting players to accept playing a position new to them.

Some players will embrace it, others will resist. Others still will shut down completely.

“I don’t know how to play there,” they say. In reality, other than positioning, there is nothing new they need to know. They just need to be a soccer player. No matter what position they are playing, the skills they need don’t change.

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