Step Out Your Comfort Zone

Hi Everyone.

Since the new season has just kicked off. Everyone has been asking me the same question, “Are you taking the same team as last year?” Unfortunately I am not and that’s the reason for this post is to give an understanding of my thinking behind my decision to move to a new team. As I have said in previous posts, those youngsters brought a flame back that I thought had died out and that is not because of all the trophies that we won or the fact that we did so well last year. It was because they showed me what passion is really about, they made me believe that anything is possible if you apply yourself and push pass the boundaries everyone has set for you.

As we started last year, we were all strangers. To see any of the players actually holding a conversation with each other was asking for too much besides the few that actually knew each other. Obviously the players that knew each other would stick together but we had a lot of new faces and to get them to mingle was a challenge that is because each and every player that had played at Wits Juniors before were in their comfort zone with the familiar faces so the challenge was to get them to step out of that comfort zone and start to bond as a team. Every team has this issue year in and year out, some coaches are good at this and able to get the boys out of that zone and make everyone bond while others fail. Lucky for us, what we did worked and it worked well because everyone came out of their comfort zone and became a family, now I can bet that you will battle to separate them and that means that they would be going into their comfort zone again if I had stayed with them.

At Wits Juniors we are all about development, every player that comes to Wits wants to be a professional soccer player. Let’s be honest, every young player wants to be a professional soccer player but how can that be possible if you are sitting in your comfort zone? It’s simply not possible, how do you go to these professional teams and try to break through the system if you stuck in a place where you are comfortable? So this is where my decision came in to allow them to grow not only on the field but off it as well. If these players had stayed with me then they would be stuck in their comfort zone because they are comfortable with the way I do things and my style of play, would I be helping them in any way by actually staying with them? I think the answer to that is obvious.

That’s only part of the decision; the next part actually looks at my development as a coach. I grew attached to those boys that making a decision to actually leave them was difficult but they will always have a special place with me as they were my first team I coached in JHB, first actually club team where I was a head coach and the first team to bring me silverware. Once the season ended I probably sat for days thinking about my decision and i looked at my journey and where I want to go so I asked myself the following: Do I want to grow as a coach? Do I want to see myself just been another coach that was at Wits and that is all or do want more? I am not saying that these boys didn’t offer me that but staying with them again would mean that I am staying in my comfort zone. I need a new bunch of players to see how much I actually have grown as a coach in the past year and can I bring these boys to be a family like the last family that was created. So I decided it is time to step out of my comfort zone and to see what I have learnt in the past year also some competition was needed as last year was too easy for me as a coach and the players but I still think that the players made everything easy as they adapted well to what was been taught to them, let’s hope we have the same reaction in the new year as we had in the prior year.

In my journey I realized that the same applies to life. We all tend to get stuck in our comfort zone and we happy with where we are at but outside your comfort zone there could be more blessing waiting for you and all you need to do is step out. If I look at my personal life and where I was a few years ago to where I am today, there is a huge difference. I was comfortable where I was but wanted so much more, until the move to JHB actually happened. The move would mean a new city, new challenges and a new job. The move was probably one of the best things that I could have done to see me grow. I have a car that I have always wanted, those close to me will know how I would sit and describe this car to the TEE, every detail on the car was exactly what I wanted but if I had stayed in Pietermaritzburg I would still be riding around in a 1998 Ford Escourt that was given to me by my parents as that Is the vehicle that I was using when I was in Pietermaritzburg. I am doing what I love while still studying and working; I wouldn’t have this any other way. Will it all pay off? Well keep tuning in to find out but I believe that if I put my time in and grow then why shouldn’t it work? Wits is a great establishment to be in and I thank God every day for planning my journey the way he did as I am enjoying every step.

Stepping out your comfort zone is a risk that you take, your blessings might be all rosy in your comfort zone but we all don’t know what is waiting for us outside that zone, I personally rather step out and find out than sit and wonder what would have happened. 2018 is a year of taking a risk; if it fails we go back to the drawing board and start again.

Coach B