Call Him Over

​Call him over
I heard the words this morning “you call me over” and it set me off.
I was thinking about team sports.  Rugby League specially.  There are 13 players in the run-on squad and four reserves.  Often the reserve is more than a fill in for a key position but they are picked for a specific task.  They may be really fast and are introduced after the “softening up” period.  Teams go at it hammer and tongues and despite their best efforts they really cannot maintain the intensity that was on display at the start of the match.
Generally, that is when the coach calls over his secret weapon.  There is someone in reserves that is there because they can make the most of the situation.  Mostly they are chaffing at the bit to get on to the field and are looking to the coach for their signal that it is their time.
The coach has something in mind.  I have never seen a player who was obviously told to get the ball and run backwards to your own try line and dive over.  He is playing to win.  He may tell them to get their hands on the ball and run at tiring or slower or injured players because they will provide the best opportunity to find gaps.  If their break is something they can finish on their own great, and if they create the gap and pass great to.
The point for me is they player is primed to go.  Everything that has gone before has led to this moment.  The coach believes they are ready.  The player may or may not believe they are but that is beside the point.  The coach never throws someone into a situation they are not ready for.  If the player has done it right in the past, they are likely to do it right in the present.
When I was a kid, I was considered a pretty good cricketer.  It was only because my older brother and I would spend hours practicing batting and catching.  To practice catching we would throw a golf ball against a very un-even rock wall.  The ball could go in any direction.  When I had my first bat at practice the coach told the others he had not seen a shot like that from any of them.  I ended up opening the batting and being wicket keeper.
I guess it is a bit of a theme of mine.  Preparation.  My moment in the sun may be down the track but the only way there will be a moment in the sun is if I have prepared whether the sun was shining or not.
Some of the best kickers in the league are famous for practicing their kicking after the official practice session.  They do not just want to be good.  They want to be the best they can be.  There is a lot of getting it wrong but with practice there is more and more getting it right.
The time is not spotlight time.  It may be overcast and raining.  It can be lonely.  Being snuggled up with a cuppa and watching a movie may be more desirable.  But the desire to be the best overcomes that.
When the time has been put in what is unseen is seen and the player is ready for the coach to call him over.