Identify the Problem

The boy was a little frustrated with soccer after his practice was over tonight. I asked him what the problem was and he said “I can’t score goals.”

That seemed easy to me, “Well, you have to work on your kicking.”

“That doesn’t matter, I can’t score goals. I need to practice scoring goals.”

Now I was perplexed. Not about the problem, but what the hell was he thinking? So I asked “Well, what do you mean you can’t score goals?”

“Every time I go to kick a goal, the ball goes somewhere else.”

“That’s because you’re not kicking it right. You need to practice kicking, not goal scoring. Once you learn how to kick it, you can put the ball wherever you want.”

Silence from him after that. Heaven forbid he practice a little.