You may already understand this but I’ll say it anyway:

Character is hugely important in soccer.

You need to work on strengthening your character both on and off the field and you do this by exposing yourself to different situations and different ideas. 

Without being in situations that challenge you and allow you to experience disappointment and failure, how on earth are you supposed to learn and bolster your character? It doesn’t happen by magic; it only happens by repeated exposure followed by adaptation and learning.

Some situations and ideas might hurt you a bit and that’s ok

You get exposed to a few mean tweets, so what? Again, if you are not exposed to stuff that shocks you or challenges your world view, how are you supposed to learn, grow and adapt? If you put yourself in an environment or situation you’re not used to, perhaps you hear a few bad words but again, so what?

I believe you need to be exposed to every part of a spectrum to better understand and improve yourself as a player and a person.

Being exposed to some ‘bad’ coaches isn’t a bad thing

If you have to deal with a coach who is not the most supportive and occasionally blows their lid, it’s not the end of the world. Again, how do you prepare for this without being exposed to it? Almost every player will have a coach or coaches that they don’t like during their soccer career, whatever the level.

You need to learn to deal with it and that means being exposed to different coaching styles, personalities and approaches.

If you are a player, seek out challenge and difficult situations, on and off the field.

If you are a parent, support your kid but allow them to experience those difficult situations without intervening too much and controlling the situation.

Strengthen your character and you’ll be not only a much better player on the field, but a more well-rounded person off it.