You see a slow kid at practice. The coach sees the only one who never skips. Decide what you’re watching for.

Whatever you measure decides who looks good. Watch for speed and one person stands out; watch for attendance, or for who helps carry the kit, and a completely different person does. The ranking in your head is not a fact about the squad, it is a fact about the thing you chose to count.

This is worth noticing both ways. Pick a quality that actually matters and start watching for it, because you will find people you had written off. And when you are the slow one, find out what your coach is counting, since it is very often not the thing you are worst at.