Friday

Coach self-evaluation

I am blessed to have coaching peers and mentors to dialogue with and thankful that each willingly shares their thoughts, opinions and suggestions with me. In the end, I take their  input and use it as part of my self-evaluation process.  This process is a source of growth for me as a coach and as a person.  I'm still learning about the game and the people who participate in it, be they players, referees, parents, opposing coaches, administrators.

I have a vision of what the game should look like when played properly. In a nutshell, tight secure team defending and a varied attack that seeks the path of least resistance to goal. A significant part of my post self-evaluation is devoted to analyzing how well I adapted my vision to the personnel on hand. Success is often subjectively judged based on how well we maximized our potential to play to that vision as opposed to the final won/loss record.

It's always nice to have a dependable goal scorer but I have found my "best" teams have had multiple scoring threats and can score in a variety of ways - patient build ups, quick counter-attacks, off set pieces and more. I find it fairly easy to put in a good defense. Solid and steady back line with a midfield that understands the necessity of pressuring service and demonstrates the ability to do so combined with forward play that cuts the field in half are the basic ingredients.

Generating a varied attack that consciously seeks and recognizes the path of least resistant to goal is a more complicated and difficult undertaking.

I believe in versatility. I'm not so concerned with Forwards or Midfielders or even Backs as I am with having versatile soccer players capable of playing multiple positions and interchanging on-the-fly as the flow of the game dictates. This can present quite a challenge from a coaching perspective. Quite honestly, many players struggle when asked to change how they have always played, to step out of established comfort zones.

My pet peeve is to see a 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 formation morph into a 4-1-5 or even a 4-6 with front runners all looking to be played through. I cringe when I see a ball carrier advancing the ball with 4 or 5 of his teammates ahead of him moving in the same direction as he is and at the same pace as the ball is being advanced. Those front runners are forcing the opponents defenders back and by doing so are closing the very space we wish to have open to play in. The odds for success can decrease with each successive step toward goal the front runners take.

It can be exceedingly difficult to convince forwards to play as target players with their backs to goal in front of the opposing backs when they have been trained to do nothing but run onto through balls. That's not to say a player should never look to run onto through balls. No, the point is running onto through balls should be a small part of a players overall repertoire or arsenal.

I realize the problem with one-dimensional forwards is symptomatic of a youth soccer culture that caters to the early physically blessed in search of wins. This is at the crux of the development vs win now issue, imo. It is the damage done by this philosophy that I battle in establishing a broader and more realistic vision of the game. I often refer this as the process of unlocking the possibilities within the game.

It is a battle between "If all you you ever do, is all you have ever done all you will ever be is what you have always been" and the false confidence born of "what I have always done has worked to this point, so why should I change?"

This spring I was blessed with a talented roster of 18 players. Fifteen of the players were quite capable of starting . The remaining 3 were for the most part realistic and embraced their roles on the team. Even blessed with this much individual talent transitioning from a team that won on talent alone into a team capable of dictating the rhythm and tempo of a match was a season long process.

By the last game of the season this springs U17 team encapsulated my vision for how the game should be played as well as any team I have ever coached. We (player and coach) were able to break down some old habits and establish new foundations for play.  We were solid on defense and very versatile on offense. We won games in a variety of ways - some days our defense carried us by shutting out the opponents and other days our attack overwhelmed opponents. It was a very satisfying and rewarding season from a team perspective.

On an individual player basis there were success stories and some disappointments as well  I feel 14 of the 18 players made significant strides in their games this season.  To back track a bit, during the preseason I outlined seasonal plans for each of the 18 players detailing 2 or 3 areas that I hoped to help each  improve in.  I feel we were successful with 14 of 18 players. A 78% success rate.  Not bad, but it is the 4 that I let down that remain on my mind the most.

Two of the players displayed an immaturity that hindered their development. The inability to concentrate for the duration of a practice ... or game... was marked and at times unsettling insofar as it was so distinctly out of character with the rest of the team.  They played as they practiced and they were not good practice players. Both individuals spent a lot of time "horsing around" and being disruptive in their actions and words.

The remaining two players could have been termed stubborn, but I believe it more a reflection of my inability to figure out how they best learn.  Both are very much products of having enjoyed early success coming up through the youth ranks due to being physically gifted. Now they face the prospect of seeing the game pass them by, but instead of searching for and embracing new solutions they fall back upon what was successful for them in the past not being able or willing to recognize the problems they posed to opponents as young players are no longer as troublesome as they once were. Opponents, their peers, have learned new technical and tactical skills to render the problems they once posed far less effective. These two players remain steadfast in attempting to solve new problems the game is presenting to them with old solutions whose effectiveness has been diminished.

The success stories?  Most of these center on instilling confidence in players. Sometimes this involves teaching new technique and tactics to elevate confidence. Other times it is simply being consistently encouraging and providing ever expanding opportunities for players.  Letting someone else know that you believe in them, that you trust them, can lift them to new heights.  There were a lot of success stories from this spring and I am anxious to see how this translates to their play in high school this fall.

So overall I think this was one of my best coaching performances ever but it still comes up short of my own expectations. Even in coaching the team to a perfect league record I was far from perfect myself. Just as I am spending time evaluating individual players to formulate seasonal plans for next spring I am putting together a list of things for me to work on as a coach. The underlying theme is improvement and not only as a coach (or player) but as a person. We can never lose sight of the fact soccer's most important lessons are those they teach us about life, that we are not only coaches of soccer. but also life coaches as well.

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