This is my off season.

Since I do not coach during the fall, August - October is basically my off season from soccer. I actually like to refer to it as my learning time. I take in high school soccer matches at every opportunity with a primary focus on my son's team, those of players on our club team and the teams I conducted camp for this past summer. Each is a learning experience in its own way.

Beginning with the teams I have conducted camp for; I watch closely to see if the topics we addressed are showing up in their play on the field. If we worked on defending is a bounce step in evidence? Does the team work hard in the transition phase to regain defensive shape behind the ball? Is there intelligent support for the pressure defender? In short, I watch their matches and use what I see as an evaluation of my work for them in camp.  These are the beginning steps of planning for their team camp next summer.

In watching the matches of players from our club team I am looking to see how their high school coaches use them on the pitch. What formation they are playing in, where do they play within the formation, and what their role is from that position. As a club coach here in rural west central Ohio I believe it is important to prepare the athlete for his high school playing experience. With high school seniors it is important to prepare them for playing in college. I also use these matches to scout for players that might be a good fit for our club team. My observations will provide the beginning of individual and team seasonal plans for the club season.

With my son's high school team I have a lot running through my mind as I watch the matches. First and foremost is the joy of seeing my son play a sport he has a real passion for.  Then there are the 10 current and future club players on the team. It is though my sons eyes and those of his teammates that the most intense portion of my off season continuing education comes. I'll share a secret with you, these kids are smart. Their soccer IQ is pretty amazing. Listening to them talk about their team is an educational experience in and of itself. They see strengths and weaknesses in themselves, teammates, their team, the coaches... and they have opinions on how to accentuate strengths and address weaknesses. It's kind of like a players round table or perhaps a soccer think tank atmosphere. I just keep my mouth shut and listen as unobtrusively as possible fearing I might inhibit them were I to join in.

I also spend a lot of time during the fall watching professional soccer. Not the MLS so much but the foreign pro leagues, World Cup qualifying and such. I particularly like the USWNT and women's professional soccer for observing basic tactics.  The pace is slower and much less frantic.  One example is our USWNT utilizing the early retreat as part of their zonal defensive scheme. Sometime this can be difficult to pick out in the men's game even though the great preponderance of international and professional men's sides play zonal and utilize early retreats.

Comparing different levels of play is interesting to me as well.

I watch small schools with 15 total players in their program play and am amazed at how well roles and rotations are defined out of necessity. They have no choice.  Then I see a big high school with varsity, JVA, JVB and freshmen teams each with 18 players on them struggle with defining roles and setting rotations with players swinging between teams.  A coach might try to play 18+ kids in a varsity match.  It seems sometimes players get lost in the shuffle as coaches go with the "hot" player of the day.

My son's team has struggled with roles and rotations this season. They change game to game and sometimes within a match. They played their best game of the season Tuesday night and it seems in part to have been to a smaller rotation and better defined roles? It can be difficult for players to establish comfort zones and play confidently when players don't know what to expect from match to match or even minute to minute.

At the same time, versatility is something I value very highly in players. Our club system is not overly concerned about who mans what position (aside from GK, of course) as long as the position is manned. We have a defensive shape / formation but complete freedom of movement on the attack. The expectation is more for the position than for a specified player manning the position.

So I wonder why it is a player might struggle when coaches move him around but thrive when he is allowed to move around of his own accord?  It's an interesting question and one that I am searching for an answer to.

I find myself wondering about conducting team camp for a school my sons team competes against during the high school season.  That camp team recently defeated my son's team.  Did I play a part in that?  We worked on pace of play/soccer intelligence during camp and the things we worked on were certainly in evidence on the plays resulting in their goals. I know we changed the way they play and it is working for them. They are poised to have their best season in years.

It is rare to find a team so completely lacking in skill that they hold no realistic hope of competing on the field. They do exist and when called in to help those teams it is just a steady diet of technique work and basic tactics.  Frequently it is simply a matter of a different voice teaching a team the same thing their coaches have been trying to get them to understand. Sometimes it is that I teach it in a different way and something clicks - not because of it being a different method, per se, but perhaps because of a combination of their coaches teaching methods and my own?

More often than not, the difference between a good program and a struggling program, a good team and a struggling team, is a matter of belief .  "If all you ever do, is all you've ever done all you will ever have is what you've always had." A fancy way of saying programs and teams can get in a rut.  Perhaps the greatest coaching challenge is figuring a way out of a rut.  This was a focus of the past few off seasons for me.

One of the tactics I have brought to camps to change how a team thinks is introducing a team cheer. I have borrowed liberally from University of Michigan Football Head Coach Brady Hoke for this cheer.

An example: Lead and response.

Team? ............ 12!
Train like........ Champions!
Play like.......... Champions!
Become .......... Champions!
Stanton.............Tigers!

It is a process. I have discovered a continuum of sorts that I place teams on.  Some need to learn how to work, intelligently.  Some need to learn how to or believe that they can compete. Others need to learn how to win.  Still others need reminded of their tradition, that they play for everyone who has worn that jersey before them and will leave a legacy for those players yet to come into the program.  For each team, I try to address where they are at and provide them ideas of how to move forward.

All this and much, much more I am observing and contemplating during my "off season" so that I might come back improved myself  when the next season comes around.