A different take on warm ups.

This fall finds me once again coaching high school soccer. The team I am working with is young, inexperienced and coed playing against boys teams.  The odds are definitely stacked against us.  I m having a blast!

I have pretty much a blank canvas to work with.

If focused on results, this could definitely be considered a negative. If we take an approach of this being an opportunity, then the challenges we face are a blessing. I choose to see this season as a blessing of amazing proportions.

My assistant and I have no choice but to teach. What we teach is every single aspect of game and team. Why we teach it is not solely based in pursuit of better on-the-field results. No, both what we teach and why we teach are grounded in helping the young men and women we work with to learn the value of confronting adversity, learning from mistakes and working cooperatively together to solve problems encountered in the process of becoming a better team and through the experience, better people.

 A favorite saying of mine is "Failing to prepare properly is preparing to fail."  This quote is often attributed to Benjamin Franklin who was by all accounts a pretty accomplished man. When applying this quote to soccer most will think of practicing well and warming up properly in front of playing a game. This, especially the warming up part, is usually equated to physical preparation.  In practice players perform repetitions of technique and tactics to develop muscle memory that allows them to play instinctively. Warm ups are often about perfection or striving to be as perfect as possible in preparing for the game.  This is where I find fault with standard warm ups that involve stretching followed by performing well rehearsed routines. It reduces warming up to finding a rhythm and getting comfortable before playing the game. The problem here is not in what you do, but is found in what you do not do.

A soccer match is a exercise in problem solving ability - that of individual players and the collective team. If we accept this to be true, then should we not include adversity and problem solving in our preparation to play the game?

A wise old coach once told me he could spot an American soccer player in the first few seconds of watching them step on the field.  American players step on the field and immediately begin whacking the ball at the goal.  Players from other countries step on the pitch and immediately have a ball at their feet working on individual ball handling skills.

I love watching professional athletes warm up, especially the stars.  Invariably they begin small and work their way up to the act required to put points on the scoreboard.  Watch Tom Brady warm up.  He gets his body warmed up and then begins with simple ball handling tasks like taking snaps from his center. He progresses to handing the ball off to running backs and moves on to throwing the football to receivers. Kyrie Irving comes out early and does ball handling exercises. These include the now famous two ball drill, dribbling and passing with either hand.  The last thing he does is practice his shooting. He takes care of all the things that will get him to taking a shot before actually working on taking the shot.

I firmly believe failing to warm up properly is one reason the United States has yet to produce a world class striker.  We warm up to get comfortable instead of warming up to problem solve in the game. We need to address our problem solving skills as much or more than establishing our comfort.  Game environments are rarely comfortable so I'm a bit mystified by the emphasis on establishing comfort in our warm ups. We need challenges in warm ups to prepare our problem solving skills.

Light intensity and conserving energy for the actual game is another aspect of traditional warm ups that leave me scratching my head. When one is about to play a contest should one not prepare for the intensity of the contest?  Rest and restoring energy can take place in the moments before kickoff - during the captains meeting, last minute instructions, playing of the national anthem and player introductions.  Pre-creating game-like intensity cannot.  This must be done as a gradual build up from the first step onto the pitch until active warm ups conclude prior to the pre-game festivities outlined above. Ramping up intensity should be a designed component of warm ups.

Warm ups, especially the individual components of warming up should be fraught with challenges. Working on simple ball handling to attempting more complex combinations and moves. Failures in warm ups are okay for the simple reason that failures are part of every game. A critical component of every game is learning from in-game failure and overcoming in-game adversity. Should not  preparing to do this be a part of our warm up?

By now a new vision of warming up should be emerging. At least it should be if I have written well.  Warm ups are an opportunity not just to prepare for playing, but to learn and improve.  It's not just about "perfecting" things worked on in practices leading up to the match. No, warm ups should be a continued exploration of your capability's and evolution of your abilities.

Everyone wants to win a championship.

It's not the will to win that is important for everyone wants to win. 

It is the will to prepare to win that makes the difference.

To win a championship you must first win the grind.

Win every individual workout.

Win every practice.

Win every training session.

Win the logbook sessions.

Triumph over discomfort.

Find victory in each obstacle and every adversity.

Communicate with winning frankness and honesty.

Win first, then play the game!

Christmas!

Isaiah 9:6King James Version (KJV)

6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Christmas is so much more than just a season. For millions of people people round the globe Christmas is second only to Easter in its importance to the tenets we strive to live our lives by. It is important to keep and nurture Christmas in our hearts every day of our lives that its light will shine through us onto and into others. 

When to much emphasis and focus is placed on Christmas Day or the week leading up to Christmas it  can become a stressful time indeed. People try to be something they are not for most of the year. Everyone is a little nicer, a bit more tolerant and exert extra effort to be nice and get along with family, friend and foe alike.  Invariably, the stress gets to people and tensions can bubble over into open conflict. Thee can exist a feeling of gratefulness that Christmas only comes once a year.

But that's the point I make - Christmas does not come but once a year. Christmas is a state of mind, a way of life. Every day is Christmas day just as every morning is Easter morning.  God is constant and so too should we be constant in our remembrance of His gift of a Son to us. 

Love.

I've considered this long and hard. In fact, it is an on-going process with me. There are people in this world whom I simply do not like. Can I still love them? That is really the challenge God puts to us and the lesson Jesus teaches.

Jesus was born in a manger, a stable.  Why, would the King of Kings be brought into this world in such lowly surroundings?  Why should he not have been born in a palace?  The answer is self-evident when we consider accessibility.  Not everyone would have been permitted access to Jesus had he been born in a palace or perhaps even in his family's house. Would the unclean shepherds been welcomed in a palace?  I think not. But would anyone be turned away from a manger, a stable?

And this is how Jesus lived his life. Lepers, prostitutes, tax collectors, thieves and more were all welcomed into Jesus' presence. The Son of God associated with anyone and everyone. All of mankind are welcome in God's presence. All that is asked in return is that you believe in God.

As our family Christmas winds down I am reminded of this. I find my mother-in-law to be one of the most difficult people in my life. My father-in-law a close second for different reasons. I do not like them and I have struggled with this over the years. I believe I would be fine if I never saw or spoke with either of these people ever again. They bring stress to my life. I struggle to be myself around them because of the standards they would hold me to. Yet I see them break their own standards time and again. They are not accepting of difference.  While they hold themselves up to be good Christian people, I find them to be hypocritical in practicing the Word. Yes, I am as judgmental as I accuse them of being.

As much as I struggle to like the in-laws, I find that I do love them. I wish them no ill will. I pray for their wellness and safe being. I would just rather not associate with them due to the stress associated with being in their presence.

Yes, I have work to do with my own relationship with God. It is an on-going process that needs constant attention, nurturing and guidance.

I cherish the blessing the in-laws are in my life. I have and continue to learn so much about God and myself through their presence in my life. It's not always a negative they bring to light that I learn from for these are good people with positives to learn from as well. The dysfunctional nature of our relationship is a sturdy educational platform I am fortunate to have at my disposal. That doesn't mean I wish to perpetuate the nature of our current relationship forever. No, I do harbor hope of a better relationship with my in-laws but am keenly aware I can only control certain aspects.  There must be a willingness from all parties. It is not compromise that would bring us closer together but an understanding of God purposefully manifesting himself differently in each of us. I am not here to conform to their expectations, but to God's expectations for me. I have as much to teach them about God and his Love as they believe they have to teach me.

You see, that's a message of the Savior's birth in the manger we overlook. Our KING was born in a manger. Shepherds and Wise Men both and together came to honor Him. All were and are welcomed in God's presence. No one man or woman better than any other in God's eyes. We are not here to compete for God's favor, but to relish in the pure delight and Peace of God's favor that He has made available to us all.

Have a Merry Christmas each and every day of your life everyone!

F.O.C.U.S.

Following

One's

Course

Until

Successful

Improvise! Adapt! Overcome!

In the 1986 movie Heartbreak Ridge Clint Eastwood demands his Marine recon platoon Improvise! Adapt! Overcome! when encountering obstacles.  This has been adopted as an unofficial motto of the United States Marine Corps and fits nicely with their Semper Flexibilis or Semper Gumby motto that implore the Corps to be flexible in addressing obstacles.  

Improvise!

Adapt!

Overcome!

I have watched Heartbreak Ridge many times.  It's not so much the battle scenes that I find captivating as it is the development of the characters and the process portrayed of a rag tag bunch of wannabes transforming into a kick ass recon platoon.  And it is these things I believe apply in life and in soccer. 

I have taken charge of a down on its luck high school soccer program. Regular followers of this blog know this is exactly the type of challenge I love. I would go so far as to say I have developed a formula for turning around such programs. Only this time, that tried and true formula has not worked. Thus, I am left to consider other approaches. I am attempting to Improvise! Adapt! Overcome! in a new and different manner. Flexibility was a key throughout our first season. To be honest, I was too accommodating in an effort to keep enough members in the program to finish our schedule. And as we all know, compromising standards is not an answer to anything.

As I look forward to next season I am both looking back to core values we got away from last season and to adapting our approach. There was a lot of improvising last season as I sought to navigate the season. It was born of panic and took place haphazardly. This coming season I am looking to focused improvisation to be a forceful building tool. 

I don't know how much is left to be invented in soccer, especially in terms of team tactics, but I intend to go back to the future with some of the concepts and ideas we employ to boost tactics to our advantage. There was a time when the 4-4-2 zonal system I employed was cutting edge and a decided advantage.  I understand now that I thought it always would be and I was wrong for thinking that way. The game changed while I was comfortable in what we were doing.  I must now Improvise! and Adapt! in order to Overcome! and regain an advantage. I am stepping outside my coaching comfort zone to get back into and hopefully once more ahead of the game.

Stay tuned for updates.

Playing fast soccer is all about vision and brain power.

I often recognize problems in the game of soccer before fully identifying them.  I will allow that to sink in for a moment.

Soccer is a game that is all about angles.  To play at the highest level possible players need to see as much of the game as possible.  This is a fundamental truth of the game.

In watching our local high school team the last couple of fall seasons this has been driven home hard. They tend to play in channels which makes their play extremely direct. Now, I am not against direct play, per se.  However, if a team's m.o. is to play in a single channel, they become very predictable. As I watched these teams play my mind began to scream "Change the Channel!"  In this day and age of "pressing defense," remaining in the same vertical channel on the pitch plays right into the press.


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Winning isn't always about which team scores more goals.

I am one of the most competitive people you will ever encounter. That said, those who have played for me will attest to my rarely knowing the score during or after a match. As a player, I always knew the score. Not so much as a coach. This is because I am not in competition with the opposing team or the opposing coach. As a coach I compete with myself.

As a player I learned the need to improve each day. With each new sunrise I was driven to be better than the day before. Not blessed with blazing speed of incredible quickness I learned to read the game, to anticipate and to out-think the opponent. These things allowed me to play much faster than my physical speed would allow for.

In coaching I am fond of saying "the game is my test" to determine how well I prepared the team to play. One might consider if my team won, I have passed my test, but this is not always true.  I have had teams play poorly and win. Similarly I have had teams play very well and lose. Passing my coaching test, my self-evaluation of how well my team was prepared to play, is the the key to being successful as a coach.

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Simple words of pure genius!

"When I was younger

I was trying to do what I wanted to do,

not what the game wanted me to do."

 ~ Thierry Henry ~

Oh if only I could impart this wisdom to every player I coach!  This knowledge is something all the best players I have coached possessed and understood. It's what has separated the true soccer players from the highly skilled gifted athletes who never reached their full potential on the pitch. 

Lead yourself.

In our locale there is a political rift between the mayor and the president of the local chapter of the NAACP.  Their feuding has boiled over into the local social media in a purely negative manner. I find the whole thing terribly embarrassing and can only wonder what others must think of our community.

As I pondered this situation it occurred to me the quality of leadership can be found to be lacking. Believe it or not, that is not a condemnation of either of the primary individuals involved in this on-going dispute. Rather, it's simply an acknowledgment that leadership has many levels and a certain diligence must be put into the process of leading if we are to have the best possible leadership.

What in the world does this have to do with soccer?

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Everyday is a Tryout

Everyday is a tryout is a mantra I repeat to my teams on an almost daily basis. My teams are a strange combination of dictatorship and meritocracy. I strive to give as much ownership of the team as possible to the players while retaining final say on certain matters to preserve order for the common good. Sometimes I wonder if the message being sent is the same as the message being received.

Everyday is a tryout. Four words that can define a process, a life even. They go to the very heart of what has become known as the daily grind. What you earned yesterday should be but a platform for what you will earn today. What you earn today is the starting point for tomorrow's growth.  This is what a meritocracy is.  This is what life is.

I have begun meeting with potential leaders of next years team. These are the players who have expressed interest in being captains. What I am seeking to determine is which of this group understand everyday is a tryout. Who among them understand that leadership is an action word, a verb, long before it becomes a noun?

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Confidence

Confidence allows Talent to Shine!

Experience.

I have this general idea for an article based loosely on gaining experience in coaching. It's not completely formulated so, we'll see where this goes.  lol.

As I watched a new coach conduct a training session my mind drifted back to my first solo practice sessions as a coach. I remember having spent the night before preparing. The head coach would be absent from practice the next day and his instructions were short and sweet - "We need to work on off-the-ball movement."   Well, okay then.  This was pre-Internet days and I was reliant on the coaching books and videos I had for ideas. I selected a basic three team transitioning drill that I felt fit my needs, I tweaked it a bit to better fit the team I was working with.  I know I put in at least 3 hours planning for the next day's one and half hour practice session.  I wanted to be prepared.

I have fond memories of that day in part because the smiles on the players faces told me they were having a good time and the exercises I had chosen, including the featured 3 team transition game, went smoothly. I had an idea of what I wanted to accomplish in the training session and prepared to achieve it.

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High Character. Leadership. Standards.

In the context of team sports, I believe the word leadership refers primarily to high character. That is, the people who are positive leaders think of and act intentionally on behalf of the team.  They commit to using their leadership abilities to engage in the call to progress in the process. This is accomplished by building up and strengthening the quality of relationships between teammates which in turn strengthens the quality of teamwork through the development of trust among team membership.

There is no such thing as a team not having leadership.  Every team has leadership. It is only the quality of leadership that can be called into question.  In the absence of strong high character leadership, self-serving negative leadership will be the standard.

Leaders set the standards by which the team will be judged. If the leadership will not adhere to the higher standards set for the team, there can be no expectation for the team membership to adhere to even the lowest of team's standards.  The higher the standards team leadership holds itself to the higher the standards they can reasonably expect to hold their teammates to.

The question then becomes, what are the standards your leadership will set for their team?

The Second Team

In my day they were called second string. Second team, second unit, it doesn't really matter what the designation for these players is.  What is important is the vital role these players play on winning teams.

There can be no question starters play a key role in a teams performance, but so too does a team's substitutes. Players on the second unit may not often be directly responsible for winning goals, but they also cannot be responsible for allowing game winning goals. 

So what do substitutes need to bring to their teams when their chance to play comes?

If all you ever do ...

If all you ever do

is all you've ever done,

then all you'll ever get 

is all you've ever got.

I have done some small business consulting over the years. I enjoy the process of identifying why I have been called in to help a business.  The owner always recognizes their business is struggling but are often too closely involved to fully comprehend why their business is struggling.  Sometimes they have ideas and I am asked to help find a solution that will improve a particular aspect of their business. Other times, it's more like they throw their hands into the air in general exasperation and figuratively scream "Help!"  Invariably there is a reluctance to implement changes to the extent needed and they end up doing pretty much what they have been doing all along. Throughout the process I often hear "this is how we became successful" to which I reply "it's also why your business is struggling now."

In two recent situations both were losing customers at an alarming rate.  The customers were going to competitors. The question to be asked and answered was, why?  The answers were similar in both situations.  Failing infrastructure and what could only be labeled as aggressively abusive customer service.  Yes, I just wrote that. Customer service could be difficult to work with and was driving customers away.  If this is beginning to sound like an episode of Bar Rescue, that's because that's basically what it is.

I watched as an owner of a long established business was forced to eventually shut his doors.  He refused to listen to advice from his family, his employees and people like me who he asked for help. In the end, he refused to change and so lost the family business.  I am currently watching the slow death of another long standing business under similar circumstances. They have lost upwards of 50% of their customer base in recent years. They seem to believe they have a product that sells itself even as reality is telling them they do not.  People tired of dealing with poor customer service are finding similar products to be more to their liking.  It's a shame.

Change is not a bad thing.

Most of the people I work for in these situations agree that change is not a bad thing. They are looking to me to help them identify changes to make that will restore their business to a former more prosperous status. Many are even open to personnel changes. At least in terms of reassigning people if not actually firing anyone. But what happens when it is the person in charge who actually needs to go?

Jon Taffer, the bar consultant from Bar Rescue often mentions he must first fix a relationship or a person before he can fix the bar.  This idea is not isolated to failing bars. It can hold true for any type of business ... or sports team. And as can be seen when Mr. Taffer revisits bars from previous shows the personal aspect of failing cannot always be fixed. Sometimes when this has happened I have had the business owner inquire as to my interest in buying him out. I have not done so to date, but that is subject to change going forward. In fact, I am facing a time in my life where rather significant change seems to be on the menu. It's difficult to let go of of what I have loved to do for so many years, but changes are dictating that I may have no other choice.  I am an odd mix of fearful and excited about the prospect. I am drawing from my experiences with small business and conducting soccer camps these past many years to guide me.  Change, it is a coming and I am learning to embrace it early rather than fight it for I wish to save what I have rather than risk losing it all.

Standards and Success

If you do not hold teammates ACCOUNTABLE 

to the team's STANDARDS 

you not only hurt their chances for success, 

you hurt YOUR chances for SUCCESS.

The Coach's Perspective on Tryouts

The Coach's Perspective on Tryouts

We have looked at some generalities of the tryout process and then at the parent / player side of the process. Now, let’s take a look at things from a coach’s point of view.

A coach should enter the tryout process with both an open mind and a well mapped plan for assembling a team.  The balance between the two is important. So too is the ability to remained focused throughout the process of selecting your team. I think the best way to approach this article will be to share some experiences I have been a part of or a witness to.  Cynicism will unfortunately creep in to this article at times. I apologize beforehand, but it is a necessary ingredient for making some of the points that need to be made. Through these experiences I hope the coaches reading this will learn and avoid some of the mistakes others have made before them. 

The guiding principles when selecting a team should be honesty and fairness.

Tryout Questions for Parents and Players

Another tryout season is fast upon us!  There are clubs that are asking for a 10 month committment from high school aged players and have drawn their rosters from a select limited pool of players. But for most, the process is just getting underway as the current Spring season is winding down and the current seasonal year is concluding.

Yesterday we took a look at the tryout process in general.  I presented it in a fiction and fact format that touched on some of the misconceptions often present in the process.  Today we will narrow the focus to what parents and players should be aware of and present it in questions that should be asked form. To begin with parents need to know that soccer teams are part of a buyers market - that is, teams need players even moreso than players need teams to play on. This allows parents and players to choose the right club and team to fit their needs. It is important to note that Ohio High School Athletic Associations rules and regulations play into this dynamic as well as only 5 players from a given high school program may play together on the same club team before June 1st of each year.

"Players taught to watch the man with the ball

leaves them totally unprepared for the next move,

which is always dictated

by a player without the ball."
  Tommy Docherty

"The Doc", is a former Scottish player and manager. Docherty represented Scotland 25 times. He managed a total of 13 clubs between 1961 and 1988, including Manchester United and also managed the Scottish national team.

The Game is My Test.

I saw a former player this past week and while reminiscing he mentioned how much he appreciated my approach to coaching in games. He was thankful that I was not one of those coaches who paced the sidelines constantly yelling instructions and / or berating players for every mistake made. "I don't know if you appreciate the confidence you instilled in me by just silently standing there watching us play."

I almost laughed out loud for many others have commented that I am too quiet and don't coach enough during games. Without directly saying so those people have hinted I don't do enough to motivate players during games. Then it occurred to me the people offering these criticisms have all been adults.  Parents, an athletic director and even my own wife, lol. 

I have explained my in-game coaching philosophy to many of those people in five simple words, The game is my test.