Like beauty, Success is in the eye of the beholder.

I started the off season wondering if we could field a team for this fall season. We had 16 players last fall. Eleven graduated and one changed schools. Four returning players and no feeder system put the 2018 season in doubt. One senior, one junior and two sophomores is what we had to build a foundation on. Yikes!

There was a glimmer of hope when we received two transfers into the school district. Both were athletic young men with some experience playing soccer.  Alas, both decided against playing for their new school.

In an effort to insure I would have a team to coach this fall, I applied for other coaching positions in the area. My Athletic Director had full knowledge of this. In fact, he was very understanding and even supportive of my doing so.  I received two offers to coach elsewhere. In the end I turned both down to stay at Fairlawn and build.

Why?

Good question. The 2017 season was a disaster by my standards. Some members of the senior class drove some younger interested players away to protect their own playing time. I know this because several of those who decided at the last minute not to play told me they didn’t feel welcomed on the team with two of those specifying certain seniors made them feel that way.  In all honesty, this is more common than people may want to believe. The frequency at which this occurs does not justify it happening in any program though. In this case, the legacy of the departed senior class having contributed to the death of a program stood as a real possibility.

When official practice began on August 1st our roster stood at 9 players. The decision was made to cancel all non-league contests reducing our schedule to a mere seven games. The idea was to survive the season and maintain good standing in the league. We only need to field 7 players to play a game. I was not sure the league would agree playing undermanned would keep us in good standing, but honoring our league contracts seemed like the bare minimum we could do.

We played that first game with 10 players. We lost big on the scoreboard.  We won elsewhere. The courage and spirit the student athletes played with was something to behold. By the second game we had grown the roster to 13 players. None of the new players had any soccer experience worth mentioning. They had want-to though! All played their first match on a day when the temperature soared into the 90’s with humidity close behind.  We lost big again. And to be honest,  for awhile we lost some of the fearlessness and spirit we had shown in the first match.  We regained it after a water break we used as a timeout. I had seen enough by games end to believe the start of something good, potentially very good, indeed was upon us.

The day after the second match was a recovery day. We watched a YouTube video titled Watch this every day.  

Afterwards, the players were fired up. Their spirit was again palpable. We have been riding the crest of this new momentum ever since.  Tremendous esprit de corps. Great work ethic. And the want-to?  Oh my!  Needless to day I have really enjoyed coaching these young men and women.  I made a conscious effort to bring and give energy to them, but have found it is they who have brought energy to me as well.

Our season came to an end last night as we lost to the #3 team in the state at their place in the OHSAA tournament. We wet 0-7-0 in the regular season and lost our lone tournament game. Never scored a goal.  On won / lost record alone this was easily my worst season ever as a coach. But I knew what we were up against this season and measured success differently.

A co-ed team playing boys varsity soccer has a built in disadvantage to begin with. We ended up having 14 players at season's end. Three seniors (2 boys and 1 girl)  - one of whom was a legitimate experienced varsity caliber player. The other two are new to high school soccer. One junior (girl) who if she played on a girls team would fair well and never backs down against the boys teams we play. Four sophomores (3 boys and 1 girl).  Two of the boys played extensively as freshmen. The other boy and girl were first time soccer players. That 3rd boy really excelled though by combining tremendous work ethic with becoming a student of the game.  And five freshmen ( 3 boys and 2 girls). Both girls are very good for freshman girls.  Not ready for varsity boys soccer good, but quite good for high school freshman girls. One of the boys is of average ability for a freshman boy - on the smallish side and decent skills. The other two freshman boys were new to soccer.

Our focus was almost exclusively on developing individual skills as practice opened. It had to be. What we did was to quantify and track every skill we could. We also timed and recorded for every conditioning exercise we  did. Setting and breaking personal records was a means to show improvement on both an individual and collective basis.  We did not focus on the scoreboard. Our focus was on setting and meeting in-game goals and the process of improving as measured by PR's.  This allowed us to feel successful and measure improvement throughout the season. We strove to be a better, improved version of ourselves eat the end of every practice and every game.

By not setting unrealistic goals like winning games or even scoring a goal we allowed a spirit to take root, grow and blossom.  It was truly a special sight to behold for this old coach. These young men and women competed with everything they had every game they played. They competed to become better versions of themselves and were wildly successful.

The experienced players were exceptional teammates. It would have been so easy for them not to have played soccer this season or to play hero ball in trying to do more than their fair share, but they did not do these things.  They mentored the new players and helped coach them up. They strove to play the right way. There was so very little negativity ... amazingly so. I am in awe and wonder of this TEAM of young men and women.

Over decades of coaching I have worked with many a team and thousands of individuals. This group is special. I will forever remember fondly these young men and women of Fairlawn Soccer 2018.

For the first time ever, Fairlawn fielded a middle school soccer team. There were approximately 20 student athletes who participated in that program. Eleven of those were 8th graders eligible to play high school soccer next year. If everyone from this years high school team with eligibility remaining returns for next season this would give us 22 players. Plus, there are two others who have expressed interest in playing next year - both with club experience.

Is it possible to double the number of participants despite not winning a game, despite not scoring a single goal?  Apparently so. And that will be the legacy of the 2018 Fairlawn Soccer TEAM.

It takes zero talent.

IT TAKES ZERO TALENT

* To be on time

* To be prepared

* To have a great attitude

* To be focused on the task at hand

* To pay attention to the details of the process

* To be energetic and enthusiastic

* To work hard and always give your best effort

* To give extra to the process

* To be coach-able

* To be a great teammate

Doing any or all of the above simply requires making the decision to do so. These are things only YOU control. So, what's YOUR decision going to be?

How to Increase Your Value to Your Team.

A very self-aware player recently asked of me, what do I need to do in order to increase my value to the team? This question came about in the context of what the athlete could do during the off season to improve for next fall. Now, I am not the athlete's coach so I cannot speak directly to what areas his coach feels should be the focus of off season work. However, I can address the general concept of increasing one's value to the team.

First and foremost is the players approach to the team, his attitude. As positivity and negativity are both contagious a player with a positive attitude is something all coaches prize.  The conscious recognition that one's attitude is a choice is a starting point. One can decide to have a positive attitude, or not as the case may be. So how we approach the decision making progress in regards to attitude is very important.

Sometimes we have athletes who are very good at talking the talk but struggle when it comes to walking the walk. That is, their words and actions are not always in one accord. So, we might ask if the player is mature enough to take things seriously. Can they adhere to the details of the process even when they would rather not do so?

Another way to phrase this is to ask. what are you personally willing to sacrifice towards the success of the team? Is there present in the student / athlete a recognition that sacrificing for the betterment of the team also promotes an athletes personal agenda? The trendy phrase today is When We Replaces Me. Is the athlete willing to place We before Me?

Respecting authority is another prime example of attitude.  If the athlete disrespects authority this is a manifestation of bad attitude. And when talking about authority the list includes parents, teachers, referees, coaches, captains and those placed in charge of organizing and directing play on the field - goalkeepers for instance. Differing opinions can be a strength to a team, but only when they are expressed at the appropriate time and in a respectful manner. Arguing with referees, coaches, captains, teammates during a match or even during active training is not appropriate.

Much of what has been discussed to this point  might be classified as a players maturity level.  Is the student / athlete mature enough to handle constructive criticism in the spirit it is offered or does the student athlete take such efforts personally as a condemnation of his play?  Can the player give constructive criticism to teammates in the spirit and tone of helping as opposed to placing blame or condemning their play?

How does the athlete deal with adversity? Is there self-discipline and mental toughness present that manifests itself in determination and resiliency to overcome?  These are traits prized by coaches and teammates alike.  They go to the issue of trust.  Is the player worthy of being trusted? Is he honest in his dealings with others - his teammates, his coaches, the referees ... himself?

Attitude is so very important, but has been so overused in the context of team sports it has lost some of its effectiveness in identifying what it is to be a good teammate.  And being a good teammate is at the core of increasing one's value to his team. At the root of being a good teammate is the ability to build productive relationships with all other members of the team.

When an athlete is a good teammate bringing positive energy and enthusiasm to the team and its pursuit of common goals, good things will follow.  Sure, working on technical skill sets and tactical understanding are important and improving in these areas will enhance a players value to his team, but we must not forget the difference attitude makes - be it good attitude or bad attitude.  Be of service to your team and its members and good things will follow.

Ted. No, not the movie. Ted, A soccer coach.

I received a call from Ted recently. He was down in the dumps and thinking of getting out of coaching.  I had been expecting this, but still wasn't fully prepared to discuss this with Ted.  A little background may serve to bring things into focus for the purpose of this article. 

I have known Ted for years. He was a very good high school player who went on to play in college.  He was hired into a  good school system, but one that did not allow first year teachers to coach. They wanted their teachers to get a foundation in the classroom before branching out into extra curricular activities. When the head soccer coach position came open a couple of years later Ted applied and ultimately was awarded the job.

Now, Ted is one of the most enthusiastic people I know. To say he was excited about this opportunity would be an understatement.  He knew how he had been coached as a high school athlete and also how he had been coached at the college level.  His intentions were to bring what he had learned as a college athlete to the high school level.  He wanted to reverse engineer the college athlete and bridge the gap between levels of play. This is a notion I highly applauded as I believe too often high school athletes are under-coached in the sense that too little is asked of or expected from them. Even so, I cautioned Ted to be realistic.  I counseled Ted to take stock of where the athletes were and then look to the vision he had for how they could play.  In between the starting point and his vision was where all the work would need to take place. 

All these grand ideas and an overflowing fountain of practical knowledge Ted wanted to share with the high school players never really came to fruition. Ted came away convinced high school players were incapable of what he was asking of them.  In fact, Ted called because he was thinking of resigning from the high school position. He thought maybe he would be better at coaching college athletes.  I called B.S. on this entire idea.

Let's back track just a bit.  When Ted was contemplating becoming a high school coach and sharing his collegiate experience with younger players I applauded the notion.  I also suggested Ted evaluate where the high school athletes were and where he wanted to take them.  The process of progressing from point A to point B could then be defined.  I think what happened with Ted was he noted what he wanted to change but didn't take into account all of the details of process that would be necessary to effect that change. 

Another young high school coach told me last fall that my approach with club athletes would not work with a typical high school team.  Again, I called B.S. on this theory.  It has worked with a high school team. In fact, a high school team were my original "guinea pigs" for our current coaching methodology and system of play. I took a team that in 11 years had never had a winning season, was a sieve on defense and dominated on offensive by one player and turned them into a regional qualifier behind a strong defense and balanced scoring in our second season.

I did so in part by defining where the program / team / players were while knowing where I wanted to take them.  From our starting point we built a foundation in all aspects of the game that allowed the transformation to take place. We worked on changing a losing culture into a winning one while simultaneously implementing gradual changes to how we played the game and most importantly how the game was thought.  The critical element to this was empowering the athletes to make mistakes ... and learn from them. We did not pick apart their decision making process that led to mistakes. Rather, we challenged them to think differently, to find alternate solutions to the problems they encounter.  And maybe most importantly in this regard was the possibility of redefining the problem or obstacle they encountered to allow for a broader spectrum of solutions to be entertained.

That first year was brutal for me as a coach. We lost games we should not of lost. Or more precisely, we lost games that first year that we easily won the second year.  I was confident the transformation would take place while knowing the learning curve would be steep.  This is where Ted is at this moment. His season was a difficult one for him.  Progress did not come quickly enough.  There was resistance to some of the changes he implemented.  I don't think Ted realizes how close to a break through he might actually be with this high school team. I encouraged Ted to once again evaluate where the program is and where he wants to take it.  Could he identify progress?  Then once again identify a process to take the team from current point A to the point B he envisions for them.  

When a process breaks down I have found one of the best solutions is to back track a bit. Identify the problem and then identify the problem for the team. Discuss it with the team. Break it down to the smallest detail and begin reconstructing what it is you want them to achieve. Build understanding right along side of technique and tactical application.  Give them the small picture - all the little details - so they gain a fuller appreciation of the large picture or grand scheme of things through poise and confidence in the smaller setting.

For my teams, learning patience when playing out of pressure that we might be able to then counter with speed has been a focal point.  When I first introduce the idea of being a counter attacking team everyone thinks "win the ball and go!" when there is actually so much more involved if it is to be done effectively and efficiently.

I think Ted is going to give it another go with the high school team.  As we talked I could sense Ted beginning to understand he needed to define the process better not only for himself, but for the players as well.  The proverbial wheels were churning and enthusiasm seemed to be creeping back in as well.  For Ted the process seems back on track with a better appreciation or perhaps a deeper understanding of the necessity to TEACH the process of how to get from point A to point B.  I am confident that should Ted stick with it, he will guide the program ever closer to his vision for it.