I made the decision to move on from Fairlawn High School with some reluctance. I had accepted the positions there because 1) my wife was changing careers and we needed the extra income and 2) because I wanted to continue coaching soccer. Fairlawn offered me both a position in the school and the head soccer coach position for which I remain extremely grateful. I have come to love the work and many of my co-workers. The coaching has been interesting: perhaps my most disappointing year of coaching followed by the most rewarding year of coaching I have had in a long time.
I'm not going to dwell on the negatives here other than to say there were some: selfish players, helicopter parents - typical obstacles found anywhere and everywhere.
I want to focus on the positives. First the work aspects: Amber, Chris, Cory, Jodi, Jason ... truly outstanding educators. These folks go above and beyond in service to the young people entrusted to them. Each is willing to build teacher / pupil relationships that put students at ease and facilitate learning. I've learned so much from each of them.
The players. I must admit that after the 2017 season I seriously considered hanging up the whistle and clipboard. That season had been so disastrous that the ability of the program to survive was in doubt. The very real threat of the program folding is ultimately what kept me in the coaching game. I prayed on it and felt God had brought me to Fairlawn to navigate a terrible season and persevere through at least the next season to lay a foundation that could be built upon. We have succeeded in doing this. The program has grown from 4 players this time last year to an estimated 22 players for the 2019 season.
The credit is only partially mine. The majority of credit goes to the following players: Lucas and Leeann were our seniors and both did a remarkable job in stabilizing a floundering program. That will be their legacy to Fairlawn soccer. And quite a legacy it is. Grace, Seth, Katie and Payton were the underclassmen who stepped forward to provide leadership to the team. They were positive in the face of almost overwhelming adversity and understood our success was measured through continuous improvement in the process. These six individuals demonstrated maturity, character, dedication and positivity well beyond their years. Their teammates followed their lead. They will each enjoy success in life because of these traits and collectively he four who return can lead the Fairlawn soccer program to the next level.
My wife is enjoying her new work as CFO of a non-profit and I have found new employment with Van Wert City Schools / the Western Buckeye Educational Services Center. I will be coaching men's soccer at Van Wert and am looking forward to the challenge. When I took over the Lima Central Catholic girls program they had never had a winning season in its 11 years of existence. That was preperation for this next adventure as I'm not sure Van Wert has enjoyed a winning season in its 24(?) years of existence. I am really looking forward to the challenge.
I am going to remember the lessons learned from my time at Fairlawn. The successes and the failures alike. So very much learned that can be applied going forward. I am especially going to remember the people. Those mentioned previously and people like Miss Betty, Betsy, Shelly, Deb, Gail, Todd, JT, Yolanda, Erin, Thersa, Darren, Karen and so many more.
I have a stated goal of wanting to learn something new each and every day and they all helped fulfill this goal over the last two years. I am sure I have missed a few, my apologies. This is one of the hazards of trying to name so many.
Most importantly, I wish to thank Caleb Puckett, the young man I was primarily charged to work with at Fairlawn. Caleb has been a daily inspiration to me and in truth was the deciding factor in my returning to Fairlawn this year. He is Developmentally Disabled or so they tell me. What Caleb actually is, is unique. He processes information differently than you or I. He is most definitely not dumb, just slow in doing things conventionally. He is quite smart and has a strong desire to learn. The progress he made these two years has been amazing. Until he ran up against calculus and trigonometry he mastered every academic challenge presented to him. And in fact, he was doing okay in those subjects before the decision was made to focus on more practical math, or math Caleb will need to be able to perform routinely in daily life. Such a rewarding experience for me. I thank God for having had this experience.
And now, I am moving on. Moving on to the next adventure.
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Showing posts with label learn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label learn. Show all posts
Saturday
Who was the worst player you have ever coached?
I was recently asked to describe the worst player I have ever coached.
Context told me this had absolutely nothing to do with skill set or ability to play the game, per se. The questioner did not wish for me to divulge a name. This was more a quest for anecdotal identification of what makes a poor teammate. Two players immediately came to mind. One of each gender. I will be using initials to describe these individuals in this writing. They are not the individuals true initials and were indeed selected totally at random. In fact, I might even obfuscate gender or mix and max a bit to protect identies.
GM was an average talent on the pitch who had an alpha personality. Not being”the” star was a problem resolved by attaching himself to the star player. The star player was not a leader, but as is often the case with a star player was looked upon as a leader. So GM led through the star player. It was a selfish, self-promoting style of leadership that ultimately cost the team a chance to play for a championship. GM didn’t care about that or much of anything else that did not benefit or promote himself directly. Not only was GM selfish, he was also a bully and capable of being quite mean to any who dared challenge his self-perceived authority or place on the team.
GD was the most narcissistic person, let alone player, I have ever encountered. No sense of team except in the sense of what the team could provide her. Did not care about winning as long as she got her stats. GD’s damage was not limited to a season or even seasons. No, GD almost completely destroyed an entire program. There was real question as to whether the program would survive to field future teams. Her selfishness rose to a level of running off potential players who could have served the team well, but conflicted with her personnel mission. I’ve never had a player more disliked by he own teammates than GD was. And GD was completely and totally oblivious to this ... or just didn’t care.
Why is this important?
Why rehash bad memories?
I tried to cut both GM and GD from their respect teams and programs, but was not allowed to do so for different reasons. One cost their team a chance to compete for a championship and the other almost destroyed a program. Both of these individuals were leaders on their teams. NEGATIVE leaders who proved destructive to their teams missions and goals.
That’s part of the reason I am sharing his with you. Rarely does a team rise above the level of its leaders. If, on a scale of 1 to 10, ten being the best leader possible and one being the worst leader imaginable, your leader is a 6, then your team will never be anything more than slightly above average. If your leader is below average, say, a four, then that is also the ceiling, the cap, the lid for your team.
Another reason I am sharing this with you is my observations regarding GM and GD’s teammates. Most curiously from my perspective is how so many good players and potentially solid leaders on both teams allowed GM and GD to assume control of their teams culture and programs destiny. Good, truly good, people allowed something really awful to happen to themselves without putting up a strong enough fight to win the day. I shouldn’t be surprised since history is littered with examples of good people led astray by dubious leadership. I suppose I am more disappointed than surprised.
Both teams underachieved for the simple reason their culture was dominated by negative leadership.
I am eternally grateful to both GM and GD for from failure we learn. They were such colossal
failures as leaders that they provided magnificent learning opportunities. For one, I used to loathe cutting players, but now when I identify another potential GM or GD I do not hesitate in purging
them from the team and program. I have also learned to be far more aware and selective of the environment I coach in: if I cannot rid a team and or program of poor leaders and poor teammates, then I now fully realize the limits this places on the team being competitive to the full measure of potential ... and the frustration that will inevitably be present in such an environment.
Context told me this had absolutely nothing to do with skill set or ability to play the game, per se. The questioner did not wish for me to divulge a name. This was more a quest for anecdotal identification of what makes a poor teammate. Two players immediately came to mind. One of each gender. I will be using initials to describe these individuals in this writing. They are not the individuals true initials and were indeed selected totally at random. In fact, I might even obfuscate gender or mix and max a bit to protect identies.
GM was an average talent on the pitch who had an alpha personality. Not being”the” star was a problem resolved by attaching himself to the star player. The star player was not a leader, but as is often the case with a star player was looked upon as a leader. So GM led through the star player. It was a selfish, self-promoting style of leadership that ultimately cost the team a chance to play for a championship. GM didn’t care about that or much of anything else that did not benefit or promote himself directly. Not only was GM selfish, he was also a bully and capable of being quite mean to any who dared challenge his self-perceived authority or place on the team.
GD was the most narcissistic person, let alone player, I have ever encountered. No sense of team except in the sense of what the team could provide her. Did not care about winning as long as she got her stats. GD’s damage was not limited to a season or even seasons. No, GD almost completely destroyed an entire program. There was real question as to whether the program would survive to field future teams. Her selfishness rose to a level of running off potential players who could have served the team well, but conflicted with her personnel mission. I’ve never had a player more disliked by he own teammates than GD was. And GD was completely and totally oblivious to this ... or just didn’t care.
Why is this important?
Why rehash bad memories?
I tried to cut both GM and GD from their respect teams and programs, but was not allowed to do so for different reasons. One cost their team a chance to compete for a championship and the other almost destroyed a program. Both of these individuals were leaders on their teams. NEGATIVE leaders who proved destructive to their teams missions and goals.
That’s part of the reason I am sharing his with you. Rarely does a team rise above the level of its leaders. If, on a scale of 1 to 10, ten being the best leader possible and one being the worst leader imaginable, your leader is a 6, then your team will never be anything more than slightly above average. If your leader is below average, say, a four, then that is also the ceiling, the cap, the lid for your team.
Another reason I am sharing this with you is my observations regarding GM and GD’s teammates. Most curiously from my perspective is how so many good players and potentially solid leaders on both teams allowed GM and GD to assume control of their teams culture and programs destiny. Good, truly good, people allowed something really awful to happen to themselves without putting up a strong enough fight to win the day. I shouldn’t be surprised since history is littered with examples of good people led astray by dubious leadership. I suppose I am more disappointed than surprised.
Both teams underachieved for the simple reason their culture was dominated by negative leadership.
I am eternally grateful to both GM and GD for from failure we learn. They were such colossal
failures as leaders that they provided magnificent learning opportunities. For one, I used to loathe cutting players, but now when I identify another potential GM or GD I do not hesitate in purging
them from the team and program. I have also learned to be far more aware and selective of the environment I coach in: if I cannot rid a team and or program of poor leaders and poor teammates, then I now fully realize the limits this places on the team being competitive to the full measure of potential ... and the frustration that will inevitably be present in such an environment.
Friday
Still learning after all these years.
I have a stated goal to learn something new every day. In pursuit of this I often try to look at things from different perspectives. That's never been more true than this off-season. Immediately after the conclusion of the season I wrote a self-evaluation / status of the program review. I have often debated if taking on this endeavor so close to the conclusion of the season is wise or whether waiting on the passage of time to reflect more objectively might be a better course of action. Of course, I wind up doing both.
I firmly believe in preparation being the key to succeeding on and off the pitch. I spent from November 2016 through early June 2017 preparing for the Lima Senior soccer season. Due to real world job considerations I ended up changing coaching jobs and found myself being introduced as Fairlawn's new soccer coach in mid June 2017. I balanced my need to work with my desire to coach. In retrospect, I am unsure how wise a decision this was.
We laid a great foundation for a successful 2017 season at Lima Senior, I followed the Spartans from afar this fall and was surprised they struggled. And at Fairlawn our struggles were just as mighty. Both programs struggled with having adequate time under new direction to prepare for their respective 2017 seasons.
I suffered an on-the-job knee injury in May of 2017 that greatly limited my mobility throughout the summer. I bring this to light because it impacted my ability to properly prepare for the season. Hindsight tells me I should not have coached this fall. I just wasn't physically prepared to do so.
There were an inordinate amount of obstacles to overcome in pursuit of a successful soccer season.
The knee injury suffered in May.
Being hired in mid-June.
The person I contracted with for summer camps backing out at the last minute.
The person the previous coach had contracted with for summer camp backing out.
Low attendance at the summer activities we held.
My wife's hospitalization which drew my attention and energies away from soccer.
It was a recipe for the disaster the 2017 Fairlawn soccer season came to be. My self-confidence convinced me I could overcome these obstacles. I was wrong. I was wrong in part because many of these obstacles were beyond my control.
Even as I have reviewed the recently concluded season I have begun preparations for the 2018 soccer season. Very much on my mind have been distinguishing between the things I can and cannot control. The most concerning to me has been attendance at necessary off-season workouts, weight training, conditioning and small group work. And attendance during the 10 days of contact I will have with the team during June and July of 2018. Player attendance at these activities is in the purview of the players. I can exert some modicum of outside influence on their decision making process, but ultimately it is their decision whether to attend, to prepare, or not.
This is where my personal decision making process is as it concerns returning to Fairlawn as head soccer coach. Player attendance. Player willingness to prepare for the 2018 season. Their decisions on attendance will directly impact my decision on coaching.
To be perfectly honest, we got out of the 2017 season exactly what we put into it. Due to time constraints and my knee injury I was able to put into the 2017 off-season but a small portion of the time and energy I typically devote to preparing for an up-coming season. A majority of players put in less effort and time than I was able to. We got what we earned. Meritocracy in action.
I am determined to prepare for the 2018 season with the best effort I have. I am already champing at the bit to get started. I have an unquenchable thirst to be better at what I do. I need to be better for the players who will be the 2018 soccer team at Fairlawn. I must be better before I can expect them to become better. This is what motivates me. Drives me. I am determined to build a proper foundation through preparation and execution of the season-long plan I am working on.
The perspective of time, both backwards and forwards in contemplation, has sharpened my focus. I have used reflection of the past to glean useful insight to the present and future. I will control those things I can in preparation for the 2018 season. I will exert what influence I can over the players to prolifically prepare for their 2018 season. A meritocracy simple means we will get out of the 2018 season exactly what we are willing to invest into the 2018 season. I am hopeful our investment will be significant.
Keep learning.
It is winter here in Ohio and although we do not have snow on the ground it is generally to cold and wet to do much soccer related activity outside. Basketball and wrestling dominate the gyms and where I am located we have one turfed indoor facility and field time / leagues are outrageously overpriced. Factor in the sun rises late and sets early... well, this is definitely the off-season for us. We do futsal in a gym on Wednesdays after basketball and on Sunday afternoons when basketball generally does not play or practice.
I also do a lot of review work from our past season. I make notes in journal form on every practice, game and team gathering when in season. Now is the time to review these to glean every bit of information that might be applied going forward. I also watch last seasons practice and game tapes for the same purpose. It can be amazing what a distance of 3 or 4 months allows one to see,
This is also the time of the year when I search out new books and articles to read. I spend too much time on YouTube watching soccer videos. Games, instructional and motivational videos. Anything I can find to learn, to enhance my skills as a coach, to make myself better at what I do.
I also take the time to attend practises conducted by other coaches. I have watched tryouts for club teams this winter. I have watched basketball and wrestling teams practice. I attend as many sporting events as possible to observe how other coaches ply their trade. I am intensely curious to see how other coaches interact with their players, their assistants, the referees and others.
I am now contemplating attending a coaching clinic or two. Weighing the price of doing so against who will be the presenting clinicians. So much is available on the Internet these days, but it is refreshing to attend in person. Being able to ask questions of the presenter and other attendees.
On Saturday we ( my high school and program) are hosting a beginners referee and re-certification class. I will be in attendance all day, From 7:30 am until after 4:00 pm. It is important to build relationships with referees and to understand what they are looking for in-game.
These things will all factor into plans for next season. Our off season preparation will be based on what I am learning and in some cases re-learning now, in the dark of winter. The success of our 2017 fall season will depend largely on my success in learning over these cold winter months.
I also do a lot of review work from our past season. I make notes in journal form on every practice, game and team gathering when in season. Now is the time to review these to glean every bit of information that might be applied going forward. I also watch last seasons practice and game tapes for the same purpose. It can be amazing what a distance of 3 or 4 months allows one to see,
This is also the time of the year when I search out new books and articles to read. I spend too much time on YouTube watching soccer videos. Games, instructional and motivational videos. Anything I can find to learn, to enhance my skills as a coach, to make myself better at what I do.
I also take the time to attend practises conducted by other coaches. I have watched tryouts for club teams this winter. I have watched basketball and wrestling teams practice. I attend as many sporting events as possible to observe how other coaches ply their trade. I am intensely curious to see how other coaches interact with their players, their assistants, the referees and others.
I am now contemplating attending a coaching clinic or two. Weighing the price of doing so against who will be the presenting clinicians. So much is available on the Internet these days, but it is refreshing to attend in person. Being able to ask questions of the presenter and other attendees.
On Saturday we ( my high school and program) are hosting a beginners referee and re-certification class. I will be in attendance all day, From 7:30 am until after 4:00 pm. It is important to build relationships with referees and to understand what they are looking for in-game.
These things will all factor into plans for next season. Our off season preparation will be based on what I am learning and in some cases re-learning now, in the dark of winter. The success of our 2017 fall season will depend largely on my success in learning over these cold winter months.
Tuesday
Help!
One of my pet peeve's is the person who needs help, but will not ask for nor accept help. I think this stems from a time in my life when having lost my father I needed help in the form of a male role model, but so many turned away from helping me. No big brother. No other family or family friend. No one from the congregation. It was a lonely time in my life and I admittedly struggled to find my way. I knew I was struggling. When I married I held hope the new father-in-law might fill some of the void, but part of me knew before I ever said "I do" that was not going to happen either. Quite literally I Thank God and his Holy Word for helping through that time in my life.
At some point in time I made a conscious decision to offer help anytime I saw someone in need. This was noble but misguided as well. Some people just don't want the help. They might be confident in their own ability or they might view "help" as a threat to themselves or their position - for whatever reason they simply are not ready or willing to ask for or accept help.
The very act of asking if someone needs your help can be intimidating to the person your offering help to. This is especially true when the person being offered help does not realize (or agree) that help might be needed.
Let's be honest, those of us who are parents have had to deal with children who think they are prepared to go it alone. It is often a case of not wanting help even when they recognize they need help. The struggle to be independent and accountable. It's what we want for our children, but we want to "help" them get there as seamlessly as possible. Again, a noble, but misguided idea.
What does this have to do with soccer and coaching?
I am sure we have all had encounters with players who we deemed "damn near uncoachable," as I phrase it. Strong willed, strong minded individuals who were convinced their way was the right way even in the face of mountains of evidence their way was detrimental to the team effort to achieve a common goal. We cut the player just to be rid of their disruptive influence or if the player is especially gifted we keep them on believing we can be the person to finally channel their attitude and ability in a positive and productive direction. Sometimes the player comes around and sometimes you end up wondering what the hell you were thinking in keeping them and praying for the last day you will have to deal with them.
It's not all about players though.
There is a young coach I have been mentoring for a few years now. I made the initial offer of help to John in the form of sharing resources I have with him. After several months passing, John accepted the offer. We have developed a great relationship over time. I was initially in a role of mentor to John, but as time has progressed we find ourselves friends and peers. This is a success story that goes far beyond the coaching relationship John and I enjoy for it's impact has been and continues to be felt by the players passing through John's program which itself has grown throughout the years.
Another example shows mixed results thus far. Several years ago I took on a former player as an assistant coach. There was a general consensus of opinion that Ryan had the makings of a very good coach. This had been discussed since Ryan was a captain for his high school team and in some corners it was hoped that he would eventually come back to lead the program. Maybe it was the expectations being heaped upon Ryan that gave him pause about coaching. To say he was reticent to the idea of coaching is somewhat an understatement. As time passed Ryan did become involved as an assistant with the high school program and was eventually named to succeed the long time head coach. All seems to be going according to long ago hopeful plans.
When I started coaching soccer I knew nothing about the game. Soccer wasn't even a school sport during my childhood. I had to become a student of the game. I bought books and videos to study, but the single best thing I did was to ask questions of established coaches. The local high school coach, Dick Hagen, was a starting point, but to be perfectly honest he did not know much about the game either having never played himself. He was simply more advanced on the same path I was beginning to travel. A good resource for sure, but not the be all / end all of a coaching mentor.
Graham Ramsay, a former professional player, coach and administrator who conducted camp for that high school team became a mentor to me. As did Ken White (University of Louisville / BGSU / NSCAA national staff). There were certainly others along the way - some I learned the "do's" of coaching from and some I learned the "don'ts" of coaching from. All have helped in one regard or another... because I was receptive to being helped. I knew I needed help and went looking for it from the most qualified individuals who could offer it to me including a couple of email lists of coaching peers who have been wonderful resources ... and critics when necessary.
Ryan's first year as a head coach was pretty much a disaster. It was the worst season in terms of won/lost/tied record in decades at the school. Coaching mistakes cost the team several victories. Because I had endorsed Ryan for the head coach position and even campaigned to the athletic director on his behalf it was difficult to see him struggle so. To make matters worse, Ryan chose assistants who themselves had zero coaching experience at the high school level. The learning curve was huge and to my knowledge they went it pretty much alone. I had offered to help in any way I could, but was never taken up on that offer.
One of my pet peeves is the person who needs help, but will not ask for nor accept help. Ryan needed help and you might think my offer was about mentoring Ryan but it goes far beyond that narrow scope or view of things. You see, another lesson I learned long ago was that when one person struggles there is a ripple effect. One person's struggles affect many other people. The young players on the high school team did not deserve the season they ended up having. They were too talented to be a sub .500 team. In fact, the pre-season consensus amongst experienced coaches in the area was the team had a chance at the league and district titles.
Help was offered to Ryan, but he was unwilling or unable to accept it. The program, this past falls team and individual players suffered for it. Help was offered to John and he eventually accepted it. John's program, this past falls team and the individual players that comprised the team are an improving lot. They continue to become stronger. While a tale of two programs, both can have bright futures. I know John's will because he constantly seeks help... and not just from me. He's open to help from wherever and whomever he can find it. Hopefully Ryan will grow into that mindset as well. There are plenty of people who are willing and more than capable of helping him - the question is, will Ryan be receptive to their offers?
James is a third coaching associate. I have known him for over a decade. His program is bottom tier in the league they play in. Has been the entire time I have known him. He could use some help. It's been offered repeatedly, but James continues to do what he has always done and unsurprisingly continues to have the same type of results he has always had. He continues as the head coach because ... well, I'm not real sure. Soccer is evidently not a real high priority at his school. Losing seasons are the accepted norm. It's a terrible rut to find one's self in.
Which bring me back to Graham Ramsay and the building of the Shawnee soccer program. There was a time when long-time coach Dick Hagen knew he needed help. He hooked up with Graham Ramsay who was key in helping to build and develop the program over the course of more than a decade. This culminated in a state semi-final appearance during Ryan's senior season. Shortly after that season Coach Hagen began to become disenchanted with Graham conducting summer camp for Shawnee. This eventually led to Shawnee looking elsewhere for help. Not coincidently this coincided with the Shawnee program beginning to decline. A decline that picked up speed in succeeding years and eventually culminated with Ryan's first year as head coach being the worst in recent program history. In a manner of speaking, Ryan now finds himself in a position similar to where Dick Hagen found himself in the late 1980's - the coach of an underachieving program in need of ... help.
What I encourage you as coaches (and players) to do is to actively seek help. Be open minded and receptive to the help offered. Take from each helpful person the bits and pieces of information that resonate with you. Continue to educate yourself and explore both the game and the coaching profession to its fullest. The minute you stop growing your trade, is the moment you should get out of coaching. There is always more to learn and more coaches and players to learn from. Be aggressive in seeking help and in accepting help when offered. Approach each day with enthusiasm to learn previously unknown to man-kind.
And for those of you offering help, remember to be patient. While watching someone needlessly struggle as they muddle through gaining experience is difficult it remains the responsibility of the person struggling to seek help, ask for help and accept help. No one can do it for them. It is much like alcoholism or drug addiction in that the addict must seek, ask for and be receptive to help before help can do them any good. That time may never come. Sad, but true.
At some point in time I made a conscious decision to offer help anytime I saw someone in need. This was noble but misguided as well. Some people just don't want the help. They might be confident in their own ability or they might view "help" as a threat to themselves or their position - for whatever reason they simply are not ready or willing to ask for or accept help.
The very act of asking if someone needs your help can be intimidating to the person your offering help to. This is especially true when the person being offered help does not realize (or agree) that help might be needed.
Let's be honest, those of us who are parents have had to deal with children who think they are prepared to go it alone. It is often a case of not wanting help even when they recognize they need help. The struggle to be independent and accountable. It's what we want for our children, but we want to "help" them get there as seamlessly as possible. Again, a noble, but misguided idea.
What does this have to do with soccer and coaching?
I am sure we have all had encounters with players who we deemed "damn near uncoachable," as I phrase it. Strong willed, strong minded individuals who were convinced their way was the right way even in the face of mountains of evidence their way was detrimental to the team effort to achieve a common goal. We cut the player just to be rid of their disruptive influence or if the player is especially gifted we keep them on believing we can be the person to finally channel their attitude and ability in a positive and productive direction. Sometimes the player comes around and sometimes you end up wondering what the hell you were thinking in keeping them and praying for the last day you will have to deal with them.
It's not all about players though.
There is a young coach I have been mentoring for a few years now. I made the initial offer of help to John in the form of sharing resources I have with him. After several months passing, John accepted the offer. We have developed a great relationship over time. I was initially in a role of mentor to John, but as time has progressed we find ourselves friends and peers. This is a success story that goes far beyond the coaching relationship John and I enjoy for it's impact has been and continues to be felt by the players passing through John's program which itself has grown throughout the years.
Another example shows mixed results thus far. Several years ago I took on a former player as an assistant coach. There was a general consensus of opinion that Ryan had the makings of a very good coach. This had been discussed since Ryan was a captain for his high school team and in some corners it was hoped that he would eventually come back to lead the program. Maybe it was the expectations being heaped upon Ryan that gave him pause about coaching. To say he was reticent to the idea of coaching is somewhat an understatement. As time passed Ryan did become involved as an assistant with the high school program and was eventually named to succeed the long time head coach. All seems to be going according to long ago hopeful plans.
When I started coaching soccer I knew nothing about the game. Soccer wasn't even a school sport during my childhood. I had to become a student of the game. I bought books and videos to study, but the single best thing I did was to ask questions of established coaches. The local high school coach, Dick Hagen, was a starting point, but to be perfectly honest he did not know much about the game either having never played himself. He was simply more advanced on the same path I was beginning to travel. A good resource for sure, but not the be all / end all of a coaching mentor.
Graham Ramsay, a former professional player, coach and administrator who conducted camp for that high school team became a mentor to me. As did Ken White (University of Louisville / BGSU / NSCAA national staff). There were certainly others along the way - some I learned the "do's" of coaching from and some I learned the "don'ts" of coaching from. All have helped in one regard or another... because I was receptive to being helped. I knew I needed help and went looking for it from the most qualified individuals who could offer it to me including a couple of email lists of coaching peers who have been wonderful resources ... and critics when necessary.
Ryan's first year as a head coach was pretty much a disaster. It was the worst season in terms of won/lost/tied record in decades at the school. Coaching mistakes cost the team several victories. Because I had endorsed Ryan for the head coach position and even campaigned to the athletic director on his behalf it was difficult to see him struggle so. To make matters worse, Ryan chose assistants who themselves had zero coaching experience at the high school level. The learning curve was huge and to my knowledge they went it pretty much alone. I had offered to help in any way I could, but was never taken up on that offer.
One of my pet peeves is the person who needs help, but will not ask for nor accept help. Ryan needed help and you might think my offer was about mentoring Ryan but it goes far beyond that narrow scope or view of things. You see, another lesson I learned long ago was that when one person struggles there is a ripple effect. One person's struggles affect many other people. The young players on the high school team did not deserve the season they ended up having. They were too talented to be a sub .500 team. In fact, the pre-season consensus amongst experienced coaches in the area was the team had a chance at the league and district titles.
Help was offered to Ryan, but he was unwilling or unable to accept it. The program, this past falls team and individual players suffered for it. Help was offered to John and he eventually accepted it. John's program, this past falls team and the individual players that comprised the team are an improving lot. They continue to become stronger. While a tale of two programs, both can have bright futures. I know John's will because he constantly seeks help... and not just from me. He's open to help from wherever and whomever he can find it. Hopefully Ryan will grow into that mindset as well. There are plenty of people who are willing and more than capable of helping him - the question is, will Ryan be receptive to their offers?
James is a third coaching associate. I have known him for over a decade. His program is bottom tier in the league they play in. Has been the entire time I have known him. He could use some help. It's been offered repeatedly, but James continues to do what he has always done and unsurprisingly continues to have the same type of results he has always had. He continues as the head coach because ... well, I'm not real sure. Soccer is evidently not a real high priority at his school. Losing seasons are the accepted norm. It's a terrible rut to find one's self in.
Which bring me back to Graham Ramsay and the building of the Shawnee soccer program. There was a time when long-time coach Dick Hagen knew he needed help. He hooked up with Graham Ramsay who was key in helping to build and develop the program over the course of more than a decade. This culminated in a state semi-final appearance during Ryan's senior season. Shortly after that season Coach Hagen began to become disenchanted with Graham conducting summer camp for Shawnee. This eventually led to Shawnee looking elsewhere for help. Not coincidently this coincided with the Shawnee program beginning to decline. A decline that picked up speed in succeeding years and eventually culminated with Ryan's first year as head coach being the worst in recent program history. In a manner of speaking, Ryan now finds himself in a position similar to where Dick Hagen found himself in the late 1980's - the coach of an underachieving program in need of ... help.
What I encourage you as coaches (and players) to do is to actively seek help. Be open minded and receptive to the help offered. Take from each helpful person the bits and pieces of information that resonate with you. Continue to educate yourself and explore both the game and the coaching profession to its fullest. The minute you stop growing your trade, is the moment you should get out of coaching. There is always more to learn and more coaches and players to learn from. Be aggressive in seeking help and in accepting help when offered. Approach each day with enthusiasm to learn previously unknown to man-kind.
And for those of you offering help, remember to be patient. While watching someone needlessly struggle as they muddle through gaining experience is difficult it remains the responsibility of the person struggling to seek help, ask for help and accept help. No one can do it for them. It is much like alcoholism or drug addiction in that the addict must seek, ask for and be receptive to help before help can do them any good. That time may never come. Sad, but true.
I Love Mistakes.
Regular followers of the blog know I struggled to frame my writings of Lance's senior season in a manner satisfactory to my own standards. A fair amount of you have expressed your disappointment in not being able to read those accounts. No, I have not reconsidered and decided to publish them. That does not mean they are far from my mind though.
My off season begins in August. Club season concludes in May and camp season concluded the second week of August this year. I spend my off season studying the game. I read a lot of books on the game and watch soccer every opportunity I get. While I am not actively coaching during the fall it is the season of learning for me. I love to learn and therefore LOVE mistakes.
I suppose a better description would be that I love to solve problems. Mistakes occur when a problem encountered is inadequately addressed. The search for a better solution begins here. And this idea of making mistakes or inadequately solving the problems the game presents is at the heart of my struggles to write about Lance's senior season.
Mistakes are learning opportunities.
Learning opportunities means there exists teaching opportunities and my love of mistakes is grounded in the teaching opportunities mistakes give rise to. Yes, I absolutely LOVE to teach. This is probably why I like training better than the actually matches. I enjoy the match. The match is the test of my teaching, my training of the team. If we pass the test, good. I will identify areas of our play we can improve on. If we fail the test, I must analyze where I erred in training the team and put things right.
Lance's senior season provided an unusually large number of opportunities to teach. My frustration in writing of Lance's senior season stems for a lack of ready students to teach. I started my 12th soccer book of the off season this evening and it has provided the catalyst to frame or channel my frustration in a positive direction outside the usual teaching of a team that I would normally share my knowledge with. The book, thus far, encapsulates the last 3-4 years of high school and club soccer for me. It has served to bring everything into proper perspective or at least a perspective I am comfortable in reviewing these soccer seasons from. That in and of itself seems a bit oxymoronic because mistakes make us uncomfortable. So, I think what I am attempting to communicate is that I have learned and now have an audience, you, to share with. Perhaps even to teach although I suspect the simple act of sharing will suffice for me.
This story begins in the summer of 2010. Preseason of my first year as Head Coach of the Lima Central Catholic Women's Soccer program. I had long been an advocate of the 1-4-4-2 formation. That was the formation of choice while I was an assistant coach at Shawnee and was also the formation we ran during my one year as an assistant at Botkins. Just as we had at those stops I based our system of play at LCC on the flat back four or zonal defense. As a head coach, I brought my own twists and tweaks to the system of play.
To uncover and fully understand the points I wish to make we will need to go back a few more years as it involves a then young man named Brian Boulter. That year there was debate over who would get the last varsity spot. Brain was in the mix with two others. In my mind Brian was the clear choice, but the head coach thought otherwise and Brian began the year on the JV team. As was typical in those days, Shawnee struggled to score. The Indians won a lot of games, but they tended to be 1-0 affairs. Two goals were a surplus and three or more a luxury not often in evidence. How to generate more offense was a constant theme of discussion among the coaching staff. It was Brian Boulter who proved to be the answer.
Brian had good size, speed and a big leg. His skill set was adequate. His knowledge of the game from the right back position was above average. He played his way onto the varsity by the end of the season and it was that big right leg that jump started the attack. A standard play for Brian was to cross the ball from near the center line. Those crosses went against the grain of the defense and led to a lot of scoring opportunities. This had been on my mind for several years and was about to come into play on both our boys club team and the LCC girls team.
I had begun emphasizing outside back play the previous spring, but with only a vague idea of what I wanted to see. As I recall, I tried a few different players at those positions with only a modicum of satisfaction from a coaching standpoint. That August with LCC I played a young lady by the name of Ashley Hunt at the right back spot. In many ways, she was a female version of Brian Boulter including have a big powerful leg. In fact, Ashley scored off the right flank from the center line! I knew the outside back positions in the 1-4-4-2 were being under utilized in the attack. I just had not fully formulated in my own mind what their role needed to be.
Lucky for me, the 2010 World Cup was taking place that summer and I was glued to the TV every chance I got. This was an important World Cup as it gave witness to the regeneration of the triangle midfield. Now, the triangle midfield has been around in various forms and formations since the mid 1960's at least. The great Johan Cruyff led Dutch teams built their Total Football 1-4-3-3 system of play around a triangle midfield. What we began seeing in the qualifying rounds for the 2010 World Cup was a modification to the 1-4-3-3 formation and a true blossoming of total football. Everyone had gotten caught up in Tiki Taka which is itself a modification of Total Football.
I would like to say I was ahead of the curve and on a local level I think that is true. In truth, I was stumbling and bumbling along as I sorted out my vision for the outside back positions in the 1-4-4-2. I found the answer in watching our USWNT and USMNT play. It seemed players like Brandi Chastain and Frankie Hedjuk, outside backs, were always making runs into the attacking third. The high school coaches I had worked with acknowledged this but thought the risk was too great. They feared not having enough players back to properly and securely contest an opponents counter attack were the outside backs to be allowed to "go up."
Not me. I saw outside backs pushing forward and taking opposing forwards with them. When this occurred we would remain numbers up in our back line against the opponent. Play early retreat keeping the ball in front of us and to deny negative space while we regained defensive shape and we should be fine. And we were. I had taken courses and symposiums from US National Team staff members and understood this to be true. I was told it wouldn't work in high school soccer, but I felt it would... and it did! Remarkably well as a matter of fact.
This is when I seriously begin developing roles and responsibilities for the outside backs to bring them fully into the attack. I began teaching cues for when to make a run and how to recognize which run to be made from the outside back positions. My son Lance was one of the guinea pigs and to his credit took to it immediately.
There was just one slight problem... we were beginning to struggle to control center midfield in both club and at LCC with the girls team. The 2010 World Cup had seen the return of the 1-3-5-2 formation and variations of the1-4-3-3 formations - both utilize a midfield triangle. I began to make the move to 3 center midfielders in the 2011 club season and continued with it during the fall LCC campaign. With the club team we played more of a 1-4-5-1 referring to what we did as withdrawing a forward. With LCC we played a 4-3-3 formation. Neither formation or system was entirely satisfactory although both teams enjoyed unprecedented success.
Spring of 2012 saw us change the club formation to 1-4-1-4-1 with an inverted midfield triangle. Well, sort of. The players would tell you I give them lot of freedom on the pitch. I look at a formation as being the teams defensive shape. I don't care what the numerical arrangement is on offense as long as we cover the 4 elements of the game - penetration, depth, width and mobility. Of, course, this means we really have to emphasize the transitional phases of play, especially going from attack to defending. Our solution was to press with the 3 closest to the ball while everyone else got behind the ball and into our team shape filling back to front regardless of a players designated position. Total football.
I wasn't seeing the level of involvement in our attack from the outside backs that I wanted so we kept tinkering with formations until we settled on modifying the 1-4-5-1 into a 1-4-2-3-1 that morphed into a ... 1-2-3-4-1 when attacking. Yes, we routinely threw 8 players into the attack. Goals galore! And we were not surrendering goals on defense either. It was beautiful to watch and if the players are to be believed an absolute thrill to play in. The significance in terms of outside back play was the center midfield triangle opened up the flanks for the outside midfielders and be extension the outside backs.
Granted, that club team was loaded with future college players, ODP, all-state, all-district, all-league players. To call them talented would be an understatement. One day when I was discussing the 1-4-2-3-1 formation with my son's high school coach he stated to me the success I had with the club team could not be duplicated in high school soccer. Hmm... we did it with an LCC team that reached the regional round of the OHSAA tournament. And... what about our club "B" team from last spring whose talent level was that of an average high school team at best? That "B" team beat the top two teams from the previous spring playing "my" system.
Lance's high school coach was a doubter. He was wrong. He made mistakes. Many of them of the needless variety from my perspective. I so wanted to share with him the benefit of my experience. I was eager to teach, but there must be a receptive audience and that I did not have. This was frustrating to me and that frustration seeped into my writings. It was difficult to report objectively without editorializing ... or teaching... through those writings.
My off season begins in August. Club season concludes in May and camp season concluded the second week of August this year. I spend my off season studying the game. I read a lot of books on the game and watch soccer every opportunity I get. While I am not actively coaching during the fall it is the season of learning for me. I love to learn and therefore LOVE mistakes.
I suppose a better description would be that I love to solve problems. Mistakes occur when a problem encountered is inadequately addressed. The search for a better solution begins here. And this idea of making mistakes or inadequately solving the problems the game presents is at the heart of my struggles to write about Lance's senior season.
Mistakes are learning opportunities.
Learning opportunities means there exists teaching opportunities and my love of mistakes is grounded in the teaching opportunities mistakes give rise to. Yes, I absolutely LOVE to teach. This is probably why I like training better than the actually matches. I enjoy the match. The match is the test of my teaching, my training of the team. If we pass the test, good. I will identify areas of our play we can improve on. If we fail the test, I must analyze where I erred in training the team and put things right.
Lance's senior season provided an unusually large number of opportunities to teach. My frustration in writing of Lance's senior season stems for a lack of ready students to teach. I started my 12th soccer book of the off season this evening and it has provided the catalyst to frame or channel my frustration in a positive direction outside the usual teaching of a team that I would normally share my knowledge with. The book, thus far, encapsulates the last 3-4 years of high school and club soccer for me. It has served to bring everything into proper perspective or at least a perspective I am comfortable in reviewing these soccer seasons from. That in and of itself seems a bit oxymoronic because mistakes make us uncomfortable. So, I think what I am attempting to communicate is that I have learned and now have an audience, you, to share with. Perhaps even to teach although I suspect the simple act of sharing will suffice for me.
This story begins in the summer of 2010. Preseason of my first year as Head Coach of the Lima Central Catholic Women's Soccer program. I had long been an advocate of the 1-4-4-2 formation. That was the formation of choice while I was an assistant coach at Shawnee and was also the formation we ran during my one year as an assistant at Botkins. Just as we had at those stops I based our system of play at LCC on the flat back four or zonal defense. As a head coach, I brought my own twists and tweaks to the system of play.
To uncover and fully understand the points I wish to make we will need to go back a few more years as it involves a then young man named Brian Boulter. That year there was debate over who would get the last varsity spot. Brain was in the mix with two others. In my mind Brian was the clear choice, but the head coach thought otherwise and Brian began the year on the JV team. As was typical in those days, Shawnee struggled to score. The Indians won a lot of games, but they tended to be 1-0 affairs. Two goals were a surplus and three or more a luxury not often in evidence. How to generate more offense was a constant theme of discussion among the coaching staff. It was Brian Boulter who proved to be the answer.
Brian had good size, speed and a big leg. His skill set was adequate. His knowledge of the game from the right back position was above average. He played his way onto the varsity by the end of the season and it was that big right leg that jump started the attack. A standard play for Brian was to cross the ball from near the center line. Those crosses went against the grain of the defense and led to a lot of scoring opportunities. This had been on my mind for several years and was about to come into play on both our boys club team and the LCC girls team.
I had begun emphasizing outside back play the previous spring, but with only a vague idea of what I wanted to see. As I recall, I tried a few different players at those positions with only a modicum of satisfaction from a coaching standpoint. That August with LCC I played a young lady by the name of Ashley Hunt at the right back spot. In many ways, she was a female version of Brian Boulter including have a big powerful leg. In fact, Ashley scored off the right flank from the center line! I knew the outside back positions in the 1-4-4-2 were being under utilized in the attack. I just had not fully formulated in my own mind what their role needed to be.
Lucky for me, the 2010 World Cup was taking place that summer and I was glued to the TV every chance I got. This was an important World Cup as it gave witness to the regeneration of the triangle midfield. Now, the triangle midfield has been around in various forms and formations since the mid 1960's at least. The great Johan Cruyff led Dutch teams built their Total Football 1-4-3-3 system of play around a triangle midfield. What we began seeing in the qualifying rounds for the 2010 World Cup was a modification to the 1-4-3-3 formation and a true blossoming of total football. Everyone had gotten caught up in Tiki Taka which is itself a modification of Total Football.
I would like to say I was ahead of the curve and on a local level I think that is true. In truth, I was stumbling and bumbling along as I sorted out my vision for the outside back positions in the 1-4-4-2. I found the answer in watching our USWNT and USMNT play. It seemed players like Brandi Chastain and Frankie Hedjuk, outside backs, were always making runs into the attacking third. The high school coaches I had worked with acknowledged this but thought the risk was too great. They feared not having enough players back to properly and securely contest an opponents counter attack were the outside backs to be allowed to "go up."
Not me. I saw outside backs pushing forward and taking opposing forwards with them. When this occurred we would remain numbers up in our back line against the opponent. Play early retreat keeping the ball in front of us and to deny negative space while we regained defensive shape and we should be fine. And we were. I had taken courses and symposiums from US National Team staff members and understood this to be true. I was told it wouldn't work in high school soccer, but I felt it would... and it did! Remarkably well as a matter of fact.
This is when I seriously begin developing roles and responsibilities for the outside backs to bring them fully into the attack. I began teaching cues for when to make a run and how to recognize which run to be made from the outside back positions. My son Lance was one of the guinea pigs and to his credit took to it immediately.
There was just one slight problem... we were beginning to struggle to control center midfield in both club and at LCC with the girls team. The 2010 World Cup had seen the return of the 1-3-5-2 formation and variations of the1-4-3-3 formations - both utilize a midfield triangle. I began to make the move to 3 center midfielders in the 2011 club season and continued with it during the fall LCC campaign. With the club team we played more of a 1-4-5-1 referring to what we did as withdrawing a forward. With LCC we played a 4-3-3 formation. Neither formation or system was entirely satisfactory although both teams enjoyed unprecedented success.
Spring of 2012 saw us change the club formation to 1-4-1-4-1 with an inverted midfield triangle. Well, sort of. The players would tell you I give them lot of freedom on the pitch. I look at a formation as being the teams defensive shape. I don't care what the numerical arrangement is on offense as long as we cover the 4 elements of the game - penetration, depth, width and mobility. Of, course, this means we really have to emphasize the transitional phases of play, especially going from attack to defending. Our solution was to press with the 3 closest to the ball while everyone else got behind the ball and into our team shape filling back to front regardless of a players designated position. Total football.
I wasn't seeing the level of involvement in our attack from the outside backs that I wanted so we kept tinkering with formations until we settled on modifying the 1-4-5-1 into a 1-4-2-3-1 that morphed into a ... 1-2-3-4-1 when attacking. Yes, we routinely threw 8 players into the attack. Goals galore! And we were not surrendering goals on defense either. It was beautiful to watch and if the players are to be believed an absolute thrill to play in. The significance in terms of outside back play was the center midfield triangle opened up the flanks for the outside midfielders and be extension the outside backs.
Granted, that club team was loaded with future college players, ODP, all-state, all-district, all-league players. To call them talented would be an understatement. One day when I was discussing the 1-4-2-3-1 formation with my son's high school coach he stated to me the success I had with the club team could not be duplicated in high school soccer. Hmm... we did it with an LCC team that reached the regional round of the OHSAA tournament. And... what about our club "B" team from last spring whose talent level was that of an average high school team at best? That "B" team beat the top two teams from the previous spring playing "my" system.
Lance's high school coach was a doubter. He was wrong. He made mistakes. Many of them of the needless variety from my perspective. I so wanted to share with him the benefit of my experience. I was eager to teach, but there must be a receptive audience and that I did not have. This was frustrating to me and that frustration seeped into my writings. It was difficult to report objectively without editorializing ... or teaching... through those writings.
Teach to win. Learn from losing.
When you want to win a game,
you have to teach.
When you lose a game,
you have to learn.
Sunday
Coaching Know-it-alls
"It's what you learn after you know it all that counts."
- John Wooden
No one can argue with the fact John Wooden is a legendary coach who dominated the college basketball scene like no other. Ten NCAA National Championships in 12 years is a fete that will likely never be matched. Seven consecutive NCAA titles is still an astonishing accomplishment. So, when a coaching great of his stature says, "It's what you learn after you know it all that counts" you better listen up.
"I know" in response to constructive criticism, input or suggestion might as well be "I've stopped listening." This type of response can be disheartening, frustrating and even infuriating.
I have a stated goal to learn something new every day. In order to achieve this goal there are a few measures I must steadfastly take and adhere to. The first and most important is to define myself as an Eternal Student. This is who I am. It means I am receptive to opportunities to learn.
The next thing I must do is to surround myself with people smarter than I am. It was after my father passed away when I was 18 that I began to truly recognize and appreciate the need for a mentor in my life. It was a lesson hard learned, but everlasting. There is always someone out there who knows more than I do - this is the person I want along side of me, the person to mentor me.
My third task is to give back. I am thankful for those who have been mentors to me. To show my appreciation and understanding of their gifts to me, I mentor others in return. This too is a learning experience for me.
I must challenge myself if I am to learn. I must constantly and continually step outside of my comfort zone. Failure is not an option, it is a necessity if I am to really experience growth and learn. There is nothing so humbling as failure and nothing so liberating as overcoming the past.
The fifth might be related to the third, but is different as well. I have recognized the need to share the knowledge I have accumulated. So it is a coach, I teach. This is one of the best learning tools I am aware of. As a coach I am constantly asking players questions about their experiences on the field of play. In the beginning I usually get a regurgitation or my own talking points, but as I teach players to provide extended responses their input becomes more honest and thoughtful. This is when the coach can learn from the players.
Finally, the best coaches are the ones who recognize they do not know it all. They are the ones who actively seek knowledge and ask for help from as wide a variety of sources as possible. I need to share with, listen to and learn from my coaching peers. This might be similar to having someone to mentor me, but it is also different. I learn from all manner of coaches. The good ones and the bad ones alike. I love observing other coaches at work be it in training or in-game. How their practices are designed. How they manage games. How they interact with players. How they interact with officials. And I ask my coaching peers to evaluate me. I need feedback on what I am doing well and also the areas where I can improve if I am going to be the best coach I can be.
The day I believe I know it all about soccer is the day I need to step away from coaching soccer.
With this in mind I have learned to respond to "I know" more carefully. I will say, "Of course you do, you just learned the lesson. Now show me what you have learned." Or "That's great, would you mind sharing your lesson with your teammates?" and allow them to do just that. Lessons are to be learned from. "I know" is recognition of the mistake made. It is taking ownership of the mistake. Now, let's learn from it. So, I ask them to share their experience. Hopefully what we have learned after we knew it all is a positive everlasting lesson.
With this in mind I have learned to respond to "I know" more carefully. I will say, "Of course you do, you just learned the lesson. Now show me what you have learned." Or "That's great, would you mind sharing your lesson with your teammates?" and allow them to do just that. Lessons are to be learned from. "I know" is recognition of the mistake made. It is taking ownership of the mistake. Now, let's learn from it. So, I ask them to share their experience. Hopefully what we have learned after we knew it all is a positive everlasting lesson.
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