Amidst the Covid-19 pandemic and the social unrest this summer I am getting back into coaching after my health problems of nearly a year ago. I found myself wondering this afternoon just what can we learn from recent events and how can they be applied to athletics?
There has been so much raw emotion on display as people takes sides on these issues that this seems the logical place to start.
There is nothing wrong with an adult of 21 years or older enjoying an alcoholic beverage. Problems can arise when the partaker consumes too much alcohol and becomes drunk. Their thinking becomes clouded and mistakes, sometimes life altering mistakes, can be made.
Emotions are somewhat like alcohol. Emotion can certainly be good. "He played with such emotion!" can be high praise in depicting a quality performance. Being emotionally drunk can be self-destructive and detrimental to the team effort.
Using emotion to drive a calm concerted effort can produce the desired results, tremendous results even.
Allowing emotion to boil over into blind rage distracts from solving the problem at hand and can lead to disastrous results.
I believe we have seen this play out explosively in the riotous protests of the last few days. I fear we may yet see this play out in a second wave of Covid-19 infections as some champ at the bit for a return to normalcy.
So, learning to control emotions, to channel emotions in a positive direction, is certainly a lesson we can learn from life and apply to sports. A positive use of emotion can lead to progression while emotions that boil over out of control result in regression.
As coaches we love coaching phrases. Short, concise sayings that deliver the message. Two such come to mind as I type this message to you; Facts over Feelings and Power Never Flinched to Emotion Alone.
Both infer the need to remain calm and combine emotion with rationale thought.
We have all seen an athlete become angered and turn in an amazing performance. The athlete used his anger, his emotion, to drive his performance to a higher level.
We have also all seen an athlete become angry, lose his composure and be thrown completely off his game or even thrown out of a game.
So, there is a choice, a decision to be made and training provided on how to make the correct decision in emotional situations. I think that is something we can take away from this Spring of discontent and social unrest.
As coaches a part of this equation would seem to be keeping in mind that facts are not hard and absolute in many cases. Another coaching phrase, if you will; Same Facts / Different Interpretations. Of course, this is based on personal experiences and perceptions.
Think of the well known example of 10 different people all witnessing the same traffic accident. There are 10 varying accounts of what occurred. Agreement exists on some basics, but not necessarily on the details. There was an accident can probably be agreed upon although someone might state "it seemed he intentionally rammed the other car." Who had right of way? Was one or both of the drivers distracted? All these details, these facts, could be open to interpretation.
I think that is most definitely happening in our society as it concerns both Covid-19 and protests / riots.
And I believe differing interpretations of the same set of facts is perfectly okay ... IF everyone can work towards common ground and understanding that there is more than one interpretation to the same set of facts. If we take the "win at all costs" mentality, the adversarial nature that turns events into a personal Me vs Him or We vs They attitude focused on details rather than desired outcome, and turn it into an attitude of shared responsibility for the good of the game or the good for society, then good things can happen.
Never allow what you feel to lead you to forget what is real. The balance between Heart and Mind can be a delicate one. When thrown out of balance by alcohol or emotion things can get sideways in a hurry. Maintaining a proper balance between Mind and Heart seems both prudent and a key to maximizing effort. We cannot allow our emotions to overpower our intelligence. That seems to be a king consideration or key educational objective we can take from the chaos surrounding the pandemic and rioting.
Showing posts with label responsibility. Show all posts
Showing posts with label responsibility. Show all posts
Saturday
The 10 Commandments for Attacking Soccer
1) Thou shall not spectate when thou should be playing. It is impossible to support your teammates on attack or when defending if you are watching play instead of adjusting your positioning each and every time the ball moves. A coaching phrase I use to remind players to do this is “When the ball travels, we travel!” It can be called, ‘When the ball travels” by a coach or player and answered “We travel” by the remaining team members
2) Thou shall check to the ball when winning loose balls and receiving passes.
Waiting for a ball to come to you is inviting an opponent to win the ball.
Perhaps even worse is running away from a ball thinking you are played through
and allowing an opponent to step in behind you to win the ball. Inexcusable. We
should never lose a possession due to not checking to the ball. Never.
3) Thou shall position yourself so your hips are open to as much of the field as is possible. If your hips are closed to the direction the ball is coming from, your play is predictable. Open hips to as much of the field as possible is a secret to successful possession. In this manner thou shall receive the ball across your body whenever possible. We call this being a back footed player. Receiving in this manner allows the player to stay in compliance with Commandment #3. Failure to comply with this commandment makes you a predictable player and one easily defended and dispossessed of the ball.
4) Thou shall make a safe pass upon winning possession of the ball. It is senseless to win the ball and attempt to advance into pressure. Make a safe pass and allow that receiver to establish the rhythm of the attack.
5) Thou shall not stop the ball between thy feet when receiving it. The path of the ball must be changed away from pressure when receiving it. This forces any defender in pursuit of the ball to change course thus buying the receiver space and time to play the ball. Failure to do so changes the pressure to make the play away from the defender and onto the receiver.
6) Thou shall support your teammates at proper angles. It is extremely difficult to make a straight pass, especially if the teammate is running away. This type of “vertical” support can devastate an attack. It is just as critical not to support the 1st defender in a vertical line as you offer virtually no support in doing so. The rule of thumb is 45 degree angles when defending and 45 degree angles or bigger when on the attack.
7) Thou shall not pass square in your defensive third nor in the middle portion of the field. Square passes are the easiest passes to cleanly intercept and immediately transition to attack on. Square passes tend to happen when there is a lack of diagonal support for the passer.
8) Thou shall play the way you face. This is a rule of thumb so there are exceptions. It holds especially true when you are under pressure. Drop or back passes are okay to relieve that pressure. Maintaining possession is what we want to do.
9) Thou shall not shoot from impossible angles. Intelligent defenses seek to deny shots in general and especially those from in front of the goal. Many defenses seek to limit shots against them to coming from a line that extends from the goal post to the corner of the 6 to the corner of the 18 or wider. Shots from those angles leave the goalkeeper with a greatly reduced goal to defend. You must seek to cross the ball when in this deep or take the ball to and along the end line for a cut back cross. Thou shall go to goal each and every time you get your inside shoulder in front of the opponent defending you. When you are breaking free and have the opportunity to eliminate the closest opponent to you, do so. It is not an option. It is mandatory.
10) Thou shall shoot the ball whenever in position to take a quality shot. When in front of the goal and from 25 yards in there should be no hesitation. No extra touch to set the ball up just right. No extra passes. Just put the ball on net. Toe pokes are fine. Knees are fine. Love headers for goals. Strike at the midpoint or higher on the ball to keep it low. Whatever it takes to get the ball on net. Just do it and do it at the first available moment.
3) Thou shall position yourself so your hips are open to as much of the field as is possible. If your hips are closed to the direction the ball is coming from, your play is predictable. Open hips to as much of the field as possible is a secret to successful possession. In this manner thou shall receive the ball across your body whenever possible. We call this being a back footed player. Receiving in this manner allows the player to stay in compliance with Commandment #3. Failure to comply with this commandment makes you a predictable player and one easily defended and dispossessed of the ball.
4) Thou shall make a safe pass upon winning possession of the ball. It is senseless to win the ball and attempt to advance into pressure. Make a safe pass and allow that receiver to establish the rhythm of the attack.
5) Thou shall not stop the ball between thy feet when receiving it. The path of the ball must be changed away from pressure when receiving it. This forces any defender in pursuit of the ball to change course thus buying the receiver space and time to play the ball. Failure to do so changes the pressure to make the play away from the defender and onto the receiver.
6) Thou shall support your teammates at proper angles. It is extremely difficult to make a straight pass, especially if the teammate is running away. This type of “vertical” support can devastate an attack. It is just as critical not to support the 1st defender in a vertical line as you offer virtually no support in doing so. The rule of thumb is 45 degree angles when defending and 45 degree angles or bigger when on the attack.
7) Thou shall not pass square in your defensive third nor in the middle portion of the field. Square passes are the easiest passes to cleanly intercept and immediately transition to attack on. Square passes tend to happen when there is a lack of diagonal support for the passer.
8) Thou shall play the way you face. This is a rule of thumb so there are exceptions. It holds especially true when you are under pressure. Drop or back passes are okay to relieve that pressure. Maintaining possession is what we want to do.
9) Thou shall not shoot from impossible angles. Intelligent defenses seek to deny shots in general and especially those from in front of the goal. Many defenses seek to limit shots against them to coming from a line that extends from the goal post to the corner of the 6 to the corner of the 18 or wider. Shots from those angles leave the goalkeeper with a greatly reduced goal to defend. You must seek to cross the ball when in this deep or take the ball to and along the end line for a cut back cross. Thou shall go to goal each and every time you get your inside shoulder in front of the opponent defending you. When you are breaking free and have the opportunity to eliminate the closest opponent to you, do so. It is not an option. It is mandatory.
10) Thou shall shoot the ball whenever in position to take a quality shot. When in front of the goal and from 25 yards in there should be no hesitation. No extra touch to set the ball up just right. No extra passes. Just put the ball on net. Toe pokes are fine. Knees are fine. Love headers for goals. Strike at the midpoint or higher on the ball to keep it low. Whatever it takes to get the ball on net. Just do it and do it at the first available moment.
Sunday
There are no bad teams, only bad leaders.
Just after the first of the year I was hospitalized for an infection in my thumb. My stay lasted a week and involved multiple antibiotics, a lancing and finally an operation to cut the infection out. A month and a half later I am still on antibiotics and still in recovery mode. I have yet to return to work. I share this with you that you will understand I have had a lot of time on my hands. A fair share of that time has been devoted to evaluating the performance of last fall's high school team. It was my first losing season as a coach in a very long time.
To be fair, I began this evaluation process even as the fall season wound down. I knew the one problem area we never solved was leadership. I was disappointed and frustrated in player leadership almost from the start.
As I considered all that went wrong last fall I found myself narrowing focus to specific individuals whom I had identified as being so toxic that they were preventing their teammates from being successful. Some time ago I had come across the phrase "frustrated genius" to describe such a person. Being a typical coach, I appropriated this phrase for my own use. In short, a frustrated genius is a rogue element who makes excuses, assigns blame and rarely if ever accepts any responsibility for negative results. I had dealt with such before. Sometimes they see the error of their ways and make the 180 degree turn around to become productive members of winning teams and sometimes they must be culled from the herd before success for the team can manifest itself. Last fall neither occurred and there is only one person responsible for that, me.
I am to blame for last falls losing season. It was a challenging situation but I failed to properly lead. I had become comfortable and complacent as a coach. I had my system that worked well season after season for years. I lost sight of the details of the process. I did not bring the energy to the team that it required. As a leader goes, I failed miserably. I let the players down.
It was not until the first scrimmage that I had a full team together. Even then we were missing a player who was on extended summer vacation. We only had 14 players in the program at that point. I feared not having enough to field a team were I to enforce my usual standard of zero tolerance when it came to unexcused absences. This was my first and worst failure of the season. I set a standard and then by not enforcing the standard lowered said standard to such a degree that we could not be successful.
Captains are a coach's sub-leaders. I placed the onus on the captains to enforce the attendance standard. Two of the players most often absent from training were captains. I focused early efforts on turning around these frustrated geniuses and eventually just gave up on them. I failed. I should have removed them as captains upon their first unexcused miss from training. Because I failed, the team failed. The blame for that is on no one but me. Period.
There are other sub-leaders on a successful soccer team. Each line must have one of these. The GK, must be a sub-leader. The back line, midfield and forwards must all have sub-leaders to help coordinate and execute the game plan. These leaders did not emerge to anywhere near the extent we needed them to and I am to blame for this. It was a trickle down effect stemming from my failure to hold two captains accountable to the attendance standard. The chain of command was faulty and this was my fault.
And I can trace each failure within the team back to standards. The source of the team's poor performance was not the standards that were set, but the standards that were accepted. Standards are empty when not enforced. Ours were and I am to blame for that.
A renewed energy is beginning to boil within me. The program I was put in charge of deserves better than last seasons poor performance. I have set my aim on bringing a winning performance to next falls team. I'm not necessarily speaking of a winning season, but a winning performance. I need to get this thumb healed up so I can return to work and begin the process that will bring this about.Lots of work to be done and it's time to get started.
To be fair, I began this evaluation process even as the fall season wound down. I knew the one problem area we never solved was leadership. I was disappointed and frustrated in player leadership almost from the start.
As I considered all that went wrong last fall I found myself narrowing focus to specific individuals whom I had identified as being so toxic that they were preventing their teammates from being successful. Some time ago I had come across the phrase "frustrated genius" to describe such a person. Being a typical coach, I appropriated this phrase for my own use. In short, a frustrated genius is a rogue element who makes excuses, assigns blame and rarely if ever accepts any responsibility for negative results. I had dealt with such before. Sometimes they see the error of their ways and make the 180 degree turn around to become productive members of winning teams and sometimes they must be culled from the herd before success for the team can manifest itself. Last fall neither occurred and there is only one person responsible for that, me.
I am to blame for last falls losing season. It was a challenging situation but I failed to properly lead. I had become comfortable and complacent as a coach. I had my system that worked well season after season for years. I lost sight of the details of the process. I did not bring the energy to the team that it required. As a leader goes, I failed miserably. I let the players down.
It was not until the first scrimmage that I had a full team together. Even then we were missing a player who was on extended summer vacation. We only had 14 players in the program at that point. I feared not having enough to field a team were I to enforce my usual standard of zero tolerance when it came to unexcused absences. This was my first and worst failure of the season. I set a standard and then by not enforcing the standard lowered said standard to such a degree that we could not be successful.
Captains are a coach's sub-leaders. I placed the onus on the captains to enforce the attendance standard. Two of the players most often absent from training were captains. I focused early efforts on turning around these frustrated geniuses and eventually just gave up on them. I failed. I should have removed them as captains upon their first unexcused miss from training. Because I failed, the team failed. The blame for that is on no one but me. Period.
There are other sub-leaders on a successful soccer team. Each line must have one of these. The GK, must be a sub-leader. The back line, midfield and forwards must all have sub-leaders to help coordinate and execute the game plan. These leaders did not emerge to anywhere near the extent we needed them to and I am to blame for this. It was a trickle down effect stemming from my failure to hold two captains accountable to the attendance standard. The chain of command was faulty and this was my fault.
And I can trace each failure within the team back to standards. The source of the team's poor performance was not the standards that were set, but the standards that were accepted. Standards are empty when not enforced. Ours were and I am to blame for that.
A renewed energy is beginning to boil within me. The program I was put in charge of deserves better than last seasons poor performance. I have set my aim on bringing a winning performance to next falls team. I'm not necessarily speaking of a winning season, but a winning performance. I need to get this thumb healed up so I can return to work and begin the process that will bring this about.Lots of work to be done and it's time to get started.
Friday
Saturday
What a coach does.
When you look at what a coach does
it comes down to 4 basic things,
it is leadership,
it is communication,
it is teaching,
it is motivation.
It really comes down to just those four things.
Is there anything more beautiful than teamwork?
I recently stumbled across a link I had saved a couple of years ago. Truth be told, I save links all the time with the intent of reviewing the content at a later point in time. Sometimes I actually follow through and do so. Other times, not so much. And then there invariably comes the moment when I decide I need to clear old links out. While doing just this I rediscovered this link I had titled TEAMWORK. I found a shorter version of the original. Go ahead and take a look.
I think what makes this work is the range of ages participating. It looks to me the youngest are perhaps 10 years of age while the oldest are perhaps in their 60's? I've watched other clips of this group as well and they are all outstanding.
When I consider the near complete lack of ego that must be present to make this work so beautiful I can only admire and be a bit jealous of the commitment and selflessness in evidence. 162 people of all ages working collectively towards a common goal! The product is beyond beautiful, whatever beyond beautiful might be.
Like being welcomed into Heaven.
A fuller version with a bit more background.
A choir with roles and responsibilities being seamlessly fulfilled! I wish for my teams to aspire to such greatness in their teamwork. A sense of community. A sense of oneness. One heartbeat in pursuit of a common goal. Wow!
I think what makes this work is the range of ages participating. It looks to me the youngest are perhaps 10 years of age while the oldest are perhaps in their 60's? I've watched other clips of this group as well and they are all outstanding.
When I consider the near complete lack of ego that must be present to make this work so beautiful I can only admire and be a bit jealous of the commitment and selflessness in evidence. 162 people of all ages working collectively towards a common goal! The product is beyond beautiful, whatever beyond beautiful might be.
Like being welcomed into Heaven.
A fuller version with a bit more background.
A choir with roles and responsibilities being seamlessly fulfilled! I wish for my teams to aspire to such greatness in their teamwork. A sense of community. A sense of oneness. One heartbeat in pursuit of a common goal. Wow!
Tuesday
Overcoming Adversity on the Path to Success
This article will continue my evaluation of the most recent high school soccer season. We had a good year, one of the best in the program's recent history going 10-4-3 overall. On the face of it, that's not too shabby. Closer inspection reveals the three ties and one of the losses all resulted from allowing goals with under 3:00 minutes left on the game clock. In fact, one occurred when a goal was allowed with just :03 remaining in the match. Allowing late goals in these matches produced a strikingly negative impact on our record. Even more disturbing is the fact we completely and totally failed to compete in two of our losses, How can a team with 10 wins lose games by scores of 0 - 8 and 0 - 9?
MENTAL TOUGHNESS
More accurately a lack of mental toughness was behind those two lopsided losses and allowing late goals that robbed us of favorable results. This is what has been constantly on my mind these past few weeks. How do I help the student athletes develop better mental toughness? I will explore this in today's writing.
I know where we stand and I have a clear vision for where we need to go. The journey between the two points is the off-season's undertaking. I'm going to identify specific areas where our team is lacking and attempt to set a course that will develop or enhance each of these areas.
For me, mental toughness begins with COMMITMENT. The more committed one is, the more difficult it is to relinquish one's goals. In other words, the more invested one is in a process the more difficult it becomes to give up on the process until achieving what you set out to do. This process calls for a clear vision of what the desired result of a process is and a well defined plan to achieve the desired result.
I recognized the lack of commitment early on with this group. It manifested itself in a variety of ways some of which I will identify today beginning with off-season opportunities that were missed by most of the team.
Sunday afternoon open gym futsal. We had a small core group who attended all or nearly all of these sessions. Sunday afternoon was chosen so as not to interfere with other extracurricular school activities. These were completely voluntary workouts and therefore an excellent indicator of an individuals commitment to the 2016 season. The day and time of the weekly event were consistent and well established in advance so as to allow student athletes to plan ahead to attend. Those who made an investment in a 2 hour weekly opportunity to improve would prove to be committed to the team. That group was much smaller than I anticipated with a few would-be key members of the team not showing to any of the opportunities afforded to them. I was alarmed by this and my concern would prove to be well founded.
As winter weather began to break and spring advanced upon us we began small group training. Again, Sunday afternoons were the day and time of choice so as not to conflict with other extracurricular activities. I also offered alternate times as participation lagged making myself available at their discretion instead of mine. Attendance at these voluntary workouts was so poor we eventually abandoned the process entirely. This near total failure raised a huge red flag about the commitment level of the individuals who would comprise our team that next fall.
Recognizing a lack of commitment to the team was of concern, I set about establishing a visual commitment metric to encourage and promote greater participation and deeper commitment. This came in the form of a "money jar." I went to a local discount store and purchased a one gallon plastic jug with a lid. Each time we gathered as a team each individual player was to deposit one penny into the jug. As the jug filled with pennies it would provide a visible measure of our commitment to the TEAM and one another. The proceeds would go to a needy family or be donated to a local charity. This project began well and initial momentum carried us through 10 days to two weeks before participation dropped off significantly and eventually stopped altogether.
I want to be clear, we never did have 100% participation in this endeavor. From the start some made the conscious decision to not participate. Others wanted to participate on a limited basis preferring to donate a lump sum to cover a week, month or the entire season. Obviously, these individuals completely and totally missed the point of publicly renewing their commitment to the TEAM on a daily basis. By the end of the second week even the captain in charge of the money jug had fallen off course as he quit bringing it out of his car and into the presence of the TEAM so people could add a penny each day.
Towards the end of the season, after the two devastating losses mentioned earlier, I made a point of the missing money jar. I drove home the concept about lack of commitment to the team - more precisely to the underclassmen on the team for the seniors had already squandered their opportunity, and therefore their season The money jar made a brief reappearance although few if any actually contributed. First another senior took the money jar with a proclamation that he would bring it to every team function. He failed to bring it to the very next team activity, I kid you not. Next another senior took charge of the money jar and to his credit he did bring it to every team function the rest of the season and even to his exit interview. One player, allow me to repeat that, one player brought a penny to their end of season interview to be placed in the money jar,
So, obviously our commitment to TEAM and one another must be strengthened before we can even begin tackling mental toughness. We must change how we think about TEAM before we can change our approach to preparedness and eventually change how we confront adversity and define who we are.
RATIONAL THINKING
I have questioned myself concerning the level of commitment I am asking for from the members of our team. Am I asking for too much? I do not believe so as past experiences have proven to me what it takes to be a successful program. Obviously a significant number of players believe other wise and that difference of thinking is where the challenge lies.
The question I will put forth to each individual team member concerning their commitment level is this; how will continuing to approach soccer and the soccer team as you have in the past help you to feel good about yourself, your performance and to achieve our stated goals? Were you satisfied with the season just completed? If not, what changes are you willing to make so as to achieve more success? Of course, in asking this question I will run the risk of individuals acknowledging they were quite satisfied with the season just completed. That is a risk that must be taken if only so the answer more precisely defines the challenge being faced. For a program that had not won 10 games in one season in many years, it is quite possible the players rational thinking is that what they did in preparing for last season is good enough. It wasn't, but focusimg on 10 wins over six poor results could cloud their thinking.
This is where RESPONSIBILITY and ACCOUNTABILITY come into play. Part of being mentally tough stems from taking responsibility for our approach to the TEAM and the game of soccer. Are we accountable for our thoughts, words, deeds and the rewards or consequences that stem from them? We will encounter adversity. That is a fact. To survive adversity we need to focus on things within our control. Elimination of adversity is not a possibility. We will face adversity, so the key becomes how we handle adversity. Nothing and no one can bother, distract or upset us without our granting them the ability or permission to do so. This is, in part, the reasoning behind my mantra of Next Play! Whatever the adversity we encounter we must focus on our RESPONSE to it.
We might blame officiating or bemoan poor performance by teammates or coaches, but the ultimate responsibility will always remain the domain of each individual player or coach and by extension the collective of the TEAM. The referee misses a call or makes a poor decision - do we respond by arguing with the referee or by staying involved in the game and moving on to the next play!? When a teammate makes a mistake that adversely impacts the game do we chastise him continuing a chain of negativity or do we "pick him up" and help him to refocus on the things still under his control?
Dealing with adversity often involves ADAPTABILITY which is in and of itself about our response to the adversity encountered. Adversity, by nature, removes us from an established comfort zone. We have certain expectations for how things will play out and when they don't go exactly as planned we need to be adaptable. This is true in soccer and in life. Change is uncomfortable as it removes us from an established comfort zone, but we must accept some level of discomfort and pain in order to learn, adapt and advance. If we fight change we will soon be left behind which is exactly what happened in each of our poor results last season.
RESILIENT people do not see themselves as victims of adversity or change. They do not complain "why me" and lament their "bad luck". Resilient people recognize bad events as a normal, if unwanted, part of life then adjust or adapt to the new reality of the situation. Dynamic individuals and teams are relentless in their adaptability, creativity and ingenuity to not just survive adversity, but to adapt and overcome adversity in continued pursuit of their vision.
An individual or team vision is defined by goals set. What does the individual and or TEAM seek to accomplish. Again, I had encountered adversity in coaching last seasons team when the seniors set their goals both during the summer and once again when goals were revisited just before the regular season began. Almost all conceded losses to the "big three" of our conference and established a goal of winning the remaining 13 regular season games and at least one post season tournament game. We were defeated in 3 matches weeks before we actually played those matches. We had no chance to be resilient in losing to these teams for we never allowed ourselves the opportunity to engage and overcome the expected adversity.
Having goals and being resilient in overcoming adversity, difficulties and setbacks in pursuit of said goals means we will persevere while tolerating short-term frustration, discomfort and pain for long-term success. Persistence and Resiliency are key; many people decide to simply give up and seek an easier route to a lesser goal or result. Due to a lack of commitment, most people lack the ability to be adaptable to setbacks that force an adjustment to the process they have defined to achieve the goals established for themselves and their TEAM. In short, CONFIDENCE is missing.
The words confidence and belief are inseparable; you can't have one without the other. Our confidence will endure certain ebb and flow according to different circumstances or events (adversity) we encounter. Mental toughness or our resiliency depends on our ability to remain steadfastly focused on the goals we seek to achieve. These goals are not always tangible as in the number of wins we seek to accumulate in a season or the winning of a championship. In fact, the most important goal to focus on is a simple one - to improve every time we step on the field. This will allow our confidence to continue to grow and expand.
I have often spoke and written of comfort zones. I firmly believe the game (and life) begin at the end of your comfort zone. In speaking with a fellow coach recently I remarked that some our athletes seem afraid of success. Individual athletes and or their collective teams come to the brink of real success only to fail to achieve said success. When faced with the prospect of persevering to actually overcome adversity and claim success / achieve their goals they crack under pressure and retreat to a previous comfort zone. Their established comfort zone becomes a comfort trap.
I have given this deep consideration and believe a failure to accurately assess the threat to our comfort zone inhibits the ability to establish new comfort zones. If we look upon the challenges adversity presents as unrealistically dangerous or threatening to the establishment of a new comfort zone we choose to remain where we are. In a sense, it is amazing what we can become comfortable with when we choose a course of unchanged action.
IF WE AVOID FAILURE, THEN WE ALSO AVOID SUCCESS.
I have described this avoidance as a fear of success. Each degree of success brings with it new challenges. If we think of each degree of success as a newly established comfort zone we can begin to sense the amount of work involved in being committed to success. Our Rational Thinking in pursuit of success (or living life to its fullest) must focus on taking calculated risks designed to purposefully move us up the comfort zone ladder. We will likely fail before we succeed. Through our adaptability, our ability to adapt to and over come circumstance and events, new confidence is found. Being resilient is about being accountable and responsible in facing failure, learning from our failures and moving forward from our failures. We must shrug off the shackles of self-imposed limits and our restricted views of reality to open our minds to ever greater possibilities and ever greater success. This is what being mentally tough is all about.
Thursday
There are no shortcuts on the road to success.
This is something I preach and teach to my teams. It is also something I watch for in tryouts. If a player allows himself to take shortcuts in practice or at tryouts he will look to do the same during games and that is a recipe for mediocrity at best. There can be no place for this on winning teams.
Wednesday
What is development?
In re-reading the recent article on coaching to win I found myself pondering what exactly is development. I apologize in advance for what will almost assuredly be a rambling article. I often write as a means to gather my thoughts on a subject and this is the process I am following today. Process is a good word to begin with for development is most certainly an active on-going process.
The idea of playing, in this case playing a game of soccer, is fun. So, soccer development should be oriented in fun activities. We often have the most fun when being challenged. Curiosity is a good thing. We explore to learn. The process continues when we apply our new found knowledge to take ourselves somewhere we have not been before. So, developmental activities should be designed to promote thinking, exploration and attempts to succeed. Failures will be part of the process. Success will be relative, ever changing, ever elusive and yet always attainable.
Drill work should be limited to introducing new techniques and demonstrations of new tactics. There is nothing stimulating about drill work. It is tedious, can lull the mind and cause it to wander from the task at hand as it seeks stimulation from other sources. Development then must be centered on activities designed to promote thinking.
I have sometimes thought how promoting players to think for themselves in sports might be considered heresy or anathema to American coaches. Most American sports are coach driven, after all. Free thinking creative problem solving players are often looked upon as trouble makers or non-conformists in most American sports. Yet, in soccer ingenuity and creativity are prized traits attributed to the elite of the sport.
Development needs to take place in the context of the Four Pillars of Youth Soccer.
Technical: The skills of the game. Running with the ball, dribbling, receiving, passing, heading and defending.
Tactics: Player decisions and application of techniques in problem solving.
Physical: The ability to perform at a sustained high level of play.
Psychological: Freedom, Responsibility and Positivity in play.
Each of these four pillars of youth soccer are grounded in FUN. Skill development is a critical component of FUN. The attempts, failures and successes found in application of tactics is FUN. Being physically fit to execute techniques and tactics is paramount to having FUN. Being psychologically challenged with the freedom to explore, fail and succeed responsibly is definitely about having FUN.
I think we could describe the process in a number of ways, but two in particular come to mind. Truthfully, they are one and the same. First is giving ownership of the game to the players. I have repeatedly stated my belief that soccer is a player driven game. Ownership of game occurs when the players are allowed to think for themselves, decide for themselves while playing the game. For this reason, training the art of decision making should be a primary consideration in every practice session. Player decision making.
With all this talk of development it might seem I am devaluing the importance of winning. I am not. However, I do believe winning should not be equated to a team result in a match, especially at the younger ages. Winning implies a competition is taking place. Competing is what athletics are all about. I am suggesting that the opponent in terms of development is one's self.
The intrinsic rewards of self-knowledge, self-worth, self-esteem that stem from competing against one's self will last a life time. Whereas the extrinsic rewards of victory, relative fame and glory are fleeting at best lasting only until the next game or next season. Where sports are about elimination in a search for the best we cannot allow this to overshadow the benefits of competing against our self to make one's self a better player, a better person.
The idea of playing, in this case playing a game of soccer, is fun. So, soccer development should be oriented in fun activities. We often have the most fun when being challenged. Curiosity is a good thing. We explore to learn. The process continues when we apply our new found knowledge to take ourselves somewhere we have not been before. So, developmental activities should be designed to promote thinking, exploration and attempts to succeed. Failures will be part of the process. Success will be relative, ever changing, ever elusive and yet always attainable.
Drill work should be limited to introducing new techniques and demonstrations of new tactics. There is nothing stimulating about drill work. It is tedious, can lull the mind and cause it to wander from the task at hand as it seeks stimulation from other sources. Development then must be centered on activities designed to promote thinking.
I have sometimes thought how promoting players to think for themselves in sports might be considered heresy or anathema to American coaches. Most American sports are coach driven, after all. Free thinking creative problem solving players are often looked upon as trouble makers or non-conformists in most American sports. Yet, in soccer ingenuity and creativity are prized traits attributed to the elite of the sport.
Development needs to take place in the context of the Four Pillars of Youth Soccer.
Technical: The skills of the game. Running with the ball, dribbling, receiving, passing, heading and defending.
Tactics: Player decisions and application of techniques in problem solving.
Physical: The ability to perform at a sustained high level of play.
Psychological: Freedom, Responsibility and Positivity in play.
Each of these four pillars of youth soccer are grounded in FUN. Skill development is a critical component of FUN. The attempts, failures and successes found in application of tactics is FUN. Being physically fit to execute techniques and tactics is paramount to having FUN. Being psychologically challenged with the freedom to explore, fail and succeed responsibly is definitely about having FUN.
I think we could describe the process in a number of ways, but two in particular come to mind. Truthfully, they are one and the same. First is giving ownership of the game to the players. I have repeatedly stated my belief that soccer is a player driven game. Ownership of game occurs when the players are allowed to think for themselves, decide for themselves while playing the game. For this reason, training the art of decision making should be a primary consideration in every practice session. Player decision making.
With all this talk of development it might seem I am devaluing the importance of winning. I am not. However, I do believe winning should not be equated to a team result in a match, especially at the younger ages. Winning implies a competition is taking place. Competing is what athletics are all about. I am suggesting that the opponent in terms of development is one's self.
The intrinsic rewards of self-knowledge, self-worth, self-esteem that stem from competing against one's self will last a life time. Whereas the extrinsic rewards of victory, relative fame and glory are fleeting at best lasting only until the next game or next season. Where sports are about elimination in a search for the best we cannot allow this to overshadow the benefits of competing against our self to make one's self a better player, a better person.
Monday
Freedom comes with Responsibility
We must not take our teammates freedom away by avoiding or abandoning our own responsibilities.
As a functioning member of a team each individual player has a role he must buy into and fulfill through his play. There are expectations for positions within a system and for the players that fill those positions. While we encourage freedom of movement on the pitch we also stress the increased responsibilities that come with such movement. In essence, we seek free-thinking game watchers. Some players eagerly embrace this concept while others really struggle before "getting it", if they ever do.
Those who struggle with freedom of movement and the associated responsibilities are the players who seek to infringe upon their teammates freedom of movement. These players tend to be ball watchers instead of game watchers. They follow the ball about the field with their eyes without seeing the game in its entirety. Their body also often follows the ball about the pitch without consideration or regard for their teammates. Essentially they steal their teammates rights to freedom of movement by avoiding or abandoning their own responsibilities.
The selfish, ball oriented player, takes their freedom of movement without accepting responsibility for the freedom they have been given. In doing so, they restrict their teammates freedom of movement. Teammates are forced to "cover" for the wandering teammate. The selfish player also transfers a greater burden of responsibility onto their teammates by ignoring or eschewing their own responsibilities.
One ball watching, ball chasing player can disrupt an entire system of play.
This cannot be allowed to happen.
As a functioning member of a team each individual player has a role he must buy into and fulfill through his play. There are expectations for positions within a system and for the players that fill those positions. While we encourage freedom of movement on the pitch we also stress the increased responsibilities that come with such movement. In essence, we seek free-thinking game watchers. Some players eagerly embrace this concept while others really struggle before "getting it", if they ever do.
Those who struggle with freedom of movement and the associated responsibilities are the players who seek to infringe upon their teammates freedom of movement. These players tend to be ball watchers instead of game watchers. They follow the ball about the field with their eyes without seeing the game in its entirety. Their body also often follows the ball about the pitch without consideration or regard for their teammates. Essentially they steal their teammates rights to freedom of movement by avoiding or abandoning their own responsibilities.
The selfish, ball oriented player, takes their freedom of movement without accepting responsibility for the freedom they have been given. In doing so, they restrict their teammates freedom of movement. Teammates are forced to "cover" for the wandering teammate. The selfish player also transfers a greater burden of responsibility onto their teammates by ignoring or eschewing their own responsibilities.
One ball watching, ball chasing player can disrupt an entire system of play.
This cannot be allowed to happen.
Saturday
The Anatomy of Success
A young soccer coach trying to make sense of a disappointing season sought a blueprint for success What is it that successful teams have? What is the "it" factor that separates the mediocre from the very good? The result of our discussion is more of a checklist than it is a blueprint, but I think we got it pretty much right. I am also sure we have not reinvented the wheel. Nonetheless, it was a good mental exercise for us and in the end a productive one.
1) Leadership
It all begins with energetic disciplined positive leadership. There needs to be driven determination with a humble attitude. And vision. The leadership needs a vision for what the team should look like on and off the pitch.
2) Truth and Trust
There must exist an honest assessment of where the program is before plans can be made to take it where the leadership vision believes it can ascend to. There also must be honesty in the relationships between all members of the team. Without truth there will never be full trust and the team will never play to its full potential.
3) Buy-in
Get the right people on board, then figure out the rest of the logistics. There needs to be a collective effort to address the smallest details of the process. This goes beyond simple accepting or filling of roles. It necessitates embracing roles and a willingness to fulfill them to the greatest extent possible. You have to get the right people before you can get the rest right. Coach, assistant coaches, players - all facing in the same direction with the same destination in mind. 100% investment. 100% commitment, These are the ideals. The closer you come to achieving these the greater your chances for success.
4) Accentuate Strengths
Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes the focus on weakness outweighs the focus on strengths. Identify strengths and place people in positions and situations where they have a reasonable expectation for success based on those strengths. Can we match passion with strengths? Is their a willingness to sacrifice for the good of the team?
5) A Culture of Dedicated Discipline
There are no shortcuts on the journey to success. When we look at the consequences of not doing the little things we realize there are no little things. Cutting corners in practice will show up in your play in matches. A dedicated commitment to each and every detail of the process is a must. Accountability to one another and to the shared vision for the team.
6) Innovativeness
How individual and collective strengths are utilized. Break the mold to gain the most from each player, each unit on the pitch. Create a system unique to the present team. Freedom to explore the game on both individual and collective levels emphasizing strengths, passion, and the pursuit of wins.
7) Freedom
Each individual brings something to the collective. There must be room within the disciplined effort to allow for individual initiative and expression of freedom. We play for one another and that includes assuming different roles and responsibilities in the run of play. The expectation is for positional responsibilities more so than who mans the position. Each small initiative taken by a player impacts every other player and leads to further initiatives being taken. Only when a role or positional responsibility goes unfulfilled is there real danger to the overall process. Encourage freedom while emphasizing with freedom comes responsibility. The more freedom, the more responsibility.
1) Leadership
It all begins with energetic disciplined positive leadership. There needs to be driven determination with a humble attitude. And vision. The leadership needs a vision for what the team should look like on and off the pitch.
2) Truth and Trust
There must exist an honest assessment of where the program is before plans can be made to take it where the leadership vision believes it can ascend to. There also must be honesty in the relationships between all members of the team. Without truth there will never be full trust and the team will never play to its full potential.
3) Buy-in
Get the right people on board, then figure out the rest of the logistics. There needs to be a collective effort to address the smallest details of the process. This goes beyond simple accepting or filling of roles. It necessitates embracing roles and a willingness to fulfill them to the greatest extent possible. You have to get the right people before you can get the rest right. Coach, assistant coaches, players - all facing in the same direction with the same destination in mind. 100% investment. 100% commitment, These are the ideals. The closer you come to achieving these the greater your chances for success.
4) Accentuate Strengths
Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes the focus on weakness outweighs the focus on strengths. Identify strengths and place people in positions and situations where they have a reasonable expectation for success based on those strengths. Can we match passion with strengths? Is their a willingness to sacrifice for the good of the team?
5) A Culture of Dedicated Discipline
There are no shortcuts on the journey to success. When we look at the consequences of not doing the little things we realize there are no little things. Cutting corners in practice will show up in your play in matches. A dedicated commitment to each and every detail of the process is a must. Accountability to one another and to the shared vision for the team.
6) Innovativeness
How individual and collective strengths are utilized. Break the mold to gain the most from each player, each unit on the pitch. Create a system unique to the present team. Freedom to explore the game on both individual and collective levels emphasizing strengths, passion, and the pursuit of wins.
7) Freedom
Each individual brings something to the collective. There must be room within the disciplined effort to allow for individual initiative and expression of freedom. We play for one another and that includes assuming different roles and responsibilities in the run of play. The expectation is for positional responsibilities more so than who mans the position. Each small initiative taken by a player impacts every other player and leads to further initiatives being taken. Only when a role or positional responsibility goes unfulfilled is there real danger to the overall process. Encourage freedom while emphasizing with freedom comes responsibility. The more freedom, the more responsibility.
Fear has two Meanings
FEAR has two meanings
1) Forget Everything And Run
or
2) Face Everything And Rise
The choice is yours!
Tuesday
Sunday
Versatility and Unpredictability.
Our style of play is entrenched around responsibility. We want you to experience and enjoy freedom in your play. In order to achieve this, an understanding must be developed that with freedom comes incredible responsibility. You simply cannot have one without accepting the other.
I believe in complete interchangeability throughout our lineup. A player may begin at right back and through the course of play move to a midfield position, a forward position or a different spot in the back line. It takes time to develop this type of flexibility, but it is time well spent in my opinion.
Of course, most players have a preference for playing a certain position, but with this group almost everyone has bought into playing a variety of positions. I have made season long plans for their learning and development. With some we are simply using "their" position as a starting point and working with them on "branching out" to surrounding positions.
It is this versatility that makes our team very difficult to mark in a man marking system. When we are fluid with our movements we can destroy an opponents shape with our interchangeability. Our player movement does not significantly impact our own shape as long as we communicate and / or are observant of the game about us. We must be game watchers. It is only when we are ball watchers that our player movement or lack thereof can lead us into trouble.
This versatility also serves us well against zonal defending as it keeps opposing backs from getting comfortable defending against certain and specific forwards. They cannot just keep an eye on one or two primary threats because the personnel is constantly changing as dictated by the run of play. As each player has a different style, different strengths and weaknesses it is keeps us unpredictable and defenders guessing.
Confusing or manipulating a defense is a king consideration in opening seams to attack through. The idea behind this is actually quite simple - Movement of the ball is predicated on player movement off the ball. With nearly unrestricted player movement, ball movement becomes very dynamic... and unpredictable. A second key consideration is the ability of our players to fill out our defensive shape without the need to scramble back into "their" position. We fill the position we are closest to and the versatility we have established allows each player to know the role of the position in our defensive system.
I am likely making us sound a lot better than we actually are. We are not consistent enough in our movement for my liking . A couple of our players "abuse" the freedom of movement we allow them by roving mindlessly at times instead of moving purposefully . They lose sight of positional responsibility in equating freedom of movement with positionless soccer. We do not play positionless soccer, we just are not overly concerned with which player mans a specific position through the run of play. At dead ball situations we sort positions out and begin again.
We do grant our players a LOT of freedom, but in return demand they accept a LOT of responsibility.
I believe in complete interchangeability throughout our lineup. A player may begin at right back and through the course of play move to a midfield position, a forward position or a different spot in the back line. It takes time to develop this type of flexibility, but it is time well spent in my opinion.
Of course, most players have a preference for playing a certain position, but with this group almost everyone has bought into playing a variety of positions. I have made season long plans for their learning and development. With some we are simply using "their" position as a starting point and working with them on "branching out" to surrounding positions.
It is this versatility that makes our team very difficult to mark in a man marking system. When we are fluid with our movements we can destroy an opponents shape with our interchangeability. Our player movement does not significantly impact our own shape as long as we communicate and / or are observant of the game about us. We must be game watchers. It is only when we are ball watchers that our player movement or lack thereof can lead us into trouble.
This versatility also serves us well against zonal defending as it keeps opposing backs from getting comfortable defending against certain and specific forwards. They cannot just keep an eye on one or two primary threats because the personnel is constantly changing as dictated by the run of play. As each player has a different style, different strengths and weaknesses it is keeps us unpredictable and defenders guessing.
Confusing or manipulating a defense is a king consideration in opening seams to attack through. The idea behind this is actually quite simple - Movement of the ball is predicated on player movement off the ball. With nearly unrestricted player movement, ball movement becomes very dynamic... and unpredictable. A second key consideration is the ability of our players to fill out our defensive shape without the need to scramble back into "their" position. We fill the position we are closest to and the versatility we have established allows each player to know the role of the position in our defensive system.
I am likely making us sound a lot better than we actually are. We are not consistent enough in our movement for my liking . A couple of our players "abuse" the freedom of movement we allow them by roving mindlessly at times instead of moving purposefully . They lose sight of positional responsibility in equating freedom of movement with positionless soccer. We do not play positionless soccer, we just are not overly concerned with which player mans a specific position through the run of play. At dead ball situations we sort positions out and begin again.
We do grant our players a LOT of freedom, but in return demand they accept a LOT of responsibility.
For the Good of the TEAM.
Much has been written of TEAM chemistry. In recent years a cottage industry has arisen to help coaches address team bonding. The market is seemingly flooded with books, videos, webinars and seminars devoted to promoting effective TEAM leadership through education and TEAM bonding exercises. Almost all of this information is directed at players.
What about coaches?
What about coaches?
Tuesday
Corner, Corner, Post
EDIT: I am constantly amazed how articles on this site can suddenly become popular once again months after their original publication. Such is the case with this article. Of a sudden it has received a number of hits so I am "re-publishing" it to the front page.
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Soccer coaches the world over like to spread the field when in possession of the ball. Wing or flank players are encouraged to "stay wide" in an effort to draw defenders away from the face of goal. This is all good and well as it addresses one of the three elements necessary to play effective soccer - Penetration, Width and Depth. This is what some refer to as the triangle or diamond shapes in soccer.
Over the years I have become accustomed to using two different coaching phrases when teaching players to maintain width; "Heels to the touch line" and "Corner, Corner, Post.
"Heels to the touch line" applies to the middle "third" of the field give or take a few yards toward either end.
"Corner, Corner, Post" is the path a weak side wing player takes toward goal.
*********************************************************************************
Soccer coaches the world over like to spread the field when in possession of the ball. Wing or flank players are encouraged to "stay wide" in an effort to draw defenders away from the face of goal. This is all good and well as it addresses one of the three elements necessary to play effective soccer - Penetration, Width and Depth. This is what some refer to as the triangle or diamond shapes in soccer.
Over the years I have become accustomed to using two different coaching phrases when teaching players to maintain width; "Heels to the touch line" and "Corner, Corner, Post.
"Heels to the touch line" applies to the middle "third" of the field give or take a few yards toward either end.
"Corner, Corner, Post" is the path a weak side wing player takes toward goal.
Monday
Freedom within Structure
I recently interviewed for a coaching position and was asked to describe my coaching philosophy.
I like to promote individual freedom within a team structure.
That's the short answer minus all the details that go into making the process work successfully. To list and define all the details of the process would be a daunting task. So, of course, I will try to do just that. lol
I like to promote individual freedom within a team structure.
That's the short answer minus all the details that go into making the process work successfully. To list and define all the details of the process would be a daunting task. So, of course, I will try to do just that. lol
Sunday
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