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

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

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

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

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 "The bottom line is,

 

if I don't go into it everyday consistently committed,

 

 

I won't get results."

Mia Hamm

Never let a win go to your head,

 

or a loss to your heart.