The culture precedes positive results.
Champions behave like champions
before they’re champions;
they have a winning standard of performance
before they are winners.
– Bill Walsh
Showing posts with label winning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label winning. Show all posts
Sunday
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.
Meritocracy - Dorrance and Harbaugh.
Regular readers of this blog know I am a fan of the University of Michigan. More than a few of the quotes found on these pages can be directly attributed to former and present Wolverine coaches and players. With the hiring of Jim Harbaugh as head football coach at Michigan comes a wealth of new material headlined by the word meritocracy.
1. an elite group of people whose progress is based on ability and talent rather than on class privilege or wealth.
1. an elite group of people whose progress is based on ability and talent rather than on class privilege or wealth.
2. a system in which such persons are rewarded and advanced:
A recent quote from Coach Harbaugh: Meritocracy- Process to determine an elite Team. Progress determined by Talent, Execution & Effort
Now, Coach Harbaugh is not re-inventing the wheel as Anson Dorrance's Competitive Cauldron approach is well documented and has proven wildly successful for his teams. Coach Harbaugh is returning the topic to the fore and in using the use of the word meritocracy in defining what the Competitive Cauldron is in reality.
If I had the staffing to chart every detail of training and games I would like to, I would adhere closely to a meritocracy approach. First of all, I love statistics. Yes, I actually do. This will seem strange coming from someone who doesn't even keep simple statistics like assists or goals scored for his teams. Heck, I rarely know the in-game score unless a scoreboard is present. Just ask my players. I am constantly having to ask referees the final score after matches because I have no idea.
The reason why I am not overly concerned about assists and goals scored is because I view them as a product of so many other areas of the game that can be charted or documented. Statistics on the quality of one's first touch, the number of lost possessions directly attributed to a specific player and where on the pitch these occur are much more useful to me. I want to know how many crosses a defender allows / denies and how many un-pressured services we allow.
I am anxious to see the Wolverines take the field next fall after a spring and fall camp of Harbaugh "charting everything" and posting each days and cumulative results on the locker room walls for all to see. It's a form of internal program pressure on the athletes to determine who the "winners" are amongst them. These are the people Dorrance and Harbaugh want on the field of competition against opposing teams. Winners, that's what a meritocracy is all about defining.
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.
Friday
Coaching to Win.
It is common in youth sports to find coaches whose desire to win now trumps what is good for both the game and its participants in the longer term. Soccer is certainly no exception to this malady. Coaches left to their own devices would prefer to play only the best players in pursuit of wins, especially against difficult competition. This has given rise to the winning versus development debate that rages on incessantly. I do not believe development and winning to be mutually exclusive.
For me, the fear of failing manifested through losing is at the root of this debate. This is odd logic in the context of mistakes being considered the stepping stones to success. Mankind's greatest successes often arise from the ashes of trial and error failures. In soccer terms, it is considered acceptable to score on 1 of every 10 shots. That is a ratio of nine failures to 1 success.
In a sense, I think we overvalue winning and undervalue losing. By "we" I mean adults involved in youth sports. The level of competition between parents often seems to exceed that between actually participants in the game. Parental self-worth seems to be tied to a child's success or lack thereof on the playing field. It's "keeping up with the Jones' " on the most basic of levels but the stakes seem to be very high, far higher than a won / loss record could ever measure.
I was at a garage sale recently and overheard a discussion amongst a group of ladies. They were playing the one-up-manship game in regards to their children and grandchildren. Each lady who commented had to one-up the previous ladies story of her offspring. As kids we did this all the time. It usually started out about toys and progressed until we were comparing fathers to one another to prove who was the most successful. There was a need to feel better about one's self through making someone else feel inferior to your position. Bullying 101 in a sense.
Those coaches who must win at all cost in the arena of youth sports are bullies in a sense. Trust me when I say I have heard or lived all manner of experiences where a coach tries to justify winning. Think about that concept for a minute. There does, at times, actually exist a need to justify winning in youth sports.
* A coach does not play everyone on the roster because he is afraid weaker players will inhibit his teams chances for winning.
* A coach tells a player not to report for a game or "forgets" to notify a player of a match against a strong opponent it pursuit of increasing his chances of winning.
* A coach plays everyone, but attempts to "hide" the weakest players in positions where they will have the least impact on the game. A "new" position might even be created for weaker players to help improve his chances for winning.
* A coach sends players off to practice their skills as a warm up in the middle of a game and then conveniently forgets hey are present so he doesn't have to play them.
* A coach tries to make a player quit coming to games by actually telling him soccer is his sport and suggesting he try something else. He thins the herd by culling out weaker players all in the pursuit of wins.
* A coach orchestrates a coach / parent confrontation to anger the parents enough to remove their child from the team.
* During a drafting process, a coach refuses to take any more players despite players being available because he believes the players left will bring down the performance of his team.
These are but a few of the scenarios I have witnessed in 30 years of coaching youth sports. All are true. That should be frightening to all reading this article.
I relate these instances not because I am against playing to win nor because I am an advocate of the everyone plays / every gets a trophy mentality that became pervasive in youth sports at one time. As with most things in life it is the extremes these two positions represent that is reprehensible. What I do advocate is a proper balance between playing to win and playing to develop. This, I think, is rooted in one's perspective of mistakes including an occasionally loss.
Three ideas about mistakes.
1) Own up to them
2) Learn from them
3) Do not repeat them
Many of the examples of inappropriate coaching provided above deal with fear about making mistakes. They are examples of a coach fearing a weaker player will make a mistake of commission or by omission that will cause his team to lose the game.
Fear has two meanings.
Forget Everything And Run
Face Everything And Rise
The coach who must win at all cost is the one running from his true duties and responsibilities as a coach. He seeks only to teach part of the curriculum which is the life lessons of youth sports.
I saw John again recently. You may recall his story from from my contribution to the Soccer Memory series. John has a job bagging groceries. I watched struggle a bit, but he got-r-dun! I thought back to the privilege of having coached John for a brief period. I will always believe John taught me as much if not more than I taught him. Those coaches who place winning unduly high on their priority list miss out on the awesome experience of having a player like John as part of the their team. We developed players and improved as a team throughout the season eventually playing for a championship with John an integral part of it all. More importantly we developed people who have gone on to bigger responsibilities and better lives.
I am the most competitive person you are likely to ever encounter in your life. I hate losing more than I love winning. Yet, I never discuss results with my teams. We focus solely on getting better each time we step onto the pitch. When training is done for the day the only questions that matter are these; 1) Are we better than we were 90 minutes ago and 2) Did we have fun improving? If we can answer Yes! to both questions, winning will take care of itself.
We are only as strong as the weakest player on our team.
The examples provided above all reference a coach attempting to weed out weaker players or at least limit the impact they might have on the outcome of a game. I have watched such teams practice and it is typical for the "best" players to get the majority of repetitions during drill work and they never come off the pitch when the team plays small-sided games. When their are extra players than required by an activity or a SSG, it is always the weaker players who begin as spectators and receive limited time in the activity - almost as an afterthought or as if the coach feels some level of obligation to include them. Think of the message that sends to the players. How can we expect our team to improve when the weakest players are given the least amount of opportunities to improve?
Next Man Up.
The best teams have quality depth. When a starter goes down with injury or misses time with illness the philosophy of next man up comes into play. The great coaches make sure to prepare substitutes for their moment. Think back to the examples provided above. If a star player went down on one of those teams it's likely the coach would have considered the season lost, that no one could replace the lost star.
I remember one season of high school soccer when we lost player after player to injury and illness. Our roster was devastated. At one point we were down to 12 healthy players. My approach was not to lament or bemoan our terrible streak of misfortune. Other than to express our concern for the injured and ill we never really discussed their absence from the team. We inserted the next man up and continued playing games. We ended up having the best season in school history up to that time. An unbelievable success story in the face of all that we faced made possible because we focused on developing all members of the team equally.
Most Improved Player
Why do you suppose Most Improved Player awards are given out? Perhaps a better question might be to refer back to the above examples once again and ask if any of those coaches would give a Most Improved Player award to a member of his team? For me, the most important award I present is the MIP award. It is my expectation it will be hotly contested. It s my expectation that this player will likely play a vital role in the teams success. This is the player you originally counted on in a limited role, but who improved so significantly by the end of the season had far surpassed expectations.
Perspectives
I have provided two very distinctly different portrayals of coaches in this article. I submit that both are coaching to win. One is simply doing it in a far more intelligent and thoughtful manner than the other. One of the lasting lessons from my experience in corporate finance is the importance of setting short term, mid-range and long term goals. I do this with my team and each player on the team. I do it with my assistant coaches as well. Are we improving? Is each player improving. If not, why? Sometimes I have to change teaching methodology or tactics to better reach the student to get the desired result aka improvement. Again, I know wins will come through development, through improvement.
Foul John
I remember that one youth basketball coach who singled out John. When his team was on offense, he tried to get his best player matched up on John. When the game was close in the the fourth quarter I heard him call out to his team to foul John. Good strategy, perhaps. There was a fair amount of outrage from some who thought John and his team was being taken advantage of. John's disabilities were deemed fair game by the opposing coach / team. All in pursuit of a flimsy trophy for winning a recreational youth basketball league?
Before you judge too harshly consider for a moment your own choices. Last minutes of a tied overtime match. It's going to penalty kick shootout to determine the winner. Do you make sure you have all your best pk shooters in the game so they can participate? What about your best goalkeeper?
My teams discuss and identify the opponents weakest player at halftime of every match and we attempt to gain favorable match ups against him. Nothing wrong with this, is there?
Again it is a matter of perspective.
There's nothing wrong with coaching to win as long as a proper approach to doing so is at work. That proper approach must be based in developing individual players... all individual players on the team. It's an inclusive approach over an exclusive approach to coaching that ignites passion and fuels development ... and winning.
For me, the fear of failing manifested through losing is at the root of this debate. This is odd logic in the context of mistakes being considered the stepping stones to success. Mankind's greatest successes often arise from the ashes of trial and error failures. In soccer terms, it is considered acceptable to score on 1 of every 10 shots. That is a ratio of nine failures to 1 success.
In a sense, I think we overvalue winning and undervalue losing. By "we" I mean adults involved in youth sports. The level of competition between parents often seems to exceed that between actually participants in the game. Parental self-worth seems to be tied to a child's success or lack thereof on the playing field. It's "keeping up with the Jones' " on the most basic of levels but the stakes seem to be very high, far higher than a won / loss record could ever measure.
I was at a garage sale recently and overheard a discussion amongst a group of ladies. They were playing the one-up-manship game in regards to their children and grandchildren. Each lady who commented had to one-up the previous ladies story of her offspring. As kids we did this all the time. It usually started out about toys and progressed until we were comparing fathers to one another to prove who was the most successful. There was a need to feel better about one's self through making someone else feel inferior to your position. Bullying 101 in a sense.
Those coaches who must win at all cost in the arena of youth sports are bullies in a sense. Trust me when I say I have heard or lived all manner of experiences where a coach tries to justify winning. Think about that concept for a minute. There does, at times, actually exist a need to justify winning in youth sports.
* A coach does not play everyone on the roster because he is afraid weaker players will inhibit his teams chances for winning.
* A coach tells a player not to report for a game or "forgets" to notify a player of a match against a strong opponent it pursuit of increasing his chances of winning.
* A coach plays everyone, but attempts to "hide" the weakest players in positions where they will have the least impact on the game. A "new" position might even be created for weaker players to help improve his chances for winning.
* A coach sends players off to practice their skills as a warm up in the middle of a game and then conveniently forgets hey are present so he doesn't have to play them.
* A coach tries to make a player quit coming to games by actually telling him soccer is his sport and suggesting he try something else. He thins the herd by culling out weaker players all in the pursuit of wins.
* A coach orchestrates a coach / parent confrontation to anger the parents enough to remove their child from the team.
* During a drafting process, a coach refuses to take any more players despite players being available because he believes the players left will bring down the performance of his team.
These are but a few of the scenarios I have witnessed in 30 years of coaching youth sports. All are true. That should be frightening to all reading this article.
I relate these instances not because I am against playing to win nor because I am an advocate of the everyone plays / every gets a trophy mentality that became pervasive in youth sports at one time. As with most things in life it is the extremes these two positions represent that is reprehensible. What I do advocate is a proper balance between playing to win and playing to develop. This, I think, is rooted in one's perspective of mistakes including an occasionally loss.
Three ideas about mistakes.
1) Own up to them
2) Learn from them
3) Do not repeat them
Many of the examples of inappropriate coaching provided above deal with fear about making mistakes. They are examples of a coach fearing a weaker player will make a mistake of commission or by omission that will cause his team to lose the game.
Fear has two meanings.
Forget Everything And Run
Face Everything And Rise
The coach who must win at all cost is the one running from his true duties and responsibilities as a coach. He seeks only to teach part of the curriculum which is the life lessons of youth sports.
I saw John again recently. You may recall his story from from my contribution to the Soccer Memory series. John has a job bagging groceries. I watched struggle a bit, but he got-r-dun! I thought back to the privilege of having coached John for a brief period. I will always believe John taught me as much if not more than I taught him. Those coaches who place winning unduly high on their priority list miss out on the awesome experience of having a player like John as part of the their team. We developed players and improved as a team throughout the season eventually playing for a championship with John an integral part of it all. More importantly we developed people who have gone on to bigger responsibilities and better lives.
I am the most competitive person you are likely to ever encounter in your life. I hate losing more than I love winning. Yet, I never discuss results with my teams. We focus solely on getting better each time we step onto the pitch. When training is done for the day the only questions that matter are these; 1) Are we better than we were 90 minutes ago and 2) Did we have fun improving? If we can answer Yes! to both questions, winning will take care of itself.
We are only as strong as the weakest player on our team.
The examples provided above all reference a coach attempting to weed out weaker players or at least limit the impact they might have on the outcome of a game. I have watched such teams practice and it is typical for the "best" players to get the majority of repetitions during drill work and they never come off the pitch when the team plays small-sided games. When their are extra players than required by an activity or a SSG, it is always the weaker players who begin as spectators and receive limited time in the activity - almost as an afterthought or as if the coach feels some level of obligation to include them. Think of the message that sends to the players. How can we expect our team to improve when the weakest players are given the least amount of opportunities to improve?
Next Man Up.
The best teams have quality depth. When a starter goes down with injury or misses time with illness the philosophy of next man up comes into play. The great coaches make sure to prepare substitutes for their moment. Think back to the examples provided above. If a star player went down on one of those teams it's likely the coach would have considered the season lost, that no one could replace the lost star.
I remember one season of high school soccer when we lost player after player to injury and illness. Our roster was devastated. At one point we were down to 12 healthy players. My approach was not to lament or bemoan our terrible streak of misfortune. Other than to express our concern for the injured and ill we never really discussed their absence from the team. We inserted the next man up and continued playing games. We ended up having the best season in school history up to that time. An unbelievable success story in the face of all that we faced made possible because we focused on developing all members of the team equally.
Most Improved Player
Why do you suppose Most Improved Player awards are given out? Perhaps a better question might be to refer back to the above examples once again and ask if any of those coaches would give a Most Improved Player award to a member of his team? For me, the most important award I present is the MIP award. It is my expectation it will be hotly contested. It s my expectation that this player will likely play a vital role in the teams success. This is the player you originally counted on in a limited role, but who improved so significantly by the end of the season had far surpassed expectations.
Perspectives
I have provided two very distinctly different portrayals of coaches in this article. I submit that both are coaching to win. One is simply doing it in a far more intelligent and thoughtful manner than the other. One of the lasting lessons from my experience in corporate finance is the importance of setting short term, mid-range and long term goals. I do this with my team and each player on the team. I do it with my assistant coaches as well. Are we improving? Is each player improving. If not, why? Sometimes I have to change teaching methodology or tactics to better reach the student to get the desired result aka improvement. Again, I know wins will come through development, through improvement.
Foul John
I remember that one youth basketball coach who singled out John. When his team was on offense, he tried to get his best player matched up on John. When the game was close in the the fourth quarter I heard him call out to his team to foul John. Good strategy, perhaps. There was a fair amount of outrage from some who thought John and his team was being taken advantage of. John's disabilities were deemed fair game by the opposing coach / team. All in pursuit of a flimsy trophy for winning a recreational youth basketball league?
Before you judge too harshly consider for a moment your own choices. Last minutes of a tied overtime match. It's going to penalty kick shootout to determine the winner. Do you make sure you have all your best pk shooters in the game so they can participate? What about your best goalkeeper?
My teams discuss and identify the opponents weakest player at halftime of every match and we attempt to gain favorable match ups against him. Nothing wrong with this, is there?
Again it is a matter of perspective.
There's nothing wrong with coaching to win as long as a proper approach to doing so is at work. That proper approach must be based in developing individual players... all individual players on the team. It's an inclusive approach over an exclusive approach to coaching that ignites passion and fuels development ... and winning.
The "P" Words
Pray
Prayer is an important first step in any endeavor. Give thanks for the opportunity. Ask for guidance and allow God to provide you strength to see you through.
Prepare
Proper preparation is the key to an endeavor. It is important to study for the test you are about to undertake. Prayer is a form of preparation, but don't assume God will do it all. You need to put in work to be ready for your opportunity.
Proceed
Get started. Sometimes this seems easier said than done. Lot's of people prepare only to get cold feet. They lack Faith to see it through. Remember your prayers and preparations. Take the first step.
Persevere
Two rules here. 1) Always take one more step. 2) Refer to Rule #1. The most difficult opponent is the one who never gives up. Make sure whomever you are going against gets your best effort.
Prevail
We all want to win. The first four "P" words are about getting you to the point of winning. The cold hard fact is, no one wins every time. Sooner or later the scoreboard will show you came up short. The satisfaction found in winning can also be found in having done your best. Prevailing is not always about where you finish, although that is important. Sometimes it about how you played the game. The improvement made. The sportsmanship shown. The honor and respect on display in your play.
Friday
Patience and Attitude
I was talking with a colleague late last night about what it takes to build a program. He commented to me about not knowing if he had the patience to build the program he took over a couple years back. Keith called because he knows I have had some success in building teams and turning around programs. He said he wanted to pick my mind about the course to set for his team.
A couple of things instantly sprang to mind. First, was Keith's mention of patience and secondly that Keith knows the path to follow in building a program. That meant to me that Keith was looking for support more than knowledge. It also meant his patience needed a booster shot. I understand this.
Building or re-building a program is not for everyone. It can be a grind and progress can come painstakingly slow. Instead of winning games your goals might include tasks such as stringing two consecutive passes together with proper technique and intelligent thought. Or perhaps teaching the proper angle of approach for a defender, the bounce step and cues for when to tackle the ball. When you are coaching a high school program, these are the last things you want to be spending a lot of teaching time on, but with the status of youth soccer in many areas of our country this is the stark reality of where the game stands.
In a different conversation last night I referred to having to spend high school practice time teaching basic fundamentals as being boring. This conversation was with Marc, a veteran coach and my partner in crime this past spring. We were blessed with athletes who were skilled and knew the game. Even so, we still did a lot of teaching, but it was with more tactical emphasis than technical emphasis. Marc's current high school program is a small one and co-ed competing against boys teams. It's a challenge and one that will require patience. It is not a new program and the previous coaches have laid some solid groundwork, but there is still work to be done. First and foremost might be with the youth feeder system.
I think it important not to equate patience with making excuses for the status of a teams play. There is a difference. Patience implies that time is a factor. With time, addressing the fundamentals of technical and tactical play will pay off. Success is not measured in wins and losses, per se, but by progress made in developing players. Progress is a positive measuring stick.
Making excuses is a negative and one cannot build positively on negatives. There is an immediate need to break the chain of negativity. This is where attitude comes in, a point I reiterated with Keith last night. It is so important to celebrate success. It does not matter if that success is trivial in comparison to other teams or other programs. The important thing to remember, to strive for, is daily improvement. When the team and its individual members walk off the pitch at the end of training or the end of a game, have they improved from when they stepped onto the pitch that day?
The coach must maintain a positive attitude. This includes an air of confidence that he can give or share with the members of the team. It is important that the effort of the players is recognized and critical that intelligent effort is acknowledged. This is the heart of coaching. If a coach does not feel good about the progress of his team, he will be hard pressed to convey a believable positive attitude to his team. This is the lesson of intelligent effort from the coaching perspective.
Earlier I referenced having to work on basic fundamentals with high school players as being boring. As a high school coach there is some measure of truth in this. We would much rather spend time more time on tactics than fundamental techniques that should have been learned before they come to the high school team. In truth, teaching fundamentals is only boring in the context of having to do so with older age groups when there should be a greater emphasis on tactics for winning soccer. Even then, teaching technique can be a very rewarding experience.
The last two camps I conducted this summer were spent teaching basic fundamentals to older age groups. Sequence of touches, breaking lines, the two line game - these were all necessities for these camps before we could move into tactical aspects of play. It is actually quite fun to see players improve their games right before your eyes. In a camp setting where there is no pressure to win this is easy to accomplish. Once the need to win is factored in, an urgency becomes attached to teaching fundamentals causing the process to become both stressful and, yes, boring. At least in the sense that this is something we would rather not have to devote precious training time to. How the coach handles having to spend an inordinate amount of time on fundamentals, his attitude towards it, will impact the process.
Now, if we examine the last paragraph a little closer there is a lesson to be learned. It is such a fundamental lesson, but one the US soccer culture has failed to learn. The consequences of this failure can be seen in our national teams level of play in comparison to those of the international community. We emphasize winning over development in our training.
Let's repeat that - We emphasize winning over development in our training.
I propose that if we train to develop, winning will take care of itself. This is the attitude I bring both to the camps I conduct and to the teams I coach. I do not talking about winning... or losing ... games with my teams. I do address improving and improvement on a constant basis. I design training sessions around taking another step forward in improving our play. I take the same approach to conducting camp. I want to be able to identify noticeable and tangible improvement each day from the time we step onto the field to the time we step off the field. As long as this is occurring, then being patient and maintaining a positive attitude with the process is easy. It's only when we prioritize winning over development that we become impatient and our attitudes suffer.
A couple of things instantly sprang to mind. First, was Keith's mention of patience and secondly that Keith knows the path to follow in building a program. That meant to me that Keith was looking for support more than knowledge. It also meant his patience needed a booster shot. I understand this.
Building or re-building a program is not for everyone. It can be a grind and progress can come painstakingly slow. Instead of winning games your goals might include tasks such as stringing two consecutive passes together with proper technique and intelligent thought. Or perhaps teaching the proper angle of approach for a defender, the bounce step and cues for when to tackle the ball. When you are coaching a high school program, these are the last things you want to be spending a lot of teaching time on, but with the status of youth soccer in many areas of our country this is the stark reality of where the game stands.
In a different conversation last night I referred to having to spend high school practice time teaching basic fundamentals as being boring. This conversation was with Marc, a veteran coach and my partner in crime this past spring. We were blessed with athletes who were skilled and knew the game. Even so, we still did a lot of teaching, but it was with more tactical emphasis than technical emphasis. Marc's current high school program is a small one and co-ed competing against boys teams. It's a challenge and one that will require patience. It is not a new program and the previous coaches have laid some solid groundwork, but there is still work to be done. First and foremost might be with the youth feeder system.
I think it important not to equate patience with making excuses for the status of a teams play. There is a difference. Patience implies that time is a factor. With time, addressing the fundamentals of technical and tactical play will pay off. Success is not measured in wins and losses, per se, but by progress made in developing players. Progress is a positive measuring stick.
Making excuses is a negative and one cannot build positively on negatives. There is an immediate need to break the chain of negativity. This is where attitude comes in, a point I reiterated with Keith last night. It is so important to celebrate success. It does not matter if that success is trivial in comparison to other teams or other programs. The important thing to remember, to strive for, is daily improvement. When the team and its individual members walk off the pitch at the end of training or the end of a game, have they improved from when they stepped onto the pitch that day?
The coach must maintain a positive attitude. This includes an air of confidence that he can give or share with the members of the team. It is important that the effort of the players is recognized and critical that intelligent effort is acknowledged. This is the heart of coaching. If a coach does not feel good about the progress of his team, he will be hard pressed to convey a believable positive attitude to his team. This is the lesson of intelligent effort from the coaching perspective.
Earlier I referenced having to work on basic fundamentals with high school players as being boring. As a high school coach there is some measure of truth in this. We would much rather spend time more time on tactics than fundamental techniques that should have been learned before they come to the high school team. In truth, teaching fundamentals is only boring in the context of having to do so with older age groups when there should be a greater emphasis on tactics for winning soccer. Even then, teaching technique can be a very rewarding experience.
The last two camps I conducted this summer were spent teaching basic fundamentals to older age groups. Sequence of touches, breaking lines, the two line game - these were all necessities for these camps before we could move into tactical aspects of play. It is actually quite fun to see players improve their games right before your eyes. In a camp setting where there is no pressure to win this is easy to accomplish. Once the need to win is factored in, an urgency becomes attached to teaching fundamentals causing the process to become both stressful and, yes, boring. At least in the sense that this is something we would rather not have to devote precious training time to. How the coach handles having to spend an inordinate amount of time on fundamentals, his attitude towards it, will impact the process.
Now, if we examine the last paragraph a little closer there is a lesson to be learned. It is such a fundamental lesson, but one the US soccer culture has failed to learn. The consequences of this failure can be seen in our national teams level of play in comparison to those of the international community. We emphasize winning over development in our training.
Let's repeat that - We emphasize winning over development in our training.
I propose that if we train to develop, winning will take care of itself. This is the attitude I bring both to the camps I conduct and to the teams I coach. I do not talking about winning... or losing ... games with my teams. I do address improving and improvement on a constant basis. I design training sessions around taking another step forward in improving our play. I take the same approach to conducting camp. I want to be able to identify noticeable and tangible improvement each day from the time we step onto the field to the time we step off the field. As long as this is occurring, then being patient and maintaining a positive attitude with the process is easy. It's only when we prioritize winning over development that we become impatient and our attitudes suffer.
Thursday
What's the difference?
With every camp season I discover new facets of the game to consider. This summer the differences between programs / teams seems to always be at the forefront of my thoughts. After a recent camp session I overheard two parents discussing the prospects for the coming season. Their children play for a program on the upswing and the conversation was about the difference between where their program was, where it is now and those programs that are still clearly better.
They ticked off a list of similarities - conditioning, weight training, summer camp, preseason tournaments, skill sessions, two-a-days, kids playing club soccer, active booster programs to support the team. The list of similarities seemingly went on and on. The sentiment was "We are doing everything other teams do so why aren't we experiencing the same level of success?"
Standards.
Yes, every team does the same things so it becomes about the standards set for doing those things. What are the expectations when preparing to play and is everyone held accountable to those standards? What separates the really good teams from everyone else is the difference between what is allowed and what is demanded in meeting the standards set for a team. The really good teams demand excellence where everyone else wishes or hopes for excellence as if it is something that can be granted.
Many teams go through the motions or play at being excellent. They talk the talk but don't walk the walk. There is little accountability for meeting and maintaining levels of excellence and so their overall standards are much lower than those of the really good teams and consequentially so too is their quality of play on the pitch.
If your team wants better success, set higher standards and demand they be met by holding everyone accountable to them.
They ticked off a list of similarities - conditioning, weight training, summer camp, preseason tournaments, skill sessions, two-a-days, kids playing club soccer, active booster programs to support the team. The list of similarities seemingly went on and on. The sentiment was "We are doing everything other teams do so why aren't we experiencing the same level of success?"
Standards.
Yes, every team does the same things so it becomes about the standards set for doing those things. What are the expectations when preparing to play and is everyone held accountable to those standards? What separates the really good teams from everyone else is the difference between what is allowed and what is demanded in meeting the standards set for a team. The really good teams demand excellence where everyone else wishes or hopes for excellence as if it is something that can be granted.
Many teams go through the motions or play at being excellent. They talk the talk but don't walk the walk. There is little accountability for meeting and maintaining levels of excellence and so their overall standards are much lower than those of the really good teams and consequentially so too is their quality of play on the pitch.
If your team wants better success, set higher standards and demand they be met by holding everyone accountable to them.
Sunday
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)