Coach: Roller Coaster

I remember my father explaining to me why soccer, or football is considered The Beautiful Game. There are many explanations, myths, historical moments that define nations, rabid fans, flowing movements found within 90 minutes, inspiration and ecstasy found in the 2 minutes past the 90, the hand of God and Brazilian magicians that this saying can be traced back to, I am sure.

But what I took away from my father related to this game is the roller coaster you are on from the time between the opening whistle and the final, and how it almost never, ever stops. High school, club, player, coach, fan with painted face or poster board for your son or daughter, the ride is there. The admission fee varies, perspectives create debates that echo as legend. It's gut wrenching. It's sheer joy. It's moments of disbelief when a player you've been pushing to take the next step shocks you into belief.

Frustration can be rampant. Anger, fury, the edge is there and you are tempted to lose yourself in the momentary jump off a cliff and berate an official for clearly watching some game other than the one your four months of work, faith, teamwork and passion have led to. It's laughter when the tension breaks.



It's nerves that make the pre-game gumbo or jambalaya difficult to go down because you know the team across the midfield line needs to win to survive. So do you. It's the fact that when your players step over the line, you pray that you have done what you can to prepare them for the chess match ahead. The die is cast. It's knowing that years of youth can end for a High School player when that final second ticks off the clock. It's having seen that moment in locker rooms and on fields over and over and over again. You've been that player yourself.

It's the march to the finish line. It's the playoffs starting tomorrow after months of work this season, day in and day out on the field with a crew of coaches, a brotherhood of teammates, fans, families, administrative staff and sponsors all wrapped up into two whistles, the start and the finish. Tomorrow is win or go home.

photo credits: Camerajunquie

Coach

It's been a few years…but I couldn't stay away from coaching forever. As a result, I am now helping out at a local HS this year. To top it all off, I have taken on the role of coaching our keepers, a position I have taken up in our coed league and on occasion have been known to succeed at. Seriously. I'm not kidding. Anyway, with a new season starting up, I'm glad to re-launch the Coach posts from BOB's past.

Keeper practice today was at 4 pm in 40 degree weather and full on rain. Felt like 34. I had a couple field players come to help out and execute some finishing drills so all told, there were 6 of us out there on the artificial turf in freezing weather. When it comes to keeper practice, it doesn't get more extreme than that I think.

Coach: Guys, let's make sure we stretch our our hamstrings a lot. It's freezing out here. In fact, if you are under the age of 35 and your back hurts, it probably has to do with your hamstrings being too tight.

5 freezing players: Yes sir.

Coach: Now, if you're like me, and your back hurts, you're just old.

Player: Coach, you're not that old.

Coach: Good answer.

On coaching...

Found this thought on coaching in Chad Harbach's The Art of Fielding pretty interesting. One of the main characters is reflecting on what is needed to be an effective coach and believes that what one has to do is:

"...look at each of your players and ask yourself: What story does this guy wish someone would tell him about himself? And then you told the guy that story. You told it with a hint of doom. You included his flaws. You emphasized the obstacles that could prevent him from succeeding. That was what made the story epic: the player, the hero, had to suffer mightily en route to his final triumph."

We'll Score When We Grow Old

Awesome short 8 minute film about a young soccer team (found over at The Offside). Great way to bring a little perspective to your day, soccer season or anything else. Enjoy.

Team

"It’s hard to do, easy to talk about."

- Brad Stevens

What better place to look for inspiration than a team like Butler, an underdog who consistently beats the odds and points to defining principles as a reason for success. Coach a team on the field? At work? You might find this short description of the Butler team a worthy place to find inspiration for your next team meeting. The "Butler Way" is rooted in five principles: humility, passion, unity, servanthood and thankfulness.

A Delicate Negotiation

Spent a day this past at the soccer fields in Baton Rouge watching some of my club team players play on their high school team. Great to see them in action against some different competition. In between the JV and Varsity games we caught up with Jozy and got to play a little dogobie. My wife took this picture of us negotiating the next trick. I really like this photo for some reason. Looks cool as the background on my phone.

Tonight it will be close to 25 degrees and I'll be out watching another set of my guys play...it's gonna be cold!

Goode's BBQ

Just kicked back some Goode's BBQ in Houston. Headed to the Dynamo game tonight next.

My team played our third game today and completely crushed some team 10-0. Pretty inconsistent weekend from the guys with some good lessons learned along the way. Overall it was a pretty good first weekend to start the fall season with, topped off with some bbq and some MLS this evening.

Fall Kickoff

First soccer tournament of the fall and we are off to a bit of a rocky start with one loss and one tie. We only have 12 of our 21 players with us so we are missing some key elements...but we still could and should have done better.

Soccer can be a frustrating sport where you play a game, do really well, but lose by multiple goals, and then in the next game you play poorly but get a better result. Despite the frustration, the team managed to hang out as a group and have some good laughs during down time so that was good to see. And quite honestly, the game we lost was full of some really good ball movement, some of the best I have seen by the group.

I am a Coach, not Harry Potter

Via TOW via the Guardian, comes this great quote from José Mourinho in the face of criticism of Real Madrid's form in their first game which ended in a 0-0 draw.

"I am a coach, not Harry Potter...He is a magician. Magic is fiction and I live for football which is real. ...I am the ideal person to be at Madrid because I fear nothing."

I'm not so sure that when Harry grows up, he'll look all that different from The Special One.

Coach

Player 1 to Player 2: Yo Tyler, you pitting?
Coach: Pitting?
Player 1: Yeah. Pitting.
Coach: What's pitting?
Player 1: You know, sweating. Your armpits.
Coach: Oh yeah? You guys made that a verb?
Player 1: It's always been a verb.

St Joseph's Diner

Stumbled across this team photo from last spring that I never shared. This is my U-16 (now U-17) team after an afternoon of some charity work at St. Joseph's Diner in Lafayette, LA. Good kids. Our Fall 2010 season has just started.

Anything you can do one touch, do one touch...

Big fan of the Code Red Manchester United series being releases on YouTube. They focus on random drill snippets, players, and coaching philosophy. This one is short, sweet and fits with my coaching style perfectly.

The Central Midfielder

I've taken to reading Zonal Marking a lot these days and they had a recent article on the role of the central midfielder that I thought was excellent. The article has a bunch of video compilations in it as well showing all touches in one game by various players. The Sergio Busquets' vs. Arsenal video is one of the better ones. Definitely worth a read if you are interested in learning more about the role of today's central midfielders.

In addition to the scope of the article itself, I like the small insight into the Barcelona philosophy:

“Receive, pass, offer, receive, pass, offer” is the Barcelona mantra for midfielders.

Coach

That little squat guy jumping on that player is Diego Maradona, one of the greatest players of all time and one of the strangest coaches.

Coach

This weekend my team spent some time at the local food kitchen doing some volunteer work. In addition to meal prep, we helped pack up some supply rooms to help prepare for the move of the facility to a new location.

Player: Hey coach, we're packing the boxes with stuff and there are these pumpkins back there.
Coach: Ok.
Player: Well I picked one up and it was rotten. Underneath it was covered in larva. Should I put all that in the boxes?
Coach: No.

Coach

This morning I changed it up and hired a yoga instructor to come out and work with my U-16 team for our Saturday morning practice. The experience exceeded all expectations, the kids seemed really engaged and a few were genuinely excited about continuing on their own. The yogi was a 6 foot tall cajun man named James and he did a really good job of managing a group of 15-16 year olds.

Here was one of the more entertaining exchanges of the morning as James was walking up to the field:

Player 1: Coach, that is the yoga dude?!? He is huge!
Coach: Guys, yoga is for bad asses.
Player 2: That would make a great bumper sticker.
Player 3: I just wish we had more hot girls coming.

Used...and not Cheap

So I was researching a book this past weekend related to warm-up exercises for soccer teams and found something that I thought was pretty funny. You might think warm-ups are easy: jog and stretch. However, there is an overwhelming amount of research related to dynamic stretching, which focuses on muscle groups and movement related to a soccer game vs. static stretching which is what everyone, including me thinks of when you think about stretching (i.e. reach down and touch your toes).

Anyway, I am working on learning more about dynamic movement and stretching and found this book: Warm Ups for Soccer: A Dynamic Approach. Looks good and is exactly what I am looking for.


Out of curiosity I researched the used book prices on Amazon. Click this link and scroll down. Someone has it listed for $999. Hey, I guess if you are silly enough to buy it for $1,000 rather than get a $14 copy...power to you.

Independence Stadium

Here's a photo of the stadium we play in tomorrow for the championship. Rumor is that the game will be a sell out...

Facts I was able to steal from Wikipedia:

• Home of the Independence Bowl
• The home venue of the Shreveport Steamer of the short-lived World Football League (1974-75)
• Home to the Shreveport Pirates of the Canadian Football League (1994-95), which was undergoing US expansion at the time.
  
• Opened in 1925, renovated in 1930, 1950, 1973, 2001
• Capacity 53,000
  

Send Off

We left for the state finals today and the high school had a big send off for the kids. Here is a photo one of the coaches took. There were hundreds of students and the band was out playing the school fight song. Pretty cool all around. Tomorrow we play the number one team in the state and the number 3 team in the country. I love being the underdog.

To be the best...

...you have to beat the best.


Carlee and I have been watching the winter Olympics over the course of the last week. Watching any type of sport where the intensity, passion and sheer joy/pain of competition is so evident is awesome. From curling to snowboarding, I enjoy it all.

Tomorrow, the high school team I coach travels to northern Louisiana to compete in the state semifinals. It is no small accomplishment that we have made it this far and I am incredibly proud of the guys and excited to be a part of a team with the talent we have. This is the second year in a row that we have advanced to the final 4. Last year we were knocked out prior to reaching the finals. This year, we hope to reach the final and win it all. We are the underdog tomorrow, but that didn't stop us from pulling an upset in the quarterfinals against the #3 team in the state (we entered the playoffs ranked #6). Tomorrow we take on the second seed.


Here's to all competitors, champions and not...especially the guys on the teams I coach who put in all the hard work for the the love of the game.

Check out these great photos over at the Big Picture from the Olympics thus far.