Tag Archives: grand scheme of things

BITTERSWEET

14 May

I recently accepted a coaching position with a new club. As the title states… this move is going to be bittersweet.

The Bitter.

Making the decision to venture into unknown territory was gut wrenching. Giving up on something that I had fought tirelessly to build was one of the hardest decisions that I’ve ever had to make. I’ll be leaving a group of players that I have worked with for several years, some longer than others. Players that eventually outperformed the high expectations that I had for them when I first started. Players that began to realize they were actually playing soccer while their opponents were just kicking a ball. Players that have made me laugh so hard my stomach hurt, but yell so loud that I lost my voice. Players that earned my trust and respect, both on and off the field. And hardest of all- I’ll be leaving some players that I even consider to be as close as family.

The Sweet.

The opportunities I have been handed are amazing. Almost like a dream come true! I will now be at a club with the largest player pool that I have ever had access to. A club with much more recognition and many more connections. My teams will be competing in one of the top leagues in the state/country- which means my coaching skills will be put to the test against some of the ‘best’ in the business. I’m ready. Bring it!

 

I want to wish my former team the best of the luck. Without them- I would not be the coach, or person, that I am today.

 

 

 

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THE RIGHT WAY

25 Mar

Quote posted by Twitter friend (@SeanMonaghan_SM)

“It’s years and years of not training the right way. Not always being encouraged to play, solve problems tactically.” – Caleb Porter.

What is the right way?

There is no answer to that question. Instead, there are answers. Plural. Because there are many different ways of playing ‘right’. And you have to be your own judge.

What you think is ‘right’ will be a style of play that is in line with your own soccer philosophy. Because a coach, no matter how young or old, good or bad, will not teach their team something that they believe to be ‘wrong’. But we have too many [people] involved that don’t understand why something is ‘right’ and continue to teach with a figurative blindfold on.

Maybe [people] prefer the blindfold because the big picture can, at times, seem very gray.

In order to bring color into the picture one must become fluent in different styles of artistry. Different eras, past and present, are full of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ examples. Which ones are studied and accepted as ‘right’ will ultimately shape ones soccer philosophy. As Caleb Porter said it’s a process that lasts ‘years and years.’ It takes ‘years and years’ of studying and then ‘years and years’ of working within a philosophy before an artist and his [people] will begin to see truly beautiful, colorful, art.

But until a philosophy is adopted- the word ‘right’ cannot be defined. And again, you are your own judge.

Here’s a snippet of my artwork that I believe to be ‘right’ according to my philosophy.

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THE FINE PRINT

13 Mar

I found this gem of a quote from Jacques Pelham (www.footballgarden.tumblr.com) as I was going through some of my old Tumblr posts:

“This process also requires considerable dedicated resources. Instructors don’t work for free and schools don’t build themselves.”

And here are some random thoughts that popped in my head after reading that…

To improve our game it is going to take a real effort. It will take money. It will take time. It will take dedication. It will take a ton of resources!

Understanding the intricate details that make up the ‘gold standard’ is where we are failing. Our resources (money, time, effort, dedication, etc) should be spent on attempting to understand the gold standard. We must understand the evolution of soccer, but also be able to identify the constants. And the best examples should be studied and dissected until they can be put back together blindly.

Yeah- how many of us can say we do that?

‘That’s my two cents.” -The Pig

 

 

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THIS IS WAR

30 Jan

Pacific visit

An old business partner of mine once recommended that I read The Art of War. I hate reading. I bought the audiobook instead. I loved listening to it.

Because when applied to soccer- some strategies fit perfect.

Sun Tzu wrote these as five essential ingredients for victory:

  1. He will win when he knows when to fight and when not to fight.
  2. He will win when he knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.
  3. He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout his ranks.
  4. He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the army unprepared.
  5. He will win who has the military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.

I don’t think I need to break these down. I think they’re self explanatory. Right?

“This is war.” -The Pig

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ELITE + WORK ETHIC = ELITE WORK ETHIC

3 Jan

I’m going to reference two articles that you must read prior to continuing on here. Both come from the 3four3 blog written by Gary Kleiban.

What’s an Elite Player?

and

Work Ethic – An Elusive Player Trait

Did you read both? Okay- did you read the comments? Go back and read the first comment on the second article.

To be an elite player, coach, manager, scout, trainer, or even just an elite spectator… you have to understand these types of things. You have understand all of the little details that encompass elite status. You have to be able to recognize that a goal scorer is not elite solely because he is a goal scorer. No. There is much more to it.

One problem is that we’re rewarding the wrong things. Why?  Because we don’t have enough people (players, coaches, managers, scouts, trainers, spectators) that know enough about the right things. Secondly, we’ve infected these so-called ‘elite’ players with garbage and that garbage prevents them from understanding the true difference between elite and not elite. We’ve spoon fed them bullshit for years and that bullshit is incredibly detrimental to their personal development and the performance of their teammates as well.

And at the end of the day… we’re left with a bunch of posers. Garbage players, garbage teams, and garbage coaches posing as ‘elite’.

QUESTION: How do you spot a poser?

ONE ANSWER: Brian’s comment from that second article that you already read. (Right?)

FC Barcelona’s fabled ‘six second rule’ is ONE example that I’ll use in conjunction with Brian’s comment.

When, let’s say Xavi, loses the ball in the center of midfield, the first thing he does is attempts to regain possession of the ball. He doesn’t stop. He doesn’t wait. He doesn’t complain. He doesn’t roll his eyes. Or stand with his hands on his hips and stare at his teammate with a look of disgust. No. He get’s the damn ball back. And when he loses it again. He gets it back again. And so on and so forth.

You see- that’s elite. That’s hard work. That’s someone who gets off by knowing that he’s the best or knowing that he is striving to be the best. He also knows he’s surrounded by others just like him.

And in my humble opinion… that’s what we lack here. We lack an elite work ethic, both individually and as a team. And for the most part- players, coaches, managers, scouts, trainers, and spectators lack the proper environment and knowledge in order to inspire such an ethic.

Bottom line…

“Work hard. Play hard. Work harder. Play harder.” -The Pig

 

 

 

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THE BUILD UP

13 Nov

Buzzwords. The list is infinite.

Here is something not on the previous list that I posted: BUILD UP

What are you building? A house? Okay. What is it made of? Brick? Or is it a house made of cards? Are you building a house that can be blown over easily on a windy day? Or are building something will last a little while? Hmm…

We have a growing problem that will soon be an epidemic. Coaches and teams are mimicking ‘BUILD UP’ play and writing it off as something miraculous when its nothing more than just a few wasteful passes in the back line. You connected more than ten passes? Okay, cool. In what part of the field? With what players? Big question… what was the outcome? What did the final pass look like?

‘BUILD UP’ is quickly becoming a disguise for coaches and teams that just don’t get it.

If your build up consistently ends with a long ball, you don’t get it. Sorry.

 

“Congrats on building a house of cards.” – The Pig

 

 

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ALL THE BUZZ

28 Oct

Words.

Phrases.

We know a lot of them. We need to learn how to use them, though.  As coaches, fans, players, and parents we have to know what we’re saying. We can’t just throw words around for fun.

But after attending a coaching course this weekend, I’m convinced we’re fucked. I’m scared. I guess it’s fitting since it’s almost Halloween. On a serious note, I think buzz words and buzz phrases could be the death of US! (US meaning ‘us coaches’ and U.S. Soccer) They are masks. Really scary masks! And they hide the fact that most people have zero clue what they’re talking about.

This a short list that I wrote down over the weekend while I attended a coaching course. These are some of the hottest words in the coaching world right now. They’re being thrown around like hot potatoes. People are blurting them out so quickly, one after the other, that it’s hard to remember what the conversations are even about.

  1. Possession
  2. Penetration
  3. Space
  4. Quality
  5. FC Barcelona
  6. Spain
  7. Technique
  8. Tactics
  9. Asking questions of…
  10. Systems of play
  11. Formations
  12. 4-3-3
  13. Pressure
  14. High pressure
  15. Vision
  16. Philosophy
  17. Transition
  18. Messi
  19. Drills
  20. False 9
  21. Wingers
  22. Patience
  23. Dominate
  24. Attractive soccer
  25. Winning
  26. Development

How often do you use them? And do you really know what you’re saying?

“My vision of a high pressure philosophy is attractive and with Messi as a false 9 in a 4-3-3 system of play with wingers that have technique and possession with penetration and build up, we will dominate and develop a winning tradition and the tactics and drills will get us the princess in the castle tower and we will live happily ever after once the seven dwarfs ask questions of the evil beast…” -The Pig

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HOW DOES IT FEEL?

18 Sep

Enjoy ‘it’. Enjoy ‘it’ while ‘it’ lasts. Because the flames will soon be too hot for you stand in.

What is ‘it’? And what is burning?

‘It’ is the success that players, teams, administrators, and coaches have been enjoying while blatantly transforming the beautiful game into an almost unimaginable mess. And the flames? Well, those flames are players, teams, administrators, and coaches that are beginning to do ‘it’ the right way.

Little fires have been set all over the country. And these little fires will soon become big problems for the imitators. Flames don’t care how many wins are on your resume, what division one college you played for, or what your accent sounds like. If you’re an imitator, you will get burned. Some will get burned worse than others, but all imitators will feel the heat.

There are only TWO ways to prevent the flames from burning you:

1) Fight fire with fire- Instead of sitting in cruise control until your time expires, make a change! Become proactive. Make an honest attempt at learning, teaching, and promoting this game the right way and stop doing this country, and its youth, a disservice.

2) Quit- Yeah, that’s right. QUIT NOW! A lot of people will probably give #1 a shot only to find out that they’re an imitator. Save yourself the trouble. If you know you’re not doing it right, stop doing it. Save what’s left of your ego and protect your legacy while you still can. The future will not be pretty and your once attractive resume will go up in smoke.

These words are harsh, but true.

 
“You’ll see.” – The Pig

 

 

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WINNING ISN’T EVERYTHING

17 Sep

 

Just as the title says- it’s not! Trust me, I know that winning is an amazing feeling, and that losing really fucking sucks, but here are some things to consider when evaluating a teams performance:

1) Won game, played like shit.

2) Lost game, played like shit.

3) Won game, played great.

4) Lost game, played good.

 

There are two that are desirable. Two that make sense. One that is confusing. And two that I prefer.

Let’s knock the easy one out of the way first. Lost game, played like shit… duh.

Moving on.

Now obviously, winning is desirable. Both situations resulting in a win would make anyone happy (at least momentarily). But a shitty win should make you ask yourself more questions. How did we win? Did we do anything right? Can we improve and achieve the same result? Etc.Breaking the game down in miniscule moments and analyzing the successes and failures of the shitty win should be a top priority. Mainly because winning is not necessarily the best measuring stick.

The ultimate good feeling only comes when you play great and get rewarded with the W. When you know you dominated your opponent to the point where they had no hope. That is the best feeling in sports- or competition in general. Those are the types of performances that players, teams, and coaches need to strive for. And the absolute best players, teams, and coaches, even while flying on cloud nine after a great game, will still never be completely satisfied with anything less than perfection. (And nothing is ever perfect… get it?)

The hardest loss to accept is the one in which you actually didn’t play that bad. A loss that could have gone either way if a just a few things went differently. Again, this is the type of result that should spark a list of questions longer than the playing field itself. How many times did we break down? Where did we break down? Why did we break down? Who broke down? Etc. And when you identify those moments… you sit there and pick them apart until you come up with answers to every single problem.

Alright, ready for the kicker?

I’d rather lose and do some things well than win and do nothing right. Why? Because eventually, doing things well will result in many more wins than losses and will ultimately give you a better feeling. Both in the moment and your overall self-worth. If you can see the value in your hard work and realize that the results your getting are the product of that work, you’ll feel like a million bucks.

Coasting by on shitty performances will eventually lead to failure. When it comes time to measure yourself- you’ll realize that you weren’t so great. That will lead to more questions. Why didn’t I do better? Why didn’t I learn more? Why didn’t I try harder? And your self-stock will plummet.

If you disagree, you’re probably a coaster. And your day of reckoning awaits.

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EVERYONE LOVES A QUICKIE, RIGHT?

13 Sep

Everyone loves a quickie, right? Here are some quick thoughts that came to mind this morning when I watched the video linked below.

Soccer is unique. Unlike our traditional American sports such as basketball or football, there is no shot clock or play clock. There is no rush for a player to try to score. We are given the entire game to chose when we want to strike. It can come at any moment. Possession of the ball is the key to success. Possession must be utilized to unlock and breakdown the opposition.

Players must always be encouraged to keep possession of the ball at all costs. They must be encouraged to use short passes and combinations on the ground to maintain our possession not only in the attacking half, but in the defensive and middle thirds of the field as well. Possession helps dictate the pace of the game and by always having the ball at your feet, you’re in control. If you don’t have the ball, you should work at a relentless rate to win it back.

And for those who feel like possession is a new idea or just a fad… study up. It didn’t start with Barcelona. It didn’t start with Ajax. And it’s not just a few teams here and there. The best teams throughout history have been possession based teams. Don’t believe me? Check out this video that was shared by a reader on @3four3′s blog.

“All the cool kids are doing it.” -The Pig

 

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