The pains of patience of building a program

Building a program forces you to find a way to have systematic development, long-term vision and tangible short-term results coexist.

Having taken over Niagara College's mens team this year, I had a vision of building a soccer culture with good people at the helm.

At Niagara we have a medium size student body as far as Ontario College's go.  The population is split between two campuses so drawing the students from the other campus will be difficult if there is not something valuable for them to come for.

The stage is set to develop a strong soccer culture at school.  The previous coaches were solid people who built good relationships between the former players and the school itself.  The college now sees athletics as a positive marketing vehicle for the school brand and with that comes institutional backing.  The support system at school is solid.  The international student population grows annually.  There is staff to tend to most needs including administrative duties, academic advice and Athletic Therapists.

We have a bit of a hurdle for one year as we are training off campus.  The Welland Soccer Club is hosting our training and is a great facility, but it's still off campus.  So far, it hasn't caused a major problem.

My main focus was finding the right group of coaches and I think that's in place.  Our main assistant has University and Semi-Professional playing experience and is currently coaching a premier men's team.  He is a full time college employee and every connection to the school helps.  Our part time assistant has Premier Men's and University playing experience and 20+ years as a coach.  He is also the friend who got me into coaching in 1989 and continues to be a mentor figure for me.  Our goalkeeping coach has semi-professional playing experience and has amassed a great deal of training and experience as a coach.  He has also witnessed the training his own daughter has received as part of the national program and retains a lot of what he's learned.

An added bonus has been the addition of a women's team coach who has International and NCAA playing and coaching experience.  She has some good insight and often gives me points to ponder when we talk.  I find myself picking people's brains every chance I get.

I want an environment where experienced people want to come out when they can and lend a hand because they love the game and are impressed by what we are doing.

The vision will take some time and I believe in it.  My only concern was getting some positive results to keep people interested.  We've been playing well so far, making progress and the guys know it, but a win eludes us.

This year we are fortunate to have a great group of players who remain supportive of each other.  The attendance at sessions has been fantastic and we are seeing good moments as a team and individuals.

This season is short, 8 games plus playoffs.  Right now we are 2 losses and 2 ties.  We have 4 games left.  Every day brings something better.  The system and philosophy will be cemented for next season, but I think we are far enough this year to yield some results.  Just as we sit 0-2-2 we could easily be 2-1-1.

I did not want the job if I was going to start from scratch and piece together a new team every year.  I want a system in place where players move in and out of and the attitude is carried over from year to year.

At the end of the season we will have to evaluate how things look and if it needs to be adjusted for the realities of Ontario colleges, where students are in program ranging from 1-4 years.  We will also have to sit down with our bosses at school to see if they are happy where the program is headed.

For now, I am going to stick to my guns.  If all works out, next year we will not start from scratch but just find new pieces for the system already in place.

Is it ever a referee's fault when you don't win?

Sometimes the official is blamed for not winning a game.  There are weak officials out there, but can you ever really lay the blame on a referee?  I don't think you can.

Let's take an example from this past weekend.  We were involved in a game where the official was less than perfect. Our game ended 5-5.  A college soccer game should never end 5-5.

There were frustrations, but as an athlete you have to keep your eye on the prize.

The officials are another condition around a game like the field, weather, fans, missing players or other factors.   You have to manage what you can control and manage them according to the conditions.  Every referee has tendencies that you have to read and work around.

Your job as a coach is to look past everything and see what's really going on.

Our first conceded goal was a penalty kick.  Nothing to do there.  A high ball through the middle was inadvertently headed backward by a midfielder, caught our defenders off guard and a hard tackle was laid during the chase.  Can't blame the ref.

The second goal was the result of a pressuring defender not being supported and a pass sneaking in behind him to the goal scorer.  The referee did not cause this.

Their third goal was off a free kick in front of our box that was the result of a dive (the kid's 4th on the day).  But on the free kick, our wall split and the ball passed through on the way to the net.  Not the referee's fault.  He may have let the player's diving continue and made the call against us instead of cautioning the player, but the wall splitting was our doing, not his.

Their fourth goal was off another free kick from the same kid diving.  This was off to the corner of the penalty area.  Again, you can fault the ref for not cautioning the player and awarding another free kick, but it was not the ref's fault that the ball passed by two of our players to an unmarked opponent on the far post.

Their fifth goal was the result of a player having the ball too long, at the top of our box, with his back to the net while his teammate cut through unmarked , taking a pass and scoring.

We were then down a man for the last 15 minutes as one of our players was awarded a second yellow on a collision (with the same player diving).  That player kept playing, and very well, while ours was on the outside of the fence looking in.

At the end of it all, down a man, we scored 2 goals in the last 10 minutes to earn a point.

Watching the game on video showed me that we were certainly the away team, but that's life.   And it also showed that more focus on the game and learning to not be distracted by other factors would have helped us at certain instances.
 
If we blame the ref for the result, then the guys think he's the sole problem and we have nothing to work on.

And think, this is my opinion from our bench.  I am sure their coach thought something wasn't perfect as we also scored five goals, 2 from set pieces.  He would also do his team a disservice if he blamed the ref and didn't address that his team was beat twice on restarts and allowed 2 late goals with an extra player.

If we go over each goal conceded, we have plenty to work on, and that is where our next two sessions are going.

We did a lot of things very, very well.  Scoring 5 goals in a game is good stuff.  Playing through frustrations and coming back to salvage the day was a fantastic moment for the guys.  Lamenting on game conditions would only tarnish the good things we can take away.

Our next two sessions will revolve around 1v1, small group and team defending.

The guys did their jerseys a great service yesterday and they knew it.  And addressing the issues that caused our goals will make us even better.

Is a "hunch" really just a "hunch"

People sometimes ask why you made a certain game-time choice or decision.  Admit it.  Sometimes you don't have a quantitative, concrete reason.

Last night our college team lost our season opener 2-1 to Mohawk College.  The time came to test our guys in true competition and we saw what we saw.

Leading up to that game we saw a total of 63 players for tryouts.   We slowly whittled that down and came up with 18 guys to dress for last night's match.

How did we come up with those 18?  We actually have 22-23 players who will form our roster throughout the season.  Getting down to that number was done through evaluating players based on technique, skills, decisions under pressure, etc.  I can defend the choices I made.

When it comes down to smaller decisions such as who will dress, who will start, which GK will play, those decisions come from what I see in the training sessions leading up to the game and sometimes a hunch or two.

If you lose, you are second guessed.  If you win, you credit the players.  One of the reason why you coach in a competitive environment is to live through the pressure of making those choices.

But the "hunch" that people talk about isn't a whim that you come up with sitting on a toilet or randomly roll dice.  The hunch is a little more informed and developed by spending time with your players at training and learning what makes them tick.  You start to pick up tendencies, address them and see what comes of your suggestions.  You get a feel for who fits into the puzzle best under certain situations.  With other coaches you get input and then you make the final decision ... and live with it.

Did I make the right decisions last night?  Will I make the right decisions before the weekend?

My main goal for a situation like this is that the players trust the decisions I make.  I have to keep working towards that, and will do so by being honest and available to answer their questions.

I can guarantee my players that whatever my decision, it wasn't taken lightly and arrived at with extensive consultation with people that I, and hopefully the players, trust.

U17 Boys - League Champs

Our U17 boys team clinched their league title.  Well, somebody else clinched it for them. 

We had a chance Wednesday to clinch the title against the team that was 3 point behind us but let a 2-1 lead slip away in the last minute on a penalty kick.  So the champagne was put on hold for another day.  But last night our chasers lost to the third place team, clinching the title for Welland.

I would say the boys truly deserved the win.  They played hard, worked together and got along.  We had a few mental lapses, some monumental brain farts and a few on-field disagreements after mistakes.  All part of the package for U17 boys, I guess.  If they learn from their mental lapses, then we're OK.

As the move towards being life long players, they will learn that success will come through chemistry, decisions and discipline, not just raw physical tools.

There are a few things we had a hard time selling them, but they slowly gave in:

• Patience while defending on the wings and away from our goal.  It improved but they need to make a conscious effort of it as they grow older and play smart players.
• Patience on the attack and deciding when it's off and time to reload and relaunch.
• Focus on defending in the late stages against a desperate team looking to tie.

We had some challenges early on. Our shape was a bit out of whack because our GK was hurt and struggled to play balls off the ground.  We had some new players and some players who missed a lot of games early on.

We were OK with only 2 yellow card suspensions, no red cards and only .....  1 brawl. :)

We finish the season with our last game on Wednesday on the road.

The boys won this league by their own on-field play and commitment to each other, and that makes it nice.

U13 Boys - end of our season

It will be tough to not spend more time with a great bunch of boys.

Our season ended last night.  We didn't win many games but I still say being with this group was time well spent.  The parents were very supportive, all year long, and the boys attitude was positive.

I have to put some time between last night's game and rethinking the U13 season that's now over.