Well I sincerely hope that from this point forward for the next few months I will be posting here regularly with thoughts, comments and recaps about my experiences both at the 26th Universiade in China, but also about what I hope will be an exciting and succesful season with the Stingers. Obviously most of the stuff for the next few weeks will be about the FISU Games but I hope to toss in some Stinger tidbits along the way. Once the FISU team is together, I will go back to guest bloggers that some of you seemed to enjoy in 2009 so that you can get the perspective of some of our athletes who are giving up a lot and making great efforts to represent both Canada and the CIS at the international level.
In terms of FISU, two weeks tomorrow the team will assemble for 7 days of preparation in Langley British Columbia. I will join them a few days later as other commitments will keep me in Montreal until Aug. 2nd. This will be a significant change (and I hope for the better) as we will get a better chance to prepare the team prior to starting the tournament. In 2009, we had one practice in Montreal prior to heading to France for 4 days to bring the team together. This year, in addition to the 7 days in Langley, we are heading to the games early, to give us 3 1/2 days on site before our first game. In this type of tournament, team dynamic and how quickly we can get everyone on the same page is crucial to achieving the success we are gunning for. Our plans include 3 games before leaving Canada plus two scrimmages in Chine (vs. Mexico and France) in order to get the players used to the weather and enviroment over there. This year's group is quite different from 2009. Our strength that year was how strong the bond was among the players.. I think we can re-create that but I think there years group has a little more variation in terms of the type of system we can play and the difference qualities various players will bring. We are lucky that we have 8 players returning for a 2nd games (vs only 2 in 2009) and we are counting on their previous experience to help the others get on the same page quickly. I am quite excited for this year's games, partly in getting to do it again (and mostly likely the last time) with the knowledge that Graham and I were able to get the 1st time around, but also for the chance to visit a country and only my involvement in soccer gives me the chance to see (although as I have told many people, not sure how I will react to 13 hours stuck on a plane). The time is passing
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AuthorAfter many years of coaching at various levels and with different teams, I thought I would share some of my experiences and thoughts about coaching. Archives
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