Yesterday was the final game of the 2017 Stingers soccer season. We finished on a positive note, going on the road and coming away with a well earned win against a very competitive opponent. After losing a game Friday which eliminated us from playoff contention, it could have been easy for the players to go through the motions on a chilly, rainy day. However they didn't, they showed up and were determined to get the win.
However, that isn't the main topic for today. The topic for today is about the end of a game, of a season and sometimes the end of a career. Whether as a player or a coach, I have always had the mindset that you compete until that final whistle blows. When it does, there is always a sense of relief after a good result or disappoint after a bad one. Sometimes the final whistle in the final game, means another season is done. The end of a season didn't always affect me as a player but as coach. I never really saw it as an end to anything just the transition to something different. My playing career ended over 25 years ago (except for a short lived comeback playing in an over 35 league) due to a combination of injuries, the start of my coaching career and getting married. I never really felt the disappointment many associate with the end of a playing career and I had coaching as a means to stay associated with the game of soccer. However, in the years since, I always feel a down as the realization that the season is done and that the "this group of players" or " this team" will never be again becomes a reality. I have always felt this way from the time I coached at the club level, through the provincial program to the last 16 years at Concordia. This feeling of finality has become stronger in recent years as with the end of the season, comes the acceptance that it might not be an automatic that I will have the chance to return in a few months for a new season. In terms of coaching, there is much less road in front of me than there is behind me. I haven't decided anything but the reality is that the end of my coaching career is close and when I finally do hear that final whistle for the final time, it will end an association with a sport that has become a very important part of my life which has existed for 47 years. When my time at Concordia is done, my time in coaching and my active participation in soccer will be done. I can't imagine that moment even if I can accept it is close. How do I feel about soccer ? I didn't fall in love with the game when I first stepped on the field at the age of five. From the moment that I first set foot on the field to the day that final whistle is blown, it has been a constant throughout the course of my life, player, coach, supporter and fan, I have been them all but soon, I will only get to watch as a fan and maybe reflect on all the times I got to be an active participant. When I first started playing, it was about being with friends, it was playing a sport that wasn't mainstream in Canada yet but the sport that my father felt was the only true sport. It has taught me so much about myself and about life that I will never forget. Lessons like being knocked down again and again, and still having the strength to get back up. It has given me the chance to travel to destinations I never imagined I would see, meet people that I never thought I might meet, create friendships and friendly rivalries. Given me a chance to give back to the community, be a part of seeing teenagers become young adults, players become coaches, and in my own small way, advocate for equity between male and female sport while hopefully contributing the ongoing fight to reduce gender bias and stereotyping in sport. On a very personal level, it become a catalyst in connecting me to my father and to my Spanish roots. Failure is something that is inevitable. It's how you bounce back from that failure that matters. If I would have given up every time something bad had happened either on or off that field, I would have stopped coaching years ago. I am seen as an optimist, sometimes much to much so, but it is how I choose to view the world. I trust in the good intentions of my players and those around me. I believe if you put in the time and energy and do so with passion and desire to leave things in a better state than when you found them, if you truly stay focused on the task, good things will happen. Soccer taught me that practice will never be perfect. In life and in the game, there is always room for improvement. There is always a way to get better and always a time to make it happen. There should never come a time where you say "good enough." Soccer became my release. It gave me an outlet and chance to stay involved with the sport I love. It provided me a way to spend time with people that would become very important to me There are 90 minutes in a game. If you took your life and lived it as one year a minute, how would you spend your time? Would you wait till the very end, scrambling to finish? Or would you throw everything in your twenties and thirties so that the future was taken care of? But then the other team scores. All of the sudden, your plans have been tossed to the side and you're forced to reevaluate. How will you spend your time now? Will you give up? Or will you continue to live and fight until that last whistle blows? There will be a time when the game ends. When the down I feel at the end of a season won't get to be tempered with the thought that in a few months I will be back planning and preparing, I won't get to be counting down to the start of a new season, of meeting new players and reconnecting with returning ones. The day will come when, the final game of a season, will be the final game of a career and a lifetime. But I know I'll be ready. I only hope that there are enough former players out there who can appreciate and respect all the efforts I made to make their time as student-athletes a positive one. That they can appreciate the game of soccer as much as I it means to me. I really hope that I might have been able to give them, even a fraction of what the game of soccer and coaching has given me. What soccer and coaching has given me is hard to really put into words that properly convey my sentiments but in all humility I can only add that I hope my players can appreciate my efforts and realize how much they are a part of me. I consider myself privileged to have coached them, even those who didn't like me very much as it is often with them that I learned the most about myself. The final whistle hadn't blown for the last time yet, but when it does, I will be sad and I will be down, but I will always look back with pride and optimism. To do anything different, just wouldn't be me.
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With 4 games remaining in the 2016 regular season, we find ourselves just outside the final playoff spot but with full control of our destiny. The schedule of remaining games is such that with 3 wins in the final 4 games, securing fourth and even third is very much in play. The reality is that in essence we will face 3 must win games on a row to close out the season if we wish to confirm our participation in the playoffs without having to rely on results from other games.
So how as a coach, does one ensure that they team is prepared and ready to perform when it counts? The greatest challenge that athletes have is to play their best when it really counts. Regardless of the level of competition, , every athlete needs to rise to the occasion of the big game or competition. That goal is accomplished by working hard in practice and being as prepared as you can be as the important game approaches. The days leading up to the big game are crucial to achieving competitive goals. Athletes need to ensure that their equipment is ready, some rest, and as a team with might want some fine tuning on technique and tactics. Game preparation wise, our team has played the same set up for the majority of the season, so really its about reminder the players of their roles and adjusting the game plans somewhat to our opponents while focusing on what "WE" want to do. However the area that will probably make the biggest difference in how a team with perform is the attitude toward the big game. The mindset will impact every psychological contributor to competitive performances including your motivation, confidence, intensity, focus, and emotions. A healthy attitude can set you up for a psychology that create conditions for optimal performance, while an unhealthy attitude, by contrast, will only set you up for failure. It's easy as the big game approaches to lose perspective on the important an individual game might actually hold. After all, it remains a game. The fact is that the game on its own isn't important but the outcome may impact the standings but as a coach, player or team, you should only focus on the game itself. In any game there are a wide range of factors that can impact the result. However many of them like the quality of the referee, weather and field conditions, how the opponent game planned, and many others, are completely out of your control. So the key to to take care of those things over which you have control and can determine how they might play out. One of the most common problems that occurs in athletes as the big game approaches is a shift in their focus away from process and onto outcomes. A process focus involves paying attention to those things that help you play your best, for example, technique, tactics, and pre-game preparation. In contrast, outcome focus involves focusing on the possible results of the game: winning, losing, rankings, or who you might beat or lose to. Many people believe that focusing on the outcome will increase the chances of that outcome occurring, but the opposite is actually true. When does the outcome of a game occur? When the final whistle blows, of course. And if you're focusing on the end of the game, what are you not focusing on? Well, the process, obviously. Here's the irony. By focusing on the process rather than the outcome, you have a much better chance of playing your best because you are paying attention to things that will help you play well. And, if you play well, you're more likely to achieve the results you wanted in the first place. Also, why do we get nervous before big games? Because we are afraid of the outcome, more specifically, afraid of failure. So by focusing on the outcome, it's more probable that athletes will fell anxious and less likely to play well and achieve the desired result. In contrast, focusing on the process and making sure to deal with the aspects that are within you control., may reduce the fear of failure, and help feeling relaxed, which leads to improved performance and being able to achieve competitive goals. Another shift that can occurs before big games is a focus on the present-what you need to do to play well now-to either a past focus-onto results you had in the past-or a future focus-onto the results you may or may not get in the big game. The reality is that you can't change the past, so there's no point in even thinking about it (except perhaps to learn from your mistakes so you don't repeat them). If something bad happened in the past, be disappointed, then let it go. If something good happened, revel in it, then let it go. Looking back has no value to your present. As for looking forward, thinking about the future also does no good. It can cause doubt and worry because it often triggers a fear of failure. A future focus can create anxiety because it makes people think about expectations that might come from others, whether parents, coaches, or peers. Basically, thinking about past games or looking ahead to potential outcomes can affect the focus required to perform during the current game. Perhaps the worst thing that happens to many young athletes before a big game is they go negative. The expectations and pressure that they can feel before a big game can cause confidence, which may have been high from all of your training and games up to this point in the season, to plummet as they focus on all of the bad things that can happen in the upcoming game. Sports are unforgiving in how it judges athletes; the score doesn't lie. And we also live in a world where it is difficult not to compare oneself to others. In sports, this means athletes comparing themselves to teammates and opponents. But when the focus is on others, thinking about how they are playing, how they will do in the big game, and whether it's really possible to win, it affects the chances of actually winning. As a coach, it is important to create an environment when the players will focus on our preparation, our skill set and who WE together can overcome challenge, and the look at the progress made toward your reaching goals and objectives, both short term ( the game taking place) or longer term on the overall season. There will always be ups and downs, but the key is to ensure that the team is heading in the right direction. Are we improving our technique and tactics? Are your rankings and results getting better? As long as there is measurable and factual evidence showing progress, it serves as motivation to keep working. All this works great in theory, here's hoping I can apply it and the team can have a successful runs of games As my 16th year of coaching soccer at Concordia University comes towards its end, I think about our final home game of the season where we will honor and say goodbye to our graduating players. It's always an emotional time for them as for many, it can represent the end of the competitive sports careers. While they might continue to play the sport, the reality is that it will probably will not be in the structured, competitive and atmosphere that they have experience while play at the varsity level.
Adjustment for anyone finishing school and starting their work careers is tough, but what happens student-athletes when their careers come to a close? No matter how good they are, an athletic career is eventually going to come to an end. Many student-athletes struggle with the “pivot,” or transition from athlete to non-athlete. In this pivotal moment, student-athletes can either wallow over the end of their playing career or reinvent themselves. Going from a strict regimen of workouts, practices, games and classes to a less structured life leaves many former student-athletes without a purpose or direction. This culture shock can seem extreme at first, but it’s difficult for everyone to transition to the “real world.” Life presents a series of challenges; however, sports give student-athletes the tools to succeed. Think about it, sports teach about time management, teamwork and work ethic. All these skills are critical in the working world. Student-athletes should first be encouraged to enjoy their athletic career because it goes by in the blink of an eye. Secondly, effort is essential to success and athletes prepare is an indicator of how you will perform when it counts. This is true whether in sport of a career. Finally, the best way to transition to a post-athletic career is to find a new passion in life and apply themselves with the same commitment and passion. After years and years of defining themselves as a student-athlete, it is difficult to contemplate life without sports. Rather than focus on the end, they should remember that they’re starting a new beginning and have all the skills to succeed in the real world. Many student-athletes can struggle with the emotional and physical transition from a life centered on athletics. Sports psychologists say that even though many student-athletes initially feel relief after finishing their athletic career, some can suffer from varying degrees of depression, questioning of self worth or identity crisis. While, many student-athletes might feel a certain amount of relief immediately after the sport is over as the pressure of wanting to excel and the time commitment required to train is lifted, many will feel a void as they look for something to provide them with the same sensations that they got via sport. Even when athletes are happy about moving on and starting the next phase of their life and excited about that possibility they’re also simultaneously experiencing the sense of loss. Student-athletes not only experience emotional changes, but physical injuries can also linger after their career ends. Also, often, after spending years training 5 and 6 days per week up to 10 months a year, the fact that they no longer have a reason to keep training can see them face physical changes as the body is no longer maintained to the level it has been. The key to how an athlete feels about his or her departure from sports is how much perceived control they have over that decision. The difference between choosing to stop playing versus being cut or becoming injured and then that taking you out of the sport, so the way in which that determination occurs and how much control the athlete has over that decision making process really does impact how they do next with the transition. When student-athletes no longer compete, some lose their sense of “sports self-esteem, when a person’s value is mirrored by their success in sports. When you take that away, the very core of their importance, remove that activity which has been at the center of the daily lives and has influenced many of the decisions they have made up until that point in time, you might in essence be taking away that thing that dictates how they view themselves. Many athletes reach a point of being ready to put away the sport, some because of a nagging injury, some because of realize they were not as successful as they would have hoped, and some just to see where life takes them next. However, even if they are able to find happiness in other parts of life, some athletes find it hard to clean out the locker for the last time. The feeling of void might usually be felt the hardest after a few months when they would normally start their preseason training or when the usually start date of training camp arrives and they know their former teammates are kicking off a new season. How a student-athlete well adapt to live after the game ends is often in tune with the support structure around them. Being able to cope with it, can greatly be influenced but having people around them that don't constantly remind them about what they are missing but can help them see that there is more to life than sports. As always, I will miss those athletes that graduate, but when training camp comes around, a new dynamic will take shape, as new leaders emerge, rookies become veterans and a new crop of 1st year athletes fight to make their spots. When you think about, as a coach, I am going to live through many of the same emotions that the athletes do. Crap, really not looking forward to them. A common narrative for that surrounds youth sports these days is an environment where adults , usually coaches who are driven and hyper competitive feeling a need to race to the top in athletics that feeds the needs and egos of the adults, but rarely the kids. This creates situations where individuals feel the need to "race" to the top of the success pyramid but the the reality is that while the race has a few winners, the course is littered with the frustration and bitterness of its participants. We have a generation of children that have been pushed to achieve parental dreams instead of their own, and prodded to do more, more, more and better, better, better. The pressure and anxiety is stealing one thing our kids will never get back; their childhood.
The demand for excellence in youth sports does not produce better athletes. It produces bitter athletes who get hurt, burnout, and quit sports altogether. When it comes to sports, a significant percentage of parents are leading their kids down the wrong path, but not intentionally or because they want to harm their kids. They love their kids, but the social pressure to follow that path to excellence is incredible. The social pressure is like having a conversation with a pathological liar; he is so good at lying that even when you know the truth, you start to doubt it. Yet that is the sport path many parents are following. Parents are often scared that if they do not have their child specialize in one sport, if they do not get the extra coaching, or their child will get left behind. Even though a lot of parents know that this might not the the best situation, they do not see an alternative. Another kid will take his place. He or she won’t get to play for the best coach. It sucks for parents, many of whom do not have the time and resources to keep one child in such a system, never mind multiple athletes. There are no more family trips or dinners, no time or money to take a vacation. It causes parents untold stress and anxiety, as they are made to feel guilty by coaches and their peers if they don’t step in line with everyone else. It sucks for coaches who want to develop athletes for long term excellence, instead of short term success. The best coaches used to be able to develop not only better athletes, but better people, yet it is getting hard to be that type of coach. There are so many coaches who have walked away from sports because while they encourage kids to play multiple sports, other unscrupulous coaches scoop those kids up, and tell them “if you really want to be a player, you need to play one sport year round. That other club is short changing kids, they are not competitive.” The coach who does it right gives his kids a season off, and next thing you know he no longer has a team. And yes, most importantly, it sucks for the kids. Any sports scientist or psychologist will tell you that in order to pursue any achievement activity for the long term, children need ownership, enjoyment and intrinsic motivation. Without these three things, an athlete is very likely to quit. Children need first and foremost to enjoy their sport. This is the essence of being a child. Kids are focused in the present, and do not think of long term goals and ambitions. But adults do. They see “the opportunities I never had” or “the coaching I wish I had” as they push their kids to their goals and not those of the kids. They forget to give their kids the one thing they did have: A CHILDHOOD! They forget to give them the ability to find things they are passionate about, instead of choosing for them. They forget that a far different path worked pretty darn well for them. Parents, start demanding sports clubs and coaches that allow your kids to participate in many sports. You are the customers, you are paying the bills, so you might as well start buying a product worth paying for. You have science on your side, and you have Long Term Athletic Development best practices on your side. Your kids do not deserve or need participation medals and trophies, as some of you are so fond of saying, but they do deserve a better, more diverse youth sports experience. Coaches, you need to wise up as well. You are the gatekeepers of youth sports, the people who play God, and decide who gets in, and who is kicked to the curb. You know the incredible influence of sport in your life, so stop denying it to so many others. Are you so worried about your coaching ability, or about the quality of the sport you love, to think that if you do not force kids to commit early they will leave? Please realize that if you are an amazing coach with your priorities in order, and you teach a beautiful game well, that kids will flock to you in droves, not because they have to, but because they want to! Chances are great that your children will be done with sports by high school, as only a select few play in college and beyond. Even the elite players are done at an age when they have over half their life ahead of them. It is not athletic ability, but the lessons learned from sport that need to last a lifetime. Why not expose them to as many of those lifelong lessons as possible? I don't have kids myself but after almost 3 decades in coaching at various levels, I have seen all kinds of examples of coaches and parents focusing on short term athletic success over long term personal development. As has been the custom for the last 10 years or so, our league doesn't schedule any games during the long Thanksgiving weekend. This was done at the start in order to allow those team who had a significant amount of players participating at club national championships to avoid having to field weaker teams. In essence this was the case with 1 or 2 teams in our league but after all, it actually turns into a positive to have an extended period of no games pretty much in the middle of the season, just before must student-athletes hit the busy mid-term period of the semester. As a coach, I appreciate as we can give our athletes 4 consecutive days off to let them get away from the team and recharge the batteries.
For me, as a coach, it also signals the stretch run of the season, 3 weeks and 6 games left in another season. This year is a little different than a majority of the most recent seasons ( except perhaps 2012 and 2014) in that we are really in the thick of a playoff race, in full control of our own destiny. However that isn't the main crux of today's post. The reality is that as I get older and seasons pass ( I am not in my 16th at Concordia and 27th year of coaching overall), the reality is that there is less road ahead of me in my coaching career than there is behind me. As each season starts to come to a close, the thought of how many more do I have remaining does creep into my thoughts in one manner or another. The reality is that this mirrors the situation on my work life overall. Coaching is not my full time position but the thoughts of retirement are much more a reality with each passing year. Retirement is a little further away most likely so trying to imagine what life might be like when I don't have to go to work hasn't really started to happen, however life after coaching is a something that is of significant consideration. I still see myself involved for a few more years, but I am also realistic that things change and while hopefully I can decide when I stop coaching, that might not be the case. The one thing that is certain is that when my time at Concordia comes to a close, so will my coaching career. I have spent time and energy in this role, it has become an important part of who I am that I could never consider starting over anywhere else. I sometimes wonder what it will be like after I no longer coach... hard to imagine but I try. I would assume it is really similar to what any person involved in sport will go through whether you are an athlete or a coach. Athletes are trained to push through pain, ignore hardships and endure sacrifices – it’s the price of victory. As an athlete, I was taught it, and as a coach, I preached it. The trade-off of the time, energy and effort that we involved in sports put in is the shared experience with the other members of our team but also with coaching peers, competitors and anyone else associated with our sport. We are introduced to it slowly through when we are younger, acclimatized to the pressure, and supported by our passion for our sport. But what happens when it comes to an end. Does our training and experiences help or hinder us in preparation for life after sport? For many involved in highly competitive sport, we have worked hard to be the best, we are competitive by nature and expect our efforts to be rewarded with positive outcomes. Many of the sensations of success but more importantly the feeling of being part of a team striving for something bigger than just ourselves is hard to replace I imagine. As my time in coaching come closer to an end, I have spoken with former peers in the coaching ranks who have moved on but also experienced first hand former athletes of mine who have stopped playing and how they have made the transition and adjusted. Granted in the case of the athletes, they are often younger and at different places in their lives. In addition, having pretty much only coached female soccer, their is a gender reality that is different between my former athletes adjusting to life after sport than mine. For anyone involved in sport, its our passion and many of the experiences we have gone through in our lives and the confidence we have gained are closely intertwined with our sporting lifes. Speaking for myself, I know that as my work career moved into more senior management roles, how I dealt with many situations where clearly linked with a skill set I had developed as a coach. The reality is that I was put in a position leadership via coaching much earlier than it happened in work. So what happens when this thing, this huge part of our lives that has influenced so much of who I have become as a person will no longer be there. As a coach, of course I had to adjust to new team and players, always be adapting to changing situations, be responsible for making decisions that will affect a group of individuals and having them expect me to get it right. However, when it came to coaching sports, it was an environment I was comfortable in. Even at its toughest and even most frustrating moments, there was always a positive because I was involved in my passion. I considered and still consider coaching to be a privilege and I never took it for for granted. However, at the base of it all, once coaching stops, there will be this significant amount of time that is no longer filled, a void of human interaction that I have become accustomed to. How will I replace this? One thing that I know is that I have to plan for the transition. The hardest thing is going to be finding an activity or passion that can replace the sensations that I get from coaching. Coaching at the highest level is about planning, season planning, recruiting athletes, looking ahead, creating an environment. setting expectations etc. Like many things, it is easier when we are doing it for others, but how will I be able to do this for myself? For the record, I do have passions and activities outside of soccer and many are impacted by lack of time to pursue them so yes, some of these will fill the void. I assume there will be a period of missing the coaching and team dynamic, and I wonder if I will follow the exploits and results of the team or if I will simply walk away and not look back. For most of us, anxiety about change is simply a fear of the unknown. For anyone involved in competitive sport, this is amplified by a comparison to an environment that is unique and where are part of a fairly select group and portion of society in general. As individuals focusing on performance but also the routine that comes with a competitive environment can make the fear of the unknown seem worse. Refusing to take action and admit the reality of your future is just procrastination, a way of protecting yourself and living in the past. Learning from the experiences of who have gone through it before me, will hopefully give me the knowledge and confidence to step forward and experience a future where I can derive some of the same sensations that sport provided for me. Being in the role of coach, like with any position of leadership responsible for a group of people comes with the requirement and expectation of having to make decisions, some of which can be very tough. Coaches at all levels are constantly required to make decisions that will affect their players, who is selected to the team, who starts, who play, what system does the team use, what is the tactical game plan and so many more.
Each time an individual is forced to make a decision, it opens them up to second guessing and the reality is that the quality of the decision will often be judged on the outcome and sometimes ( and especially in coaching sports) the actual execution of the actions dictated by the decisions are out of our hands. Only a fool with tell himself that he ( or she) has never made a mistake or bad decisions. In 27 years of coaching, I have probably made thousands of decisions, good one that turned out badly, bad ones that turned out great anyways, decisions that had no impact either way and of course, decisions that worked out great. just like I planned and others that turned out to be a disaster. Most people hate making decisions. Why is that? They over complicate it. Fear of picking the wrong option leads to a period of limbo where nothing gets done and the issue seems to grow bigger and bigger. That kind of procrastination is something I’ve been through myself on occasion and I've seen people take what should be an easily and straight-forward decision and turn it into an impossible one—all out of fear. The reality is that if you are afraid of making decisions or worry about trying to find a decision that will please everyone, then coaching or any form of leadership is definitely not for you. As a coach, you will always get second guessed, even when your decision turns out to be the right one and the results achieved meet or exceed expectations. In the reality of teams sports, the biggest issues are always around playing time, who dresses, who starts and who gets into the game. Every member of a team wants to play, as a coach you want that. However as a coach, it is your role to decide who gets in the field and who doesn't. And when someone doesn't play, sometimes it will be easier for them to blame on it your decision and not make an honest assessment of themselves. As a coach, your decisions can only be made with the information that is at your disposal at the time what your need to make them. Your decisions will be judged often on the outcome and as a decision maker you can't always take for granted that just because things worked out that you made a great decision, sometimes you get lucky and things for out but you should always be ready to analyze decisions. Conversely, sometimes based on the facts in front of you, you will make a great decision that simply won't work out. This shouldn't stop you from make a similar decision in a somewhat similar situation. Here are some things I’ve learned that about making tough decisions better and faster. Have a clear vision on your objectives As a decision maker, know yourself and have a clear vision of what you are looking to accomplish whether it is a short term goal or part of a bigger plan. The real reason someone might be unable to make up his mind is that none of the apparent options are really within the plan you have set out. However, sometimes making a decision might be having to choose from a list of not ideal options by selecting the one with the the "lowest risk" or the least not ideal. However not making a decision is not an option. You can only deal with what what is under your control, and sometimes that means choosing between option 1 or 2. Just because neither is perfect, doesn't mean you can spend time looking around for #3. However, anytime you are called to make a decision, don't worry about potential outcomes, focus on the reasoning behind which decision might be best. As long as you are consistent in your thought process, transparent with those affected by the decision and open to learning from the decision once you see the outcome, your role as a leader will be respected by most ( unfortunately the age old axiom comes into play, you can never make everyone happy). Don't second guess your decision after making it Once you identify what you really want, you’ll need to quiet the voices in your head. Once you have made the decision, sell it, explain it and move forward. If the players under your responsibility feel that you are hesitant, then they might have doubts and not buy in. When as a coach, you rely on assistants to provide their thoughts in a decisions, it is ok that they disagree with you, in fact, you want assistant coaches that push you to reflect on your decisions. However once the final decision is reached, you must address it to the players as a united group of coaches. If you find out that an assistant coach is undermining your leadership by sharing concerns he or she might have, you must deal with this right away. Doing something is better than doing nothing. This is true 99% of the time. People can be paralyzed by their inability to take a stance on a situation and make the decisions. Through the course of a season that are constantly decisions needing to be made, some are bigger than others. However, knowing when to intervene and make these decisions can often prevent problems from getting out of hand or manageable. In a team environment, there are things that won't work themselves out on their own. For example, if you have unhappy players, who are undermining your plans, who are complaining and setting a negative atmosphere around the team, you have to be ready to step and and address it. You may have to intercede by suspending or cutting players, but if you do and do so in a thought out fair manner, the players who have bought into your objectives will support you. Doing nothing, might make those who are giving you their best question your leadership. Practice being decisive If you’re chronically indecisive, build that decision-making muscle by starting small. Give yourself 30 seconds to decide to make small decisions. Follow through on those decisions, analyze the outcome and then learn from them. Then work up to bigger things. Get comfortable making decisions in a timely manner and accept that often the right decision, the best decision is still going to disappoint some people. Does this give you anxiety? Ask yourself what the worst-case scenario is if you pick wrong. I think you might just see that making coaching decisions is not life or death for most people. An important part of making coaching decisions is the ability to react quickly, to see what might not be working and yup, you guessed it, make a decision to adjust on the fly. No one makes perfect decisions 100% of the time.With the number of decisions we make on a regular basis, some are going to make out, some less so. We date the wrong people, we stay in a job longer than we should, we order the wrong dessert, pick a wrong movie to go watch etc. But action works in your favor, while inaction never does. When you delay making a decision because you’re afraid of messing up, nothing changes. But when you’re proactive, you’re choosing to move ahead—and that’s one of the best decisions you can make. Now this whole post has been about the theory of decision making so let me finish off sharing about what was probably the most significant decision I made early in my coaching career and how it turned out. In my first full year as head coach, we had identified that we need to upgrade at the goalie position in order to challenge for provincials. We went out a signed what many considered the best goalie in the province. She had a great start to the season and we were playing well. Half what through the summer, he got injured and was unable and we called up the goalie from the reserve team. She had a run of great games as we won 5 straight. We were playing the 4 time defending provincial champions in a Quebec Cup (basically provincial cup to qualify for nationals) and three days before the game, our #1 goalie declared herself fit to play. She hadn't been around much and hadn't trained with the team, not to mention the team had gotten very confident with the backup goalie behind them. I now found myself having to decide between choosing to play the goalie we had recruited specifically to get us to nationals but who hadn't trained or played for 5 weeks, or the young rookie that was on a great form of games. For 3 days, I went back and forth trying to weight the pros and cons of starting one over the other. I tried to think about every possible reaction to the decisions, how would the players react, would our #1 be game ready after having done nothing for over a month, would I lose the team by being disloyal to the goalie that had given us such a great run of games. In discussion with the team captain, I jokingly made a comment " if only I could find a way to play both of them". She quickly replied " Is there a rule that says you can't ?" Well, it was like the light switch went on. I met with the team and told them I had decided that I was confident in both goalies and that as such, our young goalie would start the game to set the tone. That no matter what happened in that first 45 minutes, I would switch goalies at half time to put in our experience goalie in crunch time. Outcome: the game went to a shoot out and our experience, recruited goalie stopped 3 PKs and we won. We went on to win provincials and qualify for nationals. Did I make the right decision? It had a lot of people taking, but the team bought it, they respected me for taking a stand and explaining the logic behind it and of course the result worked out, so maybe HELL YA lol |
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
January 2023
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