Been giving renewed thought to the end of the football season. There is clearly a lot I could have done better and there are lessons I can take from that in order to improve as a coach for the upcoming soccer season. Here are some takeaways:
- More fun
- Focus on having fortitude and courage
- Greater focus on team work
- Greater focus on timing
- Use players to their strengths
The last one is especially important. We lost 2 out of our last 3 because we didn’t–I didn’t have kids who can step up and perform different roles that build off their strengths. We also lost because when the going got tough, we got despondent. I should’ve rethought the starters and began to run more plays with two halfbacks, because I had 2 and I had 1 every down wideout left. I didn’t, because I stubbornly believed all the others would step up and emerge as stars. Becoming a trusted wideout takes time and takes forming a relationship with the QBs. We didn’t have any of that at the end and it showed.
So, in order to improve I need to work on being a better teacher of what is listed above. Teamwork is the starting point. My players didn’t believe they could fill certain roles and I didn’t teach them the timing to be effective in the long run. This is also something I can improve on next year.
A way to build camaraderie is team specific high fives, chants, and other team building rituals. That is something I’ve always been poor at and need to really improve on for soccer. When it comes to soccer we are already going into the season with two underaged kids, so we are already looking at being an undersized team. We gotta believe and we gotta play smarter than anyone else in the league in order to be successful. With any luck we can pull together some of the players from last year and continue to grow together.