tough coaches, delicate balance

There were an article in the Kansas City Star magazine about coaches yelling at their athletes, saying that players are quitting organized sports before the age of 13, blaming overly aggressive coaching more than any other reason.

Personally, I grew up in environment where I wasn't able to talk at dinner,had to be back at home at a certain hour after school, being respectful to the rules, being polite all the time. It always annoy me when a kid comes to my house and don't say "hi".

"The win-at-all-costs mentality" is it the reason? Coaches are forgetting that they are kids? Or are we pushing then too far? My friends is pushing me more all the time and he is telling me when he was young, he was doing this and that... but at the end of the story, we should ask ourself, Why?

Personally, I am trying to find a balance. I want for my players to be able to enjoy and also perform but with fun. I think when we saw the way they played last weekend, they provided great soccer. That was beautiful. Should it be enough? Or when our team stops to win, though, society begins to shine a spotlight on coaching behavior?

Then we're more likely to say "hey, that's wrong"... difficult balance!

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Thierry Henry

THIERRY HENRY HANDBALL KILLS IRELAND DREAM! So what! Is it the first time that a player is cheating? Not really! Yes, it is bad. France didn't play well. Irish were much better team on the field but the referee could have blew for penalty kick on the first game and this game for France. He didn't...

If we want players to be able to play honestly, we need video... by the way, the only player who got caught by video is Zidane. Final of the world cup. If we didn't have the video the ref. wouldn't have given a red card...

So sorry! It is sad but it is soccer...

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The Poulidor of the soccer

Raymond Poulidor is a former professional bicycle racer. He was known as the eternal second, because he finished the Tour de France in second place three times. I am thinking that we are becoming the Poulidor of soccer!

We started our game with a 1-3-2-2 formation. Our opponent started with a 1-2-3-2. They were more aggressive and were playing a perfect triangle formation. Our defense was suprised and could not really react. It seems they were frozen. Ok, it was raining and freezing. After few minutes, we were down 2-0. I could not keep going like that so I switched formation and position. I came up with a 1-2-3-2 like them. Right away, we were starting to play and control better the middle of the field. Suddenly my midfielder had a great left foot and we were 2-1 at half time.

Second half, we started with the same formation and asked my boys to be more aggressive on the ball. They did. We equalized with the right middle field, finally waking up, who crossed the perfect ball to our striker who finished it! 2-2! But having 5 subs during a tournament helps the fatigue. They scored right away after a mistake. 3-2. It is difficult and I am trying to tell them to cheer between them. They were quiet. Suddenly, we attacked again and got a penalty kick! I should have asked for a red card but my brain was so frozen and I am a nice guy! Well I didn't think about it anyway! 3-3...

I was starting to believe it but suddenly, we are making another (I don't like to use the word stupid but...) mistakes that we were not making if we were not tired. 4-3. They didn't have any more juice... 5-3!

Well we need to realize that they have been playing together longer than us and they have 13 players that are balanced. Now we were playing in Division Platinum!!! And last fall we were in D3... So ok we lost but we will be back!

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