Live to Love, Love to Live

"A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment."
-John Wooden

To play on last weeks topic of inspiring player's, I wanted to talk about motivation and teaching.

I have coached hundreds of times and with all ages. The one good quality I have seen with good coaches is that they find a way to say something so the player they are saying it to will not resent them for that whole practice or week. As I was saying last week in choosing your words wisely, it is something that I want to talk about this week also. Now, when a person is in practice, the midst of coaching, it is tough to control their words or how they react to situations. Let me give you an example through my own life.

Growing up I used to swear on the field a lot. I swore at my players and other players. Let's just say I was not the most encouraging team mate. I realized that had to change. I slowly trained my mind and mouth to stop swearing. I made myself be conscious of the words that came out of my mouth. So, I would catch myself a lot and slowly but surely I stopped swearing on the field. My demeanor changed to be more kind and encouraging towards my players. I had to find a way to criticize/teach other player's without destroying them.

There are two types of coaches I believe. Those that player's resent after training and those that do not. You can get a winning coach even if he is someone who creates fear in his player's through his word domination. I like to call it word domination, because the coach creates a dominating force over player's in belittling them. The player's then come to focus very hard, but only because they know the coach will lambaste them if they do not get it right. These player's may think the coach is great, but they do not like him and will not really talk to their coach much after they play for them. I encourage coaches everywhere to be the coach that motivates through positive criticism and finds ways their player's will not resent them at the end of the day.

Our minds are powerful in that we can control the way we think and say things. If we create an environment that cultivates creativity and being comfortable at training, then we will be on the right track. I do not know about you, but I want my player's to love talking to me. I want them to remember me and want to stay in touch with me. I not only want to be a successful coach on the field, but a coach that is successful off of it. Create that environment that not only teaches player's about soccer, but about growing as a human being. Use the way you talk to them and interact with them as an example. They will look up to you, but make it because they want to be like you and not fear you.

QOTW (Question of the Week) for tomorrow: post your answers on the comment board and I will put the best one's up for tomorrow...
---If you could be any animal, what would it be and why?---

So, I get to Crew Stadium and start my rehab yesterday. It was fun to see all the familiar faces in the stands that were already ready for our game. Then after rehab it was fun to go out to some of the tailgates and say hi to some people. Man, who says Crew fans do not know how to have a good time? Shoot, I know they do. Congrats Crew fans in helping to grow a larger community of people in supporting our cause to win trophies.

The game was enjoyable in the sense that we won 2-0 and started the season off with three points. A couple things I am loving about our team thus far; for one, you gotta love the D.O special. The one time a game where Danny O'rourke runs 90 yards down the field and somehow finds a way to make an opportunity for our team to score. Danny, you get my award for being opportunistic brutha. Another thing was seeing the Nordecke come out in full swing. You guys packed it over there and made your voices heard.I loved the new banners and signs everyone made by the way. It was a beautiful day and I loved having the season start up again. Looking forward to seeing everyone again soon. Short blog post, because I want to watch basketball...no more number ones...with me now...no more number ones.

So, I had the great honor of flipping from the MLS first kick game thursday night and Xavier versus Kansas State. What a game. I mean the basketball game by the way. Right when Philly received the red card it was pretty much over and the second half Seattle dominated. So, I watched Xavier sink trifecta after trifecta to keep the game going. It was an amazing game to watch as both teams were laying everything they had on the court. My wife went to Xavier and we were cheering for them, bummer they lost.

But, the first game was great. Great in that we brought another team into the league. Great that Seattle, as usual, packed their house to the brim. Great that Alejandro Moreno got some face time. Katie and I loved having Alejandro on the Crew. His wife is awesome, his kids are fun, and Alejandro is a great guy. It stinks he is not with us anymore, but it was cool to see him playing again. I look forward to going up against him one of these days. Man oh man was Philly young though. That is what happens when you have an expansion team. I am sure they will do well seeing that they have a good coach in Peter Nowak. Good teams take time to build sometimes. The more games you have with a core group of guys the better. You could just tell Seattle knew each other on the field. They are looking very good and it will be nice to visit them again in a few weeks.

Game day today though and that is exciting. Our boys are ready to play and I am sure so is Toronto. It is always a great game to open the league with. I am sure the Nordecke will be hopping. Any new signs? Any new chants? Looking forward to the game. Let's just hope there is not some random rain storm that turns into a downfall of snow. I mean what was that, seriously...blew me away. But, looking forward to seeing everyone there. Come on out everyone, with your Hooligan bandanas, your Turbina drums flaring, and the Nordecke singing us onto a great start to the season. Be there, have no fear, and bring on the cheer.