Ready?

You guys ready to get started. Captains practices started today and through this week from 8-10 am at the Osseo Sr. High Practice fields. Next week we will start tryouts on Monday at 4-6 pm, but please be there at 3 to get checked in. We will have 40 sprints to test your speed on Monday. On tuesday we will have the “Cooper” 12 minute test run  for your enjoyment to see how fit you are. I am ready for a great season. I will see you next Monday.

Coach Smith

Osseo vs. Hopkins August 31st

Well, this was an ugly win, but a win none the less. A victory of the will if nothing else. This is the first time we have beaten Hopkins since i began coaching the team. I also know that previous teams have been tested by these guys also, and they always play us tough. It is a good confidence builder and we should feel good about this one for sure. We can compete with anyone in the state and this bodes well for contests to come. Now we have to keep inproving and prove we deserve to be among the states elite teams every match. Are you with me?

It was a hard fought battle where our execution of our game plan was spotty. When we kept our zonal defense intact we did well, when we lost our discipline and didn’t communicate, it was Swiss cheese, if you know what i me. We will review our plan before the match tonight. Matt fortunately had a great match and made several saves late in the match, especially from corners, that really saved our bacon.  we have to improve to compete with the top teams in conference and come out on top. Despite this our defense held the line…Good job at Rule #2!

Overall, our attack was spotty. We need to execute on shape quick passes with flanking & overlapping runs. The few times we did this (i counted 4 in the whole match), our attack looked good, with the resulting a goal of Corbin’s strike and Gus getting the rebound. we have to start putting these combos together 15+ times a game to really empower our attack. I am confident you can do it.

As a team we also played tight and a lot of boot ball instead of controlling, bringing it up (building the attack in waves) and “looking it up” Let’s keep that in mind tonight. The result of not doing this is our backfield, midfield, and attacker our often out of sinc with each other, either ahead or behind. when we execute sharper passing and runs we don’t leave as much space for between the three lines for the defenders to take the ball alway.

Another thing that we did well when we were disciplined was throw-in. you need to keep working our throw in strategy to keep possession of the ball. When we do this in the various thirds it works the majority of the time.

Set pieces you just need to recogize the situation and execute. Going quick on the back two thrids, and executing our practiced pieces in the attacking third.

Next up – Park Center. Take nothing for granted. Take no prisoners. Execute the plan and keep improving and moving toward the Standard of Excellence.

Do you have the mental strength to be a real champion?

Excerpt from David Joyce of the Blackburn Rovers in the English Premier League…

In all my years in elite sport I’ve had a lot of time to think about the role of mental strength in sport. To my mind, there’s no question about what separates the world’s best from the rest and it’s the ability to endure, even enjoy, self-inflicted pain.

I’m not talking about hitting yourself over the head with a mallet here, I’m talking about really exploring the absolute limit of what your body is capable of achieving. Pushing yourself to the extent it hurts. The absolute best that I’ve worked with, across many sports, actively seek out that pain and possess incredible levels of psychological strength.

A useful analogy is seeing how far you can drive on a tank of petrol. Most of us refuel before the car completely runs dry. Champions test their limit every day. The reason for this is because they know that the more they test themselves the bigger their capacity becomes. Doing this, however, takes not just the ability to endure this pain, but the courage to want to go there in the first place. I’m sure many of you will have seen The Crawl before (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTn1v5TGK_w). It’s a great example of what it’s really like to run the fuel tank dry.

“In order to motivate your athlete, it’s vital that you have a goal in mind. This goal needs to be achievable, have a fixed time period assigned to it and be of sufficient value to the athlete such that the reward is worth the sacrifice.”

I believe every human has the capacity to access this side of themselves but it’s almost impossible to do this on your own. That is why having a training partner almost always increases the quality and intensity of a training session. It’s all about motivation.

The true art of the coach, therefore, is in motivating the athlete. A thorough and complete understanding of the psychological make-up of their athlete is essential. I use the term coach as an umbrella term here; it could be a sports coach, strength coach, even physiotherapist; anyone whose job it is to extract the most out of an athlete.

In order to have a motivated athlete, it’s vital that you have a goal in mind. This goal needs to be achievable, have a fixed time period assigned to it and be of sufficient value to the athlete such that the reward is worth the sacrifice. The goal should be written down and the pathway to achieving this goal should be agreed upon.

An example could be:

Objective: In 3 month’s time I will be able to squat 1.5 times my body weight.

Purpose: I am doing this because it will help improve my vertical jump height.

Importance: So that I can win the state high jump title in 4 months.

You can also use the S.M.A.R.T principle for goal getting. It’s a simple, yet often-misused motivational technique which can provide structure to your training and competition programme.

• Be Specific: Specific goals work better than general ‘do-your-best’ goals. For example, if you’re a runner, rather than professing a desire to reduce your 5K time, you should state: ‘I intend to knock 20 seconds off my 5K time over the next six months’.

• Be Measurable Simply saying that you want to trim your 5K time is insufficient; you need some accurate means of charting your progress. This means that continuous monitoring is needed, but this can become a bore so build a regular ‘measurement day’ into your training schedule on which you test yourself in various disciplines. The idea is to reduce your preoccupation with times and improvement.

• Be Adjustable: Goal-setting is a dynamic process. If, for instance, you become injured during a competitive season, you should be able to lower your goals accordingly. On the other hand, you may make such rapid progress that you can raise them.

• Be Realistic: It’s all very well saying “I want to break the 5K record” but that isn’t a realistic goal. This is an extreme example, but you must recognise that your room for improvement shrinks as you get near your full potential. Conversely goals should be difficult enough so that you’re not struck down by acute boredom because you’ve achieved them too easily.

• Be Time-based: If you don’t give yourself a specific time frame in which the goal must be achieved, then the urgency for attainment is reduced. The previous example of trimming the 5K time by 20 seconds within six months satisfies this criterion. Try to resist the temptation to move these time constraints back to accommodate life events, such as minor injuries; the result is that the value of the time limit is negated.

There will be times when you or your athlete is struggling with motivation, fatigue, stress, anxiety or whatever so a sound knowledge of the psychological forces at play is vital. The coach needs to know what makes their athlete tick as well as the best strategies to motivate them. Sometimes they may need shouting at and sometimes they may need an arm around the shoulder. The best coaches I’ve worked with understand this and, more importantly, understand that every individual is just that; an individual. If you know what is going on in the space between the ears of your athlete, you’re already over the biggest barrier to success.

Stay robust (above the neck!),

Joycey

David Joyce Currently works at Blackburn Rovers in the English Premier League as well as lecturing at the University of Bath on the Masters of Sports Physiotherapy course.

Osseo vs. Mounds View – August 28th

Well, we made it through our first set of matches. The Freshman team came out with a 3-3 tie and was up 3-1 in the second half before getting worn down by a team with even more kids (27 some counted) They are WAY ahead of last year with to ties to begin the season (they tied Park Center 2-2 on Friday) Good job boys! They B-Squad had a harder time and lost 2-0. We gave up a goal early in the 1st half and then held fast deep into the second when we gave up a late one. Organization was a challenge at times, and you had a substitute coach who didn’t know your capabilities or names well (me). I think you will have a much better showing next week with coach Zach at the helm. I haven’t gotten the full report yet on the JV team but the think they lost 2-1. Everyone had a good account of their efforts and never were out of the match. If we do that every time boys you will always be in a position to take the match and keep fighting til the end. Good Job!

The varsity had an excellent first match but lots of room for continuing to to bring our game along further as we start to look at competing with the top teams we face in our schedule.We put a Win in the record books and that is what counts.  The first half we came out on the attack winning the coin toss and used our set shots  well (including the kick off) We were able to draw first blood on corner  as Abdulrazaq put a volley in with an assist from Casey Cardille in the 7th minute of the match. Mounds View came back to tie it late in the first half with a defense break down. We are still learning to trust each other and the details of implementing the flat back four.

In the second half we came out hard making adjustments to help retain more possessions, especially on throw ins, and also create more chances on transitions by being more patient as we bring the ball forward and make passing decisions to retain possession. Right off the bat Peter Hager placed a nice shot from the left side with an assist from Lucas Norman in the 42 minute, just two minutes into the 2nd half. We scored again in the 53rd minute with Lucas Norman getting free for a shot from the right side with and assist from Luke VanGeest. Our back field play continues to improve and contributes to the attack as well in very important ways with the two assists from Casey and Luke. Our forward attackers and wings also did a nice job of working free to make space for each other (Lucas, Hussien, Patrick, Gus, Corbin, Lionel) as well as our central midfielders who are the play makers (Peter & Sam, Aaron & Abdi)

We substituted frequently and all 18 got to see significant action. The bench showed up to play. Stand out performances coming off the bench included Corbin Cole who did a nice job on the wing and worked into the attack scheme very well and Patrick Paye has several nice plays on top as well. All of you represent the best of Osseo teams and are here because you can contribute. The more experience we can give you the more depth we can develop for our tournament run.

Overall a good first effort. We need to keep working on 1. making our set plays sharper 2. using our throw in strategies in the different thirds to retain possession (Peter’s goal happened because we executed the throw-in well in the attacking 1/3) 3. Trusting our defensive scheme and shape to work as practiced. 4. Communicating with each other in the battle (esp. defensively).

Next up Hopkins. They have Game. We must bring ours. Always a dog fight, it will be a key test. Get your head, heart, and will ready for 80 minutes of battling. Expect to win, but not with out a fight.

Landon Donovan – Wow!



USA vs. Ghana Preview

Here us a good analysis of the USA vs. Ghana match tomorrow. Sorry Patrick (Amoako), have to go with the USA tomorrow!

usa-ghana-picks-and-preview

Coach Smith

World Cup Stats at iDashboards…

Now, with the beauty of iDashboards, you can have all the stats in real time.
To view the current brackets, go here:
http://live.idashboards.com/worldfootball/?guestuser=worldcup

Mouse over each of your favorite team, and you can see the entire series of games highlighted.

The site is divided into 3 easy to view modes:
1. by Group and Ranking
2. by the Knockout stage Brackets
3. by Stadium (for those lucky to be there) times and dates of all matches
Italy is ranked 5th on the World rankings behind Brazil, Spain, Portugal, and Netherlands!
All together now…Fratelli d’Italia…L’Italia s’è desta…

World Cup – David Joyce of Blackburn Rovers Blog

Here is a unique perspective on the World Cup matches coming up. It is by David Joyce, a sports physiotherapist working at Blackburn Rovers FC in the English Premier League. I think his views on training and recover from the matches are helpful to your thinking about our own training. He is an expert in training professional soccer players in what is arguably the best league in the world. World Cup Blog – Sports Performance His advice is something we should heed carefully as we point towards excellence at our own level, NWSC champions, and MNSHL AA champions.

Coach Smith

The World Cup For Everyone Else

This alternative world cup is for the rest of us who don’t quite follow all the rules…Check it out. Wall Street Journal Sports Page – Viva World Cup Soccer Bet you didn’t know the Wall Street Journal had a Sports Page (well it’s just one page ) Iraqi Kurdistan (KRG team mentioned in the article) is where I have been working to develop a model farming company and I played soccer with a bunch of Iraqi soldiers there just last November…
Coach

Coach Smith playing the world's game with KRG Iraqi soldiers

Thierry Henry Skills