Saturday, October 31, 2009:
Well another very ugly performance. This time we found a new way to give up a goal. After having the better of play in the first 8 minutes and 3 really good scoring opportunities, we had a foul about 40 yards out in our defensive middle. It was certainly not a bad foul, but a foul. No problem, right? Wrong! They took a direct shot from 40 yards and the ball was deflected in our own goal by one of our players who turned away from the ball. Score 1:0 for Centre. A very bad goal and a first in my career to have a goal scored on us from 40 yards out! We tried to get control again was was a little successful. However, at the 27 minute mark, they had a throw in in our defensive third and after having talked about their very long throw all week, we fell asleep on it. They threw the ball to the back post where 2 of their players were unmarked and left alone to score the 2nd goal. Score now 2:0 for Centre. Again, we have given up 2 bad goals, that were very defendable and preventable. The half ends and we are down 2 goals.
Early ion the 2nd half, Garner Shivers hits a good cross to Tyler Evans, who just misses the target, but Garner re-injures his hip flexor muscle. This time it is torn we believe and his season is most likely over.
The real problem right now for us, is not in our physical fitness, but in our mental fitness and ability to make passes. This is most disturbing, since 45 to 50 minutes of every training session is geared to passing and moving off the ball. In our system of play, it is predicated on short accurate passes played to feet and played early and then movement off that pass. We are not executing this at all. It appears that we have become quite satisfied with our won-loss record and not willing to work harder to get better. Our intensity is lacking and mostly from the way we train everyday and that carries over to the games.No one wants to go to battle each and every training session to get better, but rather, they just want to maintain the satisfaction level they are feeling from the 10 wins. This is a new wrinkle for me and I am not sure how to correct it. All we can do is continue to try and get them to battle everyday during training and make it tough on the opponents, so we can at least have a sense of pride in working hard to get better.
We have 4 games left in our season and we must get better and strive for perfection and battle to the final whistle blows. This is a must! We shall see!
Until tomorrows game against DePauw University at 11 AM our time, I will say good bye.
Coach G from Greencastle, Indiana
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009:
Good morning! I hope everyone had a great week-end. Before I begin, I must wish my brother a Happy Birthday on his 71st! Our last game was this past Friday evening in Jackson, MS, against conference rival Millsaps College. After having played Huntingdon College on Wednesday evening, we were hoping for a much better performance against Millsaps and we did get a much better one indeed. The game was a tale of total possession by BSC as Millsaps did not look to attack unless it was off an unforced error by us and then they would counter attack with a long pass and a prayer for a shot! They put all 11 players behind the mid-line and tried to just play for a tie. We had 19 shots on goal to their 3! We just could not find the back of the net. We had plenty of good opportunities, but on this night, it was not to be. The game went into double overtime and the final score was 0:0 after 110 minutes of play.
Now, while we are all disappointed that we did not win the game as we should have, we were delighted to finally find our rhythm and flow again. We cut our unforced errors down from a high against Huntingdon of 34 to just 14 in this game. It was very nice to see that we could persevere and not lose concentration or have a mental breakdown to allow a goal. The longer you play in a game where you have total domination and possession, sometimes you become a little complacent and lose focus and that is when a goal can occur. The best part of the this game was that we never lost focus. We played all our starters and made only one substitute and that was for only 18 minutes. I am extremely proud of our team for their focus, but also for their fitness. As most of you know, I do not make a lot of changes during the games, as I truly believe it disrupts the rhythm and flow you are creating. So, I am very happy we did what was necessary to come out of that game with no worse than a tie. Should we have won? Certainly, but sometimes soccer can be a cruel game and just because you have total domination and possession and your stats show a great disparity between the 2 teams, does not mean that you will win every time. This was one of those games. We did not play poorly, but I knew going in, especially after our long layoff and the way we played on Wednesday, this would be a test for us to regain some of our rhythm and hopefully prepare us for our final 5 games, with 4 of those against conference rivals. We continue our conference play this week-end on the road against Centre College in Danville, KY on Friday evening and then on Sunday we take on DePauw University in Greencastle, IN. After this week-end, we come home for our final 3 games against Colorado College on Friday, November 6 and Austin College on Sunday, November 8. We will then conclude our 2009 season against a very old rival from our NAIA days, Berry College at home on November 13.
So, until after this week-end, when I write about our games, I will say good bye and wish everyone a great week.
Best regards,
Coach G from Birmingham, AL
Good morning! I hope everyone had a great week-end. Before I begin, I must wish my brother a Happy Birthday on his 71st! Our last game was this past Friday evening in Jackson, MS, against conference rival Millsaps College. After having played Huntingdon College on Wednesday evening, we were hoping for a much better performance against Millsaps and we did get a much better one indeed. The game was a tale of total possession by BSC as Millsaps did not look to attack unless it was off an unforced error by us and then they would counter attack with a long pass and a prayer for a shot! They put all 11 players behind the mid-line and tried to just play for a tie. We had 19 shots on goal to their 3! We just could not find the back of the net. We had plenty of good opportunities, but on this night, it was not to be. The game went into double overtime and the final score was 0:0 after 110 minutes of play.
Now, while we are all disappointed that we did not win the game as we should have, we were delighted to finally find our rhythm and flow again. We cut our unforced errors down from a high against Huntingdon of 34 to just 14 in this game. It was very nice to see that we could persevere and not lose concentration or have a mental breakdown to allow a goal. The longer you play in a game where you have total domination and possession, sometimes you become a little complacent and lose focus and that is when a goal can occur. The best part of the this game was that we never lost focus. We played all our starters and made only one substitute and that was for only 18 minutes. I am extremely proud of our team for their focus, but also for their fitness. As most of you know, I do not make a lot of changes during the games, as I truly believe it disrupts the rhythm and flow you are creating. So, I am very happy we did what was necessary to come out of that game with no worse than a tie. Should we have won? Certainly, but sometimes soccer can be a cruel game and just because you have total domination and possession and your stats show a great disparity between the 2 teams, does not mean that you will win every time. This was one of those games. We did not play poorly, but I knew going in, especially after our long layoff and the way we played on Wednesday, this would be a test for us to regain some of our rhythm and hopefully prepare us for our final 5 games, with 4 of those against conference rivals. We continue our conference play this week-end on the road against Centre College in Danville, KY on Friday evening and then on Sunday we take on DePauw University in Greencastle, IN. After this week-end, we come home for our final 3 games against Colorado College on Friday, November 6 and Austin College on Sunday, November 8. We will then conclude our 2009 season against a very old rival from our NAIA days, Berry College at home on November 13.
So, until after this week-end, when I write about our games, I will say good bye and wish everyone a great week.
Best regards,
Coach G from Birmingham, AL
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009:
First of all, I must say Happy Birthday to my son Sean, as today is his 24th Birthday. I woke him up early this morning to tell him the same.
Now, last week, we had to cancel our game with Maryville College, as the field was unplayable and the rain was non-stop all day. We will not make that game up, as neither of us has a good date available.
About our game last evening against Huntingdon College from Montgomery, Alabama. They were an old rival from our NAIA days and we last played them in 1997. Needless to say, this old rival was ready for a renewal so to speak. I can not begin to express how poorly we played in this game. We had been off from last Thursday until Sunday night, fro Fall Break. It was quite obvious that we did not need that long of a break, as our play showed how truly bad we are at the moment. Let me begin by stating our first goal came late in the first half on a goal from Garner Shivers from a cross by Tyler Evans. The half ended with us up 1:0. At halftime, we addressed our many deficiencies during the half and implored each of them to clean up their passes and thought process. Well, I thought it worked, as we scored our second goal 5 minutes into the second half on a goal by Tyler Evans from a Garner Shivers cross. We now led 2:0 and I thought we have our rhythm back, only to be brought back to reality, that we did not have any rhythm at all. It was only in 2 instances in the game that we found it. To say we have no idea about the fine art of passing (which by the way is integral to the game of soccer), is a gross understatement. Not only can we not pass properly or to our own teammates, we can not even think when to make the pass. If we were relying on a paid attendance to watch a circus act, we would fill the stadium, as we look like trained seals, who only want to show how fancy we are and not how simple we can play to be effective. That is the problem with today's young players...they do not know how to play and think simply in the flow of the game. They just want to impress you with how many touches and fancy moves they can execute before releasing the ball. Last night was a microcosm of what is wrong with the game today in my opinion. Soccer is supposed be a simple game played with passion and thought in order to create a rhythm in the game that has balance thus creating the flow necessary to be effective. If we continue to not play simple we will become bit players in a small circus trying to attract fans to watch how fancy we can be. We must learn somehow to be simple and play 1 and 2 touch soccer with great movement off the ball. In all the goals we have given up (12 in 13 games), I would bet you that over 90% have come because we pass our opponents the ball in the defensive third of the field. Never does that happen for us by our opponents. This happens when we are under very little or no pressure and everyone else is now moving forward in the attack, when we make this horrible pass and we are now numbers down in the defense and can not recover quickly enough to stop the counter. last night, we had clear possession in our defensive to middle third of the field and moving into our attack, when we passed a ball directly to the opponent, who immediately countered and left a player one on one against our keeper. Our keeper came out to narrow the angle and then he shot and as the ball was going way wide of goal, one of our defenders rushing back, hit the ball with his hand and although it was surely wide of the goal, the referee called the hand ball and not only awarded the penalty kick (which was justified and correct), he issued a Red Card to our defender. This happened with about 9 minutes remaining in the game. They converted to make the score 2:1 and he held on with 10 men to get the win.
In summary, all I can say is what I told the team in the locker room after the game and that was, you cannot become a great team, unless you play simple soccer and learn how to not only pass the ball early and accurately, but also be able to think! We have a Conference game tomorrow evening (Friday) in Jackson, Mississippi, against Millsaps College on artificial turf. If we play the same kind of poor balls, we will not be very successful, if at all. I am greatly disappointed in how we have been playing lately against lesser opponents. We have always told all our teams, that our only opponent is ourselves. What I mean by that is, we play a certain way and if we execute and play our game at our level, it does not matter what our opponents do. They will have to play as good as us to get a tie and better than us to win. We must stop all this foolish passing and fancy playing in order to become what our potential tells us we can become. I hope we can learn from this game and apply it for the remainder of the season!
So, until tomorrow evening, I will say good bye and hopefully, everyone will have a great week-end.
With my best regards,
Coach G from Birmingham, Alabama
First of all, I must say Happy Birthday to my son Sean, as today is his 24th Birthday. I woke him up early this morning to tell him the same.
Now, last week, we had to cancel our game with Maryville College, as the field was unplayable and the rain was non-stop all day. We will not make that game up, as neither of us has a good date available.
About our game last evening against Huntingdon College from Montgomery, Alabama. They were an old rival from our NAIA days and we last played them in 1997. Needless to say, this old rival was ready for a renewal so to speak. I can not begin to express how poorly we played in this game. We had been off from last Thursday until Sunday night, fro Fall Break. It was quite obvious that we did not need that long of a break, as our play showed how truly bad we are at the moment. Let me begin by stating our first goal came late in the first half on a goal from Garner Shivers from a cross by Tyler Evans. The half ended with us up 1:0. At halftime, we addressed our many deficiencies during the half and implored each of them to clean up their passes and thought process. Well, I thought it worked, as we scored our second goal 5 minutes into the second half on a goal by Tyler Evans from a Garner Shivers cross. We now led 2:0 and I thought we have our rhythm back, only to be brought back to reality, that we did not have any rhythm at all. It was only in 2 instances in the game that we found it. To say we have no idea about the fine art of passing (which by the way is integral to the game of soccer), is a gross understatement. Not only can we not pass properly or to our own teammates, we can not even think when to make the pass. If we were relying on a paid attendance to watch a circus act, we would fill the stadium, as we look like trained seals, who only want to show how fancy we are and not how simple we can play to be effective. That is the problem with today's young players...they do not know how to play and think simply in the flow of the game. They just want to impress you with how many touches and fancy moves they can execute before releasing the ball. Last night was a microcosm of what is wrong with the game today in my opinion. Soccer is supposed be a simple game played with passion and thought in order to create a rhythm in the game that has balance thus creating the flow necessary to be effective. If we continue to not play simple we will become bit players in a small circus trying to attract fans to watch how fancy we can be. We must learn somehow to be simple and play 1 and 2 touch soccer with great movement off the ball. In all the goals we have given up (12 in 13 games), I would bet you that over 90% have come because we pass our opponents the ball in the defensive third of the field. Never does that happen for us by our opponents. This happens when we are under very little or no pressure and everyone else is now moving forward in the attack, when we make this horrible pass and we are now numbers down in the defense and can not recover quickly enough to stop the counter. last night, we had clear possession in our defensive to middle third of the field and moving into our attack, when we passed a ball directly to the opponent, who immediately countered and left a player one on one against our keeper. Our keeper came out to narrow the angle and then he shot and as the ball was going way wide of goal, one of our defenders rushing back, hit the ball with his hand and although it was surely wide of the goal, the referee called the hand ball and not only awarded the penalty kick (which was justified and correct), he issued a Red Card to our defender. This happened with about 9 minutes remaining in the game. They converted to make the score 2:1 and he held on with 10 men to get the win.
In summary, all I can say is what I told the team in the locker room after the game and that was, you cannot become a great team, unless you play simple soccer and learn how to not only pass the ball early and accurately, but also be able to think! We have a Conference game tomorrow evening (Friday) in Jackson, Mississippi, against Millsaps College on artificial turf. If we play the same kind of poor balls, we will not be very successful, if at all. I am greatly disappointed in how we have been playing lately against lesser opponents. We have always told all our teams, that our only opponent is ourselves. What I mean by that is, we play a certain way and if we execute and play our game at our level, it does not matter what our opponents do. They will have to play as good as us to get a tie and better than us to win. We must stop all this foolish passing and fancy playing in order to become what our potential tells us we can become. I hope we can learn from this game and apply it for the remainder of the season!
So, until tomorrow evening, I will say good bye and hopefully, everyone will have a great week-end.
With my best regards,
Coach G from Birmingham, Alabama
Monday, October 12, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009:
Good morning to all and I hope the week-end was great! We won our game on Sunday by a score of 2:1! that makes our record at the moment 9 wins 2 losses and 1 tie! A far cry better than last year, that is for sure.
Now to the game itself. I knew after the emotional and tense game we endured on Friday evening, against the number 12 team in the nation, Trinity University, we would be hard pressed to duplicate that effort on Sunday. I was correct! We came out very flat, just like we did against Oglethorpe the previous Sunday. We were emotionally and physically drained to start the game. We gave up a goal in the 28th minute, but we would find ourselves getting some good chances to score in the remainder of the first half, but to no avail and the score would remain 0:1 at the half. We made some changes at halftime in our approach and our intensity started to pick up and take over the game during the second half. In the 63rd minute a great cross from Sean Head to an onrushing Andrew Shelton would knot the score at 1 a piece. Andrew Shelton's goal was a diving header and a great one at that. Our winning goal was tallied by Sean Head with an assist from Tony Crocker in the 80th minute. That is how the game would end, 2 to 1 for BSC.
It was certainly not a pretty game by any stretch of the imagination, but sometimes winning "ugly" can be a great catalyst for the remainder of the season. What winning 'ugly" can do is make the team acutely aware that they are good enough to overcome anything in a game in order to secure a victory. We did that in this game. I truly believe that they now know they can win every time they step on the field regardless of the circumstances. They have also learned the meaning of "battling" to the final whistle is blown and they are back in the locker room! Good teams always find ways to win and great teams do it with a sort of arrogance. That arrogance is not cockiness, but confidence in that, no matter what the score is or how poorly they are playing, they will always win by "battling" to the end! We are on the verge of some great things and only time will give us the momentum to achieve these great things!
Our next game is this Thursday, October 15 at 7 PM against Maryville College on our field. So, I hope to see you all at the game and wish each of you a great start to the week.
Best regards,
Coach G from Birmingham, AL
Good morning to all and I hope the week-end was great! We won our game on Sunday by a score of 2:1! that makes our record at the moment 9 wins 2 losses and 1 tie! A far cry better than last year, that is for sure.
Now to the game itself. I knew after the emotional and tense game we endured on Friday evening, against the number 12 team in the nation, Trinity University, we would be hard pressed to duplicate that effort on Sunday. I was correct! We came out very flat, just like we did against Oglethorpe the previous Sunday. We were emotionally and physically drained to start the game. We gave up a goal in the 28th minute, but we would find ourselves getting some good chances to score in the remainder of the first half, but to no avail and the score would remain 0:1 at the half. We made some changes at halftime in our approach and our intensity started to pick up and take over the game during the second half. In the 63rd minute a great cross from Sean Head to an onrushing Andrew Shelton would knot the score at 1 a piece. Andrew Shelton's goal was a diving header and a great one at that. Our winning goal was tallied by Sean Head with an assist from Tony Crocker in the 80th minute. That is how the game would end, 2 to 1 for BSC.
It was certainly not a pretty game by any stretch of the imagination, but sometimes winning "ugly" can be a great catalyst for the remainder of the season. What winning 'ugly" can do is make the team acutely aware that they are good enough to overcome anything in a game in order to secure a victory. We did that in this game. I truly believe that they now know they can win every time they step on the field regardless of the circumstances. They have also learned the meaning of "battling" to the final whistle is blown and they are back in the locker room! Good teams always find ways to win and great teams do it with a sort of arrogance. That arrogance is not cockiness, but confidence in that, no matter what the score is or how poorly they are playing, they will always win by "battling" to the end! We are on the verge of some great things and only time will give us the momentum to achieve these great things!
Our next game is this Thursday, October 15 at 7 PM against Maryville College on our field. So, I hope to see you all at the game and wish each of you a great start to the week.
Best regards,
Coach G from Birmingham, AL
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009:
Good morning to all! I hope this email finds everyone having a great start to the week-end as we are! Last night was a fun game to be a part of, not to mention it was my wonderful wife Marie and my 25th Wedding Anniversary! It was 25 years ago that we got married and then had a soccer game that evening, in which we won. We did not win last night, but we did not lose either. Trinity University came here ranked 12th in the Nation and we showed them for 110 minutes what real soccer is all about.They are a very physically talented team, with great technical ability and tremendous speed at every position. If you were there, you got to finally see our team learn the meaning of "Battling" until we got back to our locker room after the game. We have borrowed this "battling" phrase from the German National Teams, who never say it is over until they get back on their bus. This phrase was coined by the Netherlands player Ronald Koeman about how hard it is to beat the Germans! It was such a pleasure to watch these young men battle for 110 minutes and never say it was over.
Let us get to the game itself. The field was quite wet, put very playable and fast. We could certainly play our style and Trinity obviously played there usual long ball style of by-passing the midfield and sending the ball from the back directly to the strikers up front. We were ready for this and held them to a 0:0 halftime score. As each minute ticked by, we gained more and more confidence and knew that we were not going to lose this game. We gave up a goal in the 48th minute and that would be Trinity's last shot on goal for the remainder of the game. Tony Crocker hit a great shot that hit the crossbar midway through the 2nd half, that would have tied the score. Later in the half, Tyler Evans was pulled down by the goalkeeper and Tyler was the one called for the foul. It was clearing a penalty kick for us and the linesman had it right, only to be overruled by the center referee. We did not panic and kept pressing forward until the 80th minute, when Nico Reitmeier sent a beautifully played ball through to Kyle Sherrin, who finished it with great composure in the back of the net, to beat the keeper and knot the score at 1:1! In the first overtime, not much happened, as neither team took at shot on goal. But, in the second overtime. it looked like we would get the winner, when Tony Crocker took a great shot to the corner of the goal, only to see the Trinity goalkeeper stretch his 6'4" frame fully, to just tip the ball wide of the post. It was a great shot and and a great save for them to preserve the tie. Both teams had 4 shots on goal, which really makes the final score corrrect at 1:1. That result was a fair result for both teams in my opinion.
Last year, Trinity beat us 0:7 and it could have been worse. With hard work, a team of dedicated players who believe not only in themselves, but each other and a "battling" attitude to the finish, this team is poised to do great things this season and beyond! We finally 'Know" we are going to win, everytime we step on the field, instead of hoping and thinking we can win! This type of relentless pursuit of excellence that is being shown now by our team, is even more reason for our turn around from last year. Let us know that it will continue.....
Tomorrow (Sunday) at 11 AM, we will play Southwestern University from Georgetown, Texas. They have a talented team, especially with their 6'4" striker up front. This will be a great test for us, to see how we respond to finally getting it. The it being, "knowing" we will win and "battling" until we arrive back in our locker rom or on our team bus!
Have a great week-end and come see us win tomorrow.
Best regards,
Coach G from Birmingham, Alabama
Good morning to all! I hope this email finds everyone having a great start to the week-end as we are! Last night was a fun game to be a part of, not to mention it was my wonderful wife Marie and my 25th Wedding Anniversary! It was 25 years ago that we got married and then had a soccer game that evening, in which we won. We did not win last night, but we did not lose either. Trinity University came here ranked 12th in the Nation and we showed them for 110 minutes what real soccer is all about.They are a very physically talented team, with great technical ability and tremendous speed at every position. If you were there, you got to finally see our team learn the meaning of "Battling" until we got back to our locker room after the game. We have borrowed this "battling" phrase from the German National Teams, who never say it is over until they get back on their bus. This phrase was coined by the Netherlands player Ronald Koeman about how hard it is to beat the Germans! It was such a pleasure to watch these young men battle for 110 minutes and never say it was over.
Let us get to the game itself. The field was quite wet, put very playable and fast. We could certainly play our style and Trinity obviously played there usual long ball style of by-passing the midfield and sending the ball from the back directly to the strikers up front. We were ready for this and held them to a 0:0 halftime score. As each minute ticked by, we gained more and more confidence and knew that we were not going to lose this game. We gave up a goal in the 48th minute and that would be Trinity's last shot on goal for the remainder of the game. Tony Crocker hit a great shot that hit the crossbar midway through the 2nd half, that would have tied the score. Later in the half, Tyler Evans was pulled down by the goalkeeper and Tyler was the one called for the foul. It was clearing a penalty kick for us and the linesman had it right, only to be overruled by the center referee. We did not panic and kept pressing forward until the 80th minute, when Nico Reitmeier sent a beautifully played ball through to Kyle Sherrin, who finished it with great composure in the back of the net, to beat the keeper and knot the score at 1:1! In the first overtime, not much happened, as neither team took at shot on goal. But, in the second overtime. it looked like we would get the winner, when Tony Crocker took a great shot to the corner of the goal, only to see the Trinity goalkeeper stretch his 6'4" frame fully, to just tip the ball wide of the post. It was a great shot and and a great save for them to preserve the tie. Both teams had 4 shots on goal, which really makes the final score corrrect at 1:1. That result was a fair result for both teams in my opinion.
Last year, Trinity beat us 0:7 and it could have been worse. With hard work, a team of dedicated players who believe not only in themselves, but each other and a "battling" attitude to the finish, this team is poised to do great things this season and beyond! We finally 'Know" we are going to win, everytime we step on the field, instead of hoping and thinking we can win! This type of relentless pursuit of excellence that is being shown now by our team, is even more reason for our turn around from last year. Let us know that it will continue.....
Tomorrow (Sunday) at 11 AM, we will play Southwestern University from Georgetown, Texas. They have a talented team, especially with their 6'4" striker up front. This will be a great test for us, to see how we respond to finally getting it. The it being, "knowing" we will win and "battling" until we arrive back in our locker rom or on our team bus!
Have a great week-end and come see us win tomorrow.
Best regards,
Coach G from Birmingham, Alabama
Monday, October 5, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009:
Well, we are back home in rainy Birmingham, after a week-end of conference games. Yesterday(Sunday), we visited Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia. This would prove to be the most complete game of our season thus far....only from the standpoint of putting 2 complete halves of the worst soccer of the year. We got off the bus with no energy, emotion, desire or "want" and I knew at that moment we would be in for a very long day! That proved to be true, only worse than I could have ever imagined. This game may have been the worst complete game of ineptness of my coaching career. We never made good decisions, only bad ones throughout the entire game. We could not pass, we had horrible touch on the ball, we dribbled way too much and eventually wound up losing possession because of the excessive dribbling and again, just like the first half at Sewanee on Friday night, we could not even clear a ball out of our own 18 yard box. 2 terrible clearances and watching led to both goals. Again, off our possession in our own defensive third of the field! I cannot find the correct words to convey how much this loss has affected me as a coach. To watch as your players make the same mistakes over and over again is not only disheartening, but disastrous in its effect!
Sometimes as coaches we sit back and say, well we just all had a bad game, but this is certainly not the case here. We did have a bad game, but even when you are playing bad, you can still have a strong desire and work ethic to try and do something else to help correct it. We did not even attempt to hustle or change our game work ethic to make them have to work to beat us. There is never an excuse for not having a strong work ethic in each and every time you step on the field. Yesterday, was a clear example of horrible effort throughout the entire game on our part. We deserved to lose the game and justice prevailed....we lost 0:2!
As a coach, I am not sure where to turn to try and correct these repetitive mistakes of every game. We address these the moment they happen and we discuss them after the games as well. It must come down to the individual taking personal account of his play at every moment of the game. Like the old saying goes, "you can lead the horse to the water, but you cannot make him drink, unless he is ready."
It is very easy to make excuses after a horrible game, like their field was very small and we could never get in to a flow or rhythm, but, just because it looked as if we were playing in a bathtub, because of how we were all so close to one another, you can still overcome these issues if you just try! We did not even try to overcome them and that is what makes me the angriest. Mistakes of effort are always acceptable, but mistakes of laziness and not thinking is totally unacceptable. At halftime, I told them we could make some tactical adjustments, but in order to do that, we first had to correct our effort and lack of ability in clearing balls. If you can not do the simple things, you do not need to try and adjust the difficult ones.
Now, we have a top 10 team coming here on Friday and if we do not play better, we will have zero chance of success against them. Trinity, is who we play Friday night and they defeated us last year 0:7! It was embarrassing to say the least, but we are on paper a better team than last year, but after this past week-end, I am not so sure we are better on the field. We shall see soon enough. On Sunday, we play Southwestern University to conclude the week-end.
We will try to make some adjustments to our game tactics this week in preparation for Trinity. It remains to be seen if we are capable of doing what we are taught. The angriest I ever get is when players do not think on and off the ball! Right now we do not think at all during the game. In a soccer players formative playing years, he must be taught how to think, instead of how fancy we can be with the ball at his feet! The game of soccer is very simple. It is about thinking before you get the ball, when you get the ball and after you release the ball. That is it! Just think!!
Until this weekend, have a great week,
Coach G from Birmingham, Alabama
Well, we are back home in rainy Birmingham, after a week-end of conference games. Yesterday(Sunday), we visited Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia. This would prove to be the most complete game of our season thus far....only from the standpoint of putting 2 complete halves of the worst soccer of the year. We got off the bus with no energy, emotion, desire or "want" and I knew at that moment we would be in for a very long day! That proved to be true, only worse than I could have ever imagined. This game may have been the worst complete game of ineptness of my coaching career. We never made good decisions, only bad ones throughout the entire game. We could not pass, we had horrible touch on the ball, we dribbled way too much and eventually wound up losing possession because of the excessive dribbling and again, just like the first half at Sewanee on Friday night, we could not even clear a ball out of our own 18 yard box. 2 terrible clearances and watching led to both goals. Again, off our possession in our own defensive third of the field! I cannot find the correct words to convey how much this loss has affected me as a coach. To watch as your players make the same mistakes over and over again is not only disheartening, but disastrous in its effect!
Sometimes as coaches we sit back and say, well we just all had a bad game, but this is certainly not the case here. We did have a bad game, but even when you are playing bad, you can still have a strong desire and work ethic to try and do something else to help correct it. We did not even attempt to hustle or change our game work ethic to make them have to work to beat us. There is never an excuse for not having a strong work ethic in each and every time you step on the field. Yesterday, was a clear example of horrible effort throughout the entire game on our part. We deserved to lose the game and justice prevailed....we lost 0:2!
As a coach, I am not sure where to turn to try and correct these repetitive mistakes of every game. We address these the moment they happen and we discuss them after the games as well. It must come down to the individual taking personal account of his play at every moment of the game. Like the old saying goes, "you can lead the horse to the water, but you cannot make him drink, unless he is ready."
It is very easy to make excuses after a horrible game, like their field was very small and we could never get in to a flow or rhythm, but, just because it looked as if we were playing in a bathtub, because of how we were all so close to one another, you can still overcome these issues if you just try! We did not even try to overcome them and that is what makes me the angriest. Mistakes of effort are always acceptable, but mistakes of laziness and not thinking is totally unacceptable. At halftime, I told them we could make some tactical adjustments, but in order to do that, we first had to correct our effort and lack of ability in clearing balls. If you can not do the simple things, you do not need to try and adjust the difficult ones.
Now, we have a top 10 team coming here on Friday and if we do not play better, we will have zero chance of success against them. Trinity, is who we play Friday night and they defeated us last year 0:7! It was embarrassing to say the least, but we are on paper a better team than last year, but after this past week-end, I am not so sure we are better on the field. We shall see soon enough. On Sunday, we play Southwestern University to conclude the week-end.
We will try to make some adjustments to our game tactics this week in preparation for Trinity. It remains to be seen if we are capable of doing what we are taught. The angriest I ever get is when players do not think on and off the ball! Right now we do not think at all during the game. In a soccer players formative playing years, he must be taught how to think, instead of how fancy we can be with the ball at his feet! The game of soccer is very simple. It is about thinking before you get the ball, when you get the ball and after you release the ball. That is it! Just think!!
Until this weekend, have a great week,
Coach G from Birmingham, Alabama
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Saturday, September 3, 2009:
Good morning,
I hope you all are doing well. Well, last night at Sewanee, Tennessee, we defeated the University of the South (Sewanee), by a score of 6:3! Yes, 9 goals were scored and yes it was a testy first half. The re-cap goes like this...BSC scored 30 seconds into the game with an up back and through ball played beautifully by Tyler Evans to a hard running Tony Crocker, who put it in the back of the nest to make it 1:0 for us. 3 minutes later, Sewanee scored off a very poor clearance right back to them for the goal. Score now is 1:1. 2 minutes later, Sewanee scored the go ahead goal when another poor clearance in the back, went to their player once again to make the score 2:1 for Sewanee. Did we quit? Absolutely not! 8 minutes later in the 13th minute, Tyler Evans played a great through ball to Jonathan Alexander, who slotted the ball perfectly past the Sewanee goalkeeper to knot the score at 2:2. 5 Minutes later, Tyler Evans got his first goal of the night, on a corner kick from Carter McLean, who placed the ball to Tyler's head for the go ahead goal, making it now,3:2 for us. The score remained that way until the 36th minute, when we misplayed another ball inside our own 18 yard box directly down to them, who one timed the ball in the back of the net to make the score 3:3. That was not to be the halftime score, as Tyler Evans, was played a great ball through the middle by Jonathan Alexander for our 4th goal and Tyler's 2nd goal of the night, with 3 seconds showing on the clock, to make the score at half, BSC 4, Sewanee 3!
During halftime, we made some adjustments, both tactically and verbally! The defense was having their worst game of the year, so we needed to have a tongue lashing, so to speak in order to try and get their attention.I believed it would motivate them to stop being embarrassed by their opponents. We also addressed their pressure defense and how to break it and get some more offensive opportunities.
The second half started, and our defense too to heart our talk and made their opponents understand that the first half was not going to be a repeat this half and if they were going to beat us, we were not going to assist them again. In the 65th minute, Tyler Evans got his 3rd goal, with an assist this time, from Tony Crocker to make the score 5:3 for us. In the 75th minute, Tyler got his 4th and final goal, with an assist from Jonathan Alexander, who headed the ball to Tyler, who then headed it past the Sewanee goalkeeper top make the score 6:3 for BSC. The game would end that way!
While we played a poor first half, we never lost our composure or knowledge that we would win the game eventually. Games like this this certainly test your dedication and "commitment of purpose", as well as testing your character as a team. I believe we showed tremendous character to keep coming back after they scored each time. It showed our resiliency in testing our "commitment of purpose", and how we would honor that commitment! We are on the right path at the moment and hopefully, this will be a great lesson learned and we can continue on the path tomorrow against Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia. Our record at the moment is 8 wins, 1 loss and 0 ties!
So, until tomorrow, I will sign off and wish everyone a great week-end.
Best regards,
Coach Goldfarb from Sewanee, TN
Good morning,
I hope you all are doing well. Well, last night at Sewanee, Tennessee, we defeated the University of the South (Sewanee), by a score of 6:3! Yes, 9 goals were scored and yes it was a testy first half. The re-cap goes like this...BSC scored 30 seconds into the game with an up back and through ball played beautifully by Tyler Evans to a hard running Tony Crocker, who put it in the back of the nest to make it 1:0 for us. 3 minutes later, Sewanee scored off a very poor clearance right back to them for the goal. Score now is 1:1. 2 minutes later, Sewanee scored the go ahead goal when another poor clearance in the back, went to their player once again to make the score 2:1 for Sewanee. Did we quit? Absolutely not! 8 minutes later in the 13th minute, Tyler Evans played a great through ball to Jonathan Alexander, who slotted the ball perfectly past the Sewanee goalkeeper to knot the score at 2:2. 5 Minutes later, Tyler Evans got his first goal of the night, on a corner kick from Carter McLean, who placed the ball to Tyler's head for the go ahead goal, making it now,3:2 for us. The score remained that way until the 36th minute, when we misplayed another ball inside our own 18 yard box directly down to them, who one timed the ball in the back of the net to make the score 3:3. That was not to be the halftime score, as Tyler Evans, was played a great ball through the middle by Jonathan Alexander for our 4th goal and Tyler's 2nd goal of the night, with 3 seconds showing on the clock, to make the score at half, BSC 4, Sewanee 3!
During halftime, we made some adjustments, both tactically and verbally! The defense was having their worst game of the year, so we needed to have a tongue lashing, so to speak in order to try and get their attention.I believed it would motivate them to stop being embarrassed by their opponents. We also addressed their pressure defense and how to break it and get some more offensive opportunities.
The second half started, and our defense too to heart our talk and made their opponents understand that the first half was not going to be a repeat this half and if they were going to beat us, we were not going to assist them again. In the 65th minute, Tyler Evans got his 3rd goal, with an assist this time, from Tony Crocker to make the score 5:3 for us. In the 75th minute, Tyler got his 4th and final goal, with an assist from Jonathan Alexander, who headed the ball to Tyler, who then headed it past the Sewanee goalkeeper top make the score 6:3 for BSC. The game would end that way!
While we played a poor first half, we never lost our composure or knowledge that we would win the game eventually. Games like this this certainly test your dedication and "commitment of purpose", as well as testing your character as a team. I believe we showed tremendous character to keep coming back after they scored each time. It showed our resiliency in testing our "commitment of purpose", and how we would honor that commitment! We are on the right path at the moment and hopefully, this will be a great lesson learned and we can continue on the path tomorrow against Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia. Our record at the moment is 8 wins, 1 loss and 0 ties!
So, until tomorrow, I will sign off and wish everyone a great week-end.
Best regards,
Coach Goldfarb from Sewanee, TN
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
