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by Gary Rue
garyrue@bellsouth.net
 

NOTE:  Gary did not write these exercises and tips with the idea that someone would publish them.  I subscribe to the Soccer-Coach-L e-mail list and Gary is one of the coaches that posts extremely well thought out replies.  These are some of Gary's posts that I collected for use in coaching my own teams.   I approached Gary and he was gracious enough to allow me to publish them here.  If you like what you see or have a question about one of the exercises you can reach Gary at garyrue@bellsouth.net There are 50+ more pages of Gary's posts categorized at the Home Page of Exercises of the Day by Gary Rue. Click here and enjoy.

Coach's Vision - Part I

The following is some food for thought. I'm sending it in two parts.

      I believe it is extremely important for most leaders to know where they and their followers are headed or at least have some good idea of the direction they want to go. The interview questions posed recently about describing the perfect game or the perfect player were all about where a coach wants to go and how to get there - in other words, what is the coach's vision.

      Many coaches have their players use an imaging technique prior to a game. Why can't coaches use the same technique prior to and during their season to help guide them in their training process?

      The movie Miracle is about the 1980 US National Hockey team and its visionary coach Herb Brooks. Brooks' vision was to win the Olympics Gold Medal. However, he recognized that the only possible way was to defeat the Russian National team, World and Olympic Champions since the 1960 Olympics. Just prior to the 1980 Olympics, this Russian team destroyed a National Hockey League all-star team in an exhibition game.

      Brook's overall vision was to win the gold medal, but he narrowed his vision slightly to concentrate on the main obstacle to reaching that goal-beating the Russians. He had intensely studied the Russian National team. He then told the US Olympic Selection Committee that in order to win the gold (and beat the Russian National Team), the US team would have to adopt a totally new system of play and train specific players differently to fit inside that system. Brooks knew exactly what was his "perfect game" and "perfect player."

      Next Brooks had to implement his training methods (again based on his vision) to develop and construct his players into his system of play. He selected up front his "perfect" players based on specific abilities within his system of play. The mental and emotional elements went into this selection as much if not more than their physical potentials.

     Next, I will talk about the youth coach and how visioning can help guide them in the development of their players.

Later!

Gary Rue
garyrue@bellsouth.net

Coach's Vision - Part II

      This second part will discuss how defining a vision may help the youth coach in training his/her players.

      I believe all coaches need a definitive vision. I suspect (based on my own experiences) that we all have dreams and quasi-visions, but they are probably not consistent and definitive enough to articulate. Why, because like young players, youth coaches are in their early stages of development.  Youth coaches are more often than not volunteers, that do not have the time or desire much less the environment or resources to study and develop their understanding of the game in order to develop a vision which drives them.

      Different from Brooks, youth coaches should have visions focused more on player development. Brooks did not try to train his players to go to another level (i.e., pros). Every youth coach should strive to establish a foundational level of skill and emotion for the player to grow with the idea that the player will go on to the next level. Even though coaches may have an idea of what they want their players to develop into, the way to get there is different and unique for every player.

      Part of helping youth coaches develop their visions could be a job of the local organization. Coaches should be encouraged to watch games at the next levels so they have some idea of where they are going and what training their players need.

      For example, take a U8 coach that is thinking about moving up to the U10 level. With many coaches new to the game, their fears of coaching at a "higher" level are often based on the wrong vision or lack of vision. They have two views (at best). They have their own age level view and watched some pro games on TV. They have limited and often useless information to form their vision and the processes needed to drive towards their goals. If they do go watch the next level or so, they may start forming an idea of what areas their players need to start developing in. Of course, there is a danger of trying to make U8 players look too much like U12 select.

      I think it is important for a youth coach to envision how he wants to
develop his team, not only for the near future, but at the different levels
and stages the youth player will probably move through. By looking at the distant future and working back, a coach can start to formulate where a player needs to be now, because the future is known.

      Coaches should look to write down and talk about their visions, while
constantly referencing, updating and reflecting on them during their
coaching career. The next step is determine the training process to make
their vision a reality.

Later!

Gary Rue
garyrue@bellsouth.net