Today was something else. It was supposed to showcase us RUNNING - an important deal in soccer, since the girls are on the pitch for 70-80m a game - and especially for me - because I want these girls to establish this program as one that doesn't just meet a few weeks before the season starts - I want the team to go more or less year round. Suburban schools - their girls play a full HS schedule, hen in summer and fall leagues, then go indoor till their preseason season starts. I know some may cringe @ this - year round? Isn't that too much? - but my honest answer is that my girls should have every single opportunity the St. Viator or Nequa Valley girls do. Now while I can't possibly match those programs (... sheepishly he writes ... yet... ) , I will do what I can.
So - to day we uh....... ran..... well..... I lie - we ran just a bit. Almost not @ all. And ... that's fine. Why fine? I was pretty sure that we would have one of the three gyms open because our boys were on the road (so - I chose soccer conditioning over the basketball team) - and I was right. It took the girls almost a whole period for enough of them to have a profitable practice (but by the time we were done, we had an overflow gym of kids), so I just had them go 3 on 3. Soon, more arrived, and I made the decision to just scrimmage against each other. Soon enough, we had to divide the gym in half w/ a human wall of girls bisecting the basketball court we were playing on that allowed two 3 on 3 games to be played simultaneously.
Again, the style of off season play I want the kids to play is the exact style we did it when I coached @ Lit HS and Nek HS - 3 on 3 for 3 minutes on a basketball court - small goals taped to the wall - first goal wins, if no goal then the team that held the court before the game holds it and takes on a new challenger. We did this for hours on We and Fr @ Lit, and M-T-W-T-F @ Nek. So, we do it here.
So- I was pleased pretty much w/ today. We had a good show of girls, we were able to use the court instead of run, and it was obvious that the girls wanted to stay even later - if they could. There was a lot of laughter and shouts of delight. It was great.
And - for the first time - I actually worked with the new coach. So far this year I have done everything - in some ways because there wasn't overwhelming amounts of work to do, in some ways I didn't want to bother him, and in some ways just because Iwanted ..... to do it my way. I'd assured him that when the deal started, he'd be a more or less equal partner in things.
Now I know - who am I kidding? I know it, and know it well - after just 2h of having to somewhat share responsibility - I want it done my way. Uh oh. When he suggested they practice shooting - shit, I just wanted them to play. When he suggested a different pre season schedule - I wanted to stick to my calibrated one. And he suggested not having practice on Fridays during the season. Uh oh.
So- in a lot of ways, I want to give him the freedom I recieved last year - but I also feel a real need to put my personal stam on the program. This is not an egotistical thing - it's a necessary thing. going back to my earlier idea of a dj having to be in control to make sure the party goes rite - since I - and I alone @ this school - am investing so much of my myself and my expertise into this program - where no one has before - then I want to make sure that it is done in a way that I feel comfortable with. Again, not egotistical - someone needs to do something w/ this program @ this school, and I have decided to do it.
And, for goddamn fucking fucks sake - I have to train another adult to fit what I want done with this program. He's good - but he's also gotta fit in. A lot of work.
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