Submitted by Coach
Tonight is the last training session of 2009. Hard to believe.
What am I most proud of? The team articulated a goal and took all possible measures to achieve that goal. The spring was head-and-shoulders better than any previous year. Pre-season fitness started in July – and we had nearly 100% participation. If someone called the sprint workouts as “completely sadistic”… I would say they were being too polite. The workouts were worse. They tested the team’s commitment, physical limits and mental toughness. Hopefully, every player saw the dividends of their efforts through every win this season. Now, the fall season is complete and we are down to ten teams.
Only one will win the championship.
Tuesday’s training was great. We will be traveling with 30 players… 28 players were able to make training. The best part about Tuesday’s training: the whole field was available for us to use. I have told the players on many occasions that we should be proud of what we have accomplished considering the resources (or lack thereof) available. To be specific, the Angels trained all season in an area 30 meters wide x 40 meters long. That’s only 42% of the width of a regulation pitch and 28% of the length (if you include both ingoals). Ridiculous! Let’s make an analogy: it would be similar to the Steelers: “win a championship for the city, but you can only practice on a football field 33 yds long and 23 yds wide.”
Tonight’s challenges:
The first challenge will be keeping the team’s focus. There will be a TV crew from KDKA at training. I believe that they will conduct interviews before we start, then hang around for some footage and head out. Players need to remember: WE are the interesting story – the men with the cameras and microphones are not that interesting – they’re just people on the job – nothing more. We need to do what we do and pay no attention to the television personnel. (THANK YOU, KDKA for your support & coverage!)
Secondly, we need to put the pieces together. We will run through strategy A… then rehearse our contingency plans, strategies B and C.
Third, the team must remember the basics: Good passing/catching, depth and spacing, making proper decisions, possession!, body positioning, tackling the legs, etc.
Finally, I need to control team anxiety. All teams in the tournament have the same desire. Teams that can overcome the “championship jitters” will have an advantage. I’ll need to figure out a way to address this before we depart.
