Director of Coaching

The Coaches Corner is a way for me to give you some guidance.  I would love to hear back from you on your thoughts. Let me know what topics you would like me to put in this section.

  

Coach of the Month

Ron Muir - Ron started his tenure with our U11 girls red team by successfully completing the NSCAA National Diploma course. This is equivalent to the USSF "C" License.

With the Olympics and a US Olympian like Michael Phelps, how can we not discuss pushing yourself beyond limits? This kid (23 years old) is amazing. I continually talk to my players about the mind controlling the body and not the other way around.  You see it time and time again, Marathon runners do it every race, Mount Everest climbers have to have it, and now Michael Phelps is embodying this idea of pushing yourself to beyond the limit.

The majority of people out there will quit mentally way before their body gets to a point of real fatigue. This is not to say that these people were not trying, or consciously giving up, but instead, these people have yet to learn how to push through the physical barriers that have affected them and cause them to stop. It’s a difficult problem for most to fully grasp. Each time you push through a new level or limit, you become more impervious to “quitting” the next time.
Know that in training and in your push to be the best:

  • You WILL be uncomfortable technically, tactically, mentally, physically, and sometimes emotionally. This is normal and necessary. You must push through those unpleasant times because it is the only way you will get better and continue to reach new heights.
  • Find an accountability partner to work with you. With someone else to keep you accountable, you will be able to push through so many more physical and mental barriers. This accountability partner needs to be someone who will actually push you and someone who will tell you what you need to hear when you feel “too tired.” It is tougher to just quit when someone is next to you, assisting you and pushing you through.
  • Even the best athletes in the world experience pain and fatigue and feel the impulse to “quit”. The only distinction between these athlete and you is that they have learned how to push their limits and have realized that it is necessary for real progress. They figured out that they are not going to die from it and that they will be a better performer and person once they get through it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vB59PkB0eQ

Even though this is “the other football” here is a great clip of what pushing yourself beyond limits can do.  There is some major discomfort in this scene: physically, embarrassment, mentally, everything.  There is someone there to help him and push him, and now the young man can do more then he believed he ever could. Based on a true story, Facing the Giants takes a losing team and turns them around with faith and hope. That’s all it takes.

The fact of the matter is that soccer is a game of inches and the team that fights for the last inch and the players that reach beyond for that last inch will push themselves to the next level. The inches you need in the game can be won with pushing yourselves to the next level.

Nothing is impossible. 

"Is it true," asked someone, "that Michael Phelps can take a three-minute shower in 2 1/2 minutes?" The limits of anything cannot be measured if you continue to push yourself.

Impossible is Nothing.