Is it ever a referee's fault when you don't win?

Sometimes the official is blamed for not winning a game.  There are weak officials out there, but can you ever really lay the blame on a referee?  I don't think you can.

Let's take an example from this past weekend.  We were involved in a game where the official was less than perfect. Our game ended 5-5.  A college soccer game should never end 5-5.

There were frustrations, but as an athlete you have to keep your eye on the prize.

The officials are another condition around a game like the field, weather, fans, missing players or other factors.   You have to manage what you can control and manage them according to the conditions.  Every referee has tendencies that you have to read and work around.

Your job as a coach is to look past everything and see what's really going on.

Our first conceded goal was a penalty kick.  Nothing to do there.  A high ball through the middle was inadvertently headed backward by a midfielder, caught our defenders off guard and a hard tackle was laid during the chase.  Can't blame the ref.

The second goal was the result of a pressuring defender not being supported and a pass sneaking in behind him to the goal scorer.  The referee did not cause this.

Their third goal was off a free kick in front of our box that was the result of a dive (the kid's 4th on the day).  But on the free kick, our wall split and the ball passed through on the way to the net.  Not the referee's fault.  He may have let the player's diving continue and made the call against us instead of cautioning the player, but the wall splitting was our doing, not his.

Their fourth goal was off another free kick from the same kid diving.  This was off to the corner of the penalty area.  Again, you can fault the ref for not cautioning the player and awarding another free kick, but it was not the ref's fault that the ball passed by two of our players to an unmarked opponent on the far post.

Their fifth goal was the result of a player having the ball too long, at the top of our box, with his back to the net while his teammate cut through unmarked , taking a pass and scoring.

We were then down a man for the last 15 minutes as one of our players was awarded a second yellow on a collision (with the same player diving).  That player kept playing, and very well, while ours was on the outside of the fence looking in.

At the end of it all, down a man, we scored 2 goals in the last 10 minutes to earn a point.

Watching the game on video showed me that we were certainly the away team, but that's life.   And it also showed that more focus on the game and learning to not be distracted by other factors would have helped us at certain instances.
 
If we blame the ref for the result, then the guys think he's the sole problem and we have nothing to work on.

And think, this is my opinion from our bench.  I am sure their coach thought something wasn't perfect as we also scored five goals, 2 from set pieces.  He would also do his team a disservice if he blamed the ref and didn't address that his team was beat twice on restarts and allowed 2 late goals with an extra player.

If we go over each goal conceded, we have plenty to work on, and that is where our next two sessions are going.

We did a lot of things very, very well.  Scoring 5 goals in a game is good stuff.  Playing through frustrations and coming back to salvage the day was a fantastic moment for the guys.  Lamenting on game conditions would only tarnish the good things we can take away.

Our next two sessions will revolve around 1v1, small group and team defending.

The guys did their jerseys a great service yesterday and they knew it.  And addressing the issues that caused our goals will make us even better.

Is a "hunch" really just a "hunch"

People sometimes ask why you made a certain game-time choice or decision.  Admit it.  Sometimes you don't have a quantitative, concrete reason.

Last night our college team lost our season opener 2-1 to Mohawk College.  The time came to test our guys in true competition and we saw what we saw.

Leading up to that game we saw a total of 63 players for tryouts.   We slowly whittled that down and came up with 18 guys to dress for last night's match.

How did we come up with those 18?  We actually have 22-23 players who will form our roster throughout the season.  Getting down to that number was done through evaluating players based on technique, skills, decisions under pressure, etc.  I can defend the choices I made.

When it comes down to smaller decisions such as who will dress, who will start, which GK will play, those decisions come from what I see in the training sessions leading up to the game and sometimes a hunch or two.

If you lose, you are second guessed.  If you win, you credit the players.  One of the reason why you coach in a competitive environment is to live through the pressure of making those choices.

But the "hunch" that people talk about isn't a whim that you come up with sitting on a toilet or randomly roll dice.  The hunch is a little more informed and developed by spending time with your players at training and learning what makes them tick.  You start to pick up tendencies, address them and see what comes of your suggestions.  You get a feel for who fits into the puzzle best under certain situations.  With other coaches you get input and then you make the final decision ... and live with it.

Did I make the right decisions last night?  Will I make the right decisions before the weekend?

My main goal for a situation like this is that the players trust the decisions I make.  I have to keep working towards that, and will do so by being honest and available to answer their questions.

I can guarantee my players that whatever my decision, it wasn't taken lightly and arrived at with extensive consultation with people that I, and hopefully the players, trust.

U17 Boys - League Champs

Our U17 boys team clinched their league title.  Well, somebody else clinched it for them. 

We had a chance Wednesday to clinch the title against the team that was 3 point behind us but let a 2-1 lead slip away in the last minute on a penalty kick.  So the champagne was put on hold for another day.  But last night our chasers lost to the third place team, clinching the title for Welland.

I would say the boys truly deserved the win.  They played hard, worked together and got along.  We had a few mental lapses, some monumental brain farts and a few on-field disagreements after mistakes.  All part of the package for U17 boys, I guess.  If they learn from their mental lapses, then we're OK.

As the move towards being life long players, they will learn that success will come through chemistry, decisions and discipline, not just raw physical tools.

There are a few things we had a hard time selling them, but they slowly gave in:

• Patience while defending on the wings and away from our goal.  It improved but they need to make a conscious effort of it as they grow older and play smart players.
• Patience on the attack and deciding when it's off and time to reload and relaunch.
• Focus on defending in the late stages against a desperate team looking to tie.

We had some challenges early on. Our shape was a bit out of whack because our GK was hurt and struggled to play balls off the ground.  We had some new players and some players who missed a lot of games early on.

We were OK with only 2 yellow card suspensions, no red cards and only .....  1 brawl. :)

We finish the season with our last game on Wednesday on the road.

The boys won this league by their own on-field play and commitment to each other, and that makes it nice.

U13 Boys - end of our season

It will be tough to not spend more time with a great bunch of boys.

Our season ended last night.  We didn't win many games but I still say being with this group was time well spent.  The parents were very supportive, all year long, and the boys attitude was positive.

I have to put some time between last night's game and rethinking the U13 season that's now over.

Reflecting at the end of a season

Players win and coaches lose.  It's that simple.

When I heard former Montreal Expos manager Felipe Alou say that in an interview 20 years ago, it stuck like glue.

Your final assessment of how a season went does not always boil down to wins and losses, but you have to take an honest look at how you did in terms of being a coach.  You have to look at the failing moments and see where you could have done better.  Blaming the players is not an option.  That's what Alou's statement meant to me.

My stronger coaching mentors also had the same approach.

At the end of summer 2012, I will find myself at 2 extremes.  My U13 boys team will finish last and my U17 boys team may finish first.  Reflecting after both seasons have ended will be educational for me and, I hope, formative in my approaches in 2013.

Every year I ask myself the same sort of questions:

• Do I enjoy coaching this team?
• Am I the right coach for this group of players?
• Did I present the information in a way they were able to learn from me?
• Did they improve as individuals and as a team?
• Did the players enjoy themselves?  Do they still want to play soccer next year?
• Are they motivated to play with me as the head coach? 
• How was attendance?
• Do I still have something to teach them?
• Is my voice becoming background noise?Are they still listening?
• Can I conduct an honest and open tryout after spending an entire season with the same group of players?
• Do the parents trust me to continue coaching their children?

My personal belief is that when you feel you are above self-analysis and honest reflection, you're finished.   To assume you are the right person for the job without evaluating yourself says that you are not willing to subject yourself to the same scrutiny as your players.

Reflecting does not mean you look for a reason to quit.  It tells you where you need to make adjustments to your delivery and to make sure your players are getting the very best you have to offer.  The end result might be that you remove yourself from that situation, but that's not the intention.

I will share my personal reflections for each team when the seasons end.