1500 Hours

This weekend was brutal for me.

I was joined by CBFC coaches Dan McCoy, Dale Ruis and Mike Cheney in Kansas City for the World Class Coaching symposium. The event showcased four highly accomplished coaches presenting four training sessions each, it was a full weekend of soccer and note taking. The brutality of it all was that I was sick and felt horrible the entire time, to make matters worse, I am sure I spread it to multiple coaches including our own that were accompanying me. After downing cough drop after cough drop all weekend, somehow I survived. Other than the illness, it was a pretty great weekend.

One of the presenters is a long time hero of mine. Not only does he share the same passion for soccer as i do but he also shares the same faith. I purchased his latest book, had him sign it, expressed my gratitude and moved on. Anson Dorrance has always been the guy I wanted to be. I love UNC soccer, I love the women's side of soccer and I would do anything to be as success full as this man. Not many people in our country know who this man is or what he has accomplished. But if you read his profile on the University of North Carolina Women's Soccer web site. You will see that he is the most winningest coach in ALL college sports, not just soccer, but every sport ever. He has won more titles than anyone and his winning percentage is unmatched. He once went 92 matches straight without loosing!
My point is that as I sat and marveled about what he has accomplished, I wondered what sets him apart, what makes him so unique, what makes his players so brilliant on the field as well as off. I researched Coach Dorrance on the web and found these things on wikepedia.com;

Dorrance's success comes from several inter related attributes. First, he has an eye for recruiting outstanding talent. Related to that is his emphasis on competitiveness. He noted early in his time as a women's coach that women seemed to have an inhibition against open competition. He decided to develop an atmosphere at UNC in which women were rewarded for having an aggressive desire to win. Finally, he noted from his work with both the men's and women's team that women tended to play best in an atmosphere which focused on relationships.

Dorrance was able to bring out his player's aggressiveness and competitiveness while also fostering an almost family sense of the team. Regarding the aggressiveness, Santa Clara University women's soccer coach Jerry Smith noted in a 1998 Sports Illustrated article, "When you watch them, you can see the edge they have. I'll go beyond aggressiveness. It's meanness. Anson has found a way to bring that out of his players."
Mia Hamm added in the same article, "I grew up always good at sports, but being a girl, I was never allowed to feel as good about it as guys were. My toughness wasn't celebrated. But then I came here, and it was O.K. to want to be the best."[1]

I recently posted Coach Dorance's video on the web for a short time. I opened a window for players and parents to see what it is that the greatest college coach ever expects out of his players. I hope that parents, coaches and players all took an opportunity to look at the video, take notes and utilize it to improve. I watched the video and thought to myself, "wow nothing too complicated." Then I remembered a quote from, in my opinion, the most influential women's soccer player ever, Michelle Akers. She once was quoted to say, "Soccer isn't brain surgery, have fun!"

Too many times I think we as adults forget what soccer is all about...fun. Too many times I think the players forget that it is all about...fun. One of the down sides of modern sports is that we as adults tend to make soccer so very convenient for ourselves. (Disclaimer: I say that knowing how much we all do to get our kids to and from soccer activities that seem to consume our lives.)

When I use the word "convenient" my intentions are to recognize how easy it is to "have our kids play soccer" these days. The video that I posted on the web shows no more than four people at a time, outside, with a ball, doing real easy activities over and over again. I would like to say that today's children don't do that, because we have made soccer convenient to 'our' schedules by having training sessions convenient to when we can getthem to practice. This method has taught our youth to only "play" under adult supervision. Now they only touch a ball when there is someone there to instruct them. If our children are truly enjoying soccer they should have a ball with them at all times, come home from school, put down their phones, shut down the internet and walk to the nearest park with three cones and a ball and maybe a friend or three to "play" with. How often do we invite our kids to go outside, enjoy the weather and soccer ball during the summer? It seems to me that the 3v3 tournaments are making it "convenient" for our kids to play soccer in the summer when there are no schedule practices. The summer is the best time for kids to explore the game and develop their individual skills by being creative and exercise without boundaries or instruction. This spring break, encourage your children to go outside and "play." See how many hours your child will go out on their own and touch a ball.

Playing and competing are two different things. CBFC is putting on a 3v3 tournament. The PROVE IT! tournament, as it is called, is an excellent opportunity for our kids to showcase their skills. When we line up on the sidelines this July, we should not marvel in the many goals, or get discouraged when the children loose the ball. But we should get excited when a player gets around an opposing player or two without having to pass by "doing up" the defender by nutmegging or cutting around or through the opposition.

I hope that this spring the CBFC players go outside with a ball and play by themselves or with a friend or two, making up their own competitive games, trials or challenges. To be rather honest a player will never reach his/her full potential as a player if they do not spend a significant amount of time on the ball on their own, without teammates, coaches or structured training. Parents, our children are not satisfied with you just dropping your child off at practice or camps, they need mom and dad to get excited about their passion for soccer and encourage them to go out and play with a soccer ball for an hour a day. The only way someone falls in love with something is by dedicating his/her time to it. Your child has a romance with the soccer ball, but being passionate about that ball is different.

Ronaldinho, 2006 FIFA player of the year, was asked before the 2006 World Cup if he had a girlfriend. His reply was honest and charming. He looked at the ball in his hand, pointed to it, and said, "this is my love, this is my girlfriend." He has dedicated his entire life to the game and has become the premier player in the world. As you will see in the video...his smile is contagious and everlasting!



To conclude, the final Coach at the symposium was Mauricio Marques from Brazil. He concluded by giving us one key fact that i believe every CBFC coach wrote down. Now before I give you the quote, let me remind you that Brazil is considered to be the very BEST soccer country in the world by the majority of soccer advocates.

"Brazilian kids play soccer on their own (no coaches)on average, 5 hours a day, 5 days a week, 300 days out of the year (1500 hours), when American kids do the same thing they will be the best soccer country in the world."

What it takes to be Successful

John Ellinger's Bio: John Ellinger is Technical Director for US Youth Soccer
One of the questions that we are asked frequently at US Youth Soccer is "what does it take to be a successful US Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program (US Youth Soccer ODP) player"?

The generic reply from most US Youth Soccer ODP staff coaches when they identify a player they like is to say, "that player can flat out play." There is nothing wrong with this assessment; in fact, the coach is paying the player a tremendous complement. What does the staff coach see in a player to merit such an accolade? Well, let's start with the technical areas that are necessary for a player to become a successful US Youth Soccer ODP player:

(1) Quality of the first touch—does the statement "the first touch is everything" mean anything to you? A player needs to have the technical ability to receive any type of service (pass) from their teammates and even the opposition for that matter, and to be able to handle it cleanly. The first touch can either take you out of a pressure situation or it puts you back into pressure from an opponent or space. One type of two-touch soccer that is not conducive to what people call "the beautiful game" is when the receiving player's second touch is the tackle to win the ball back after a poor first touch. Two Men's National Team players who have a flawless first touch are Landon Donovan and Michael Bradley (both former US Youth Soccer ODP players). Both always look and feel comfortable with the ball at their feet.

(2) The ability to strike a ball cleanly—it does not matter what surface of the foot we are talking about-instep or inside of the foot, the player needs to be able to put the proper pace on the pass. Can they drive a ball over various distances to the intended target (both diagonal and down the line passes), can they bend the ball into the open space in front of a teammate or around defenders to the feet of their teammate, can they execute a proper chip pass or lofted pass and can they play the ball with both feet? A good example of this technical ability is when you see a defender play a long ball forward in order to get his team out of a pressure situation—if that defender just played a 40 or 50 yd rope to his teammates' feet and he accomplishes this on a consistent basis, then this player has some talent and it is not an attempt to play "kick ball", "long ball" or "direct soccer". I have not worked with any defenders yet, who honestly do not feel that they can make that pass. The player who can hit this type of ball from the back or from one flank to another flank does have the ability to strike a ball cleanly.

Visit John Elingers Blog Site

ESPN Sports Center "Kick for Nick"

Someone, somewhere, is always playing soccer.

by Anne Harrison-CBFC Secretary, Mother of Jade Harrison (94g) Josi Harrison (97g-White)

“What to blog about“? I pondered that question for quite some time. It wasn’t too often that the Club’s DOC asked favor’s, but when he did, it seems he was always picking on me.

However, I reveled in the fact, that soon, he would be asking other unsuspecting club members to write a blog for the Club‘s web site, & they to would have the privilege of staring at their blank screen,,, wondering,, "What to blog about?"
I should write about soccer, of course, that's natural, that makes sense, after all, this is a Soccer Club,,,,
Do I blog about,” myself"? Hey, I don't want the readers to become comatose.
Okay, maybe some tidbits about our family, so prepare everyone, grab a blanket to snuggle in, a cup of hot cocoa, a full box of Kleenex, because this will be handy when you tear up out of boredom, & fall fast asleep.




Our family, on rare occasions, will sneak out on an “empty week-end” (an empty week-end means, no games, no practices, or dare I reveal it, absolutely no plans you’ve made, or those that others have planned for you)! So, these sneaky week-ends are infrequent & precious, and we usually end up going to the Ranch where I lived & worked for several years.
Rocking Chair Ranch was once bustling at any given time with 50 head of horses. As years have literally flown by, my best friend & owner of the Ranch has had some minor health problems, & has now managed to dwindle it down to about ten head of horses. One of those ten is my favorite, Rocky.
Rocky comes straight out of the Mountains of Tennessee. Rocky is a Tennessee Walking horse. Most horses have four gaits, while Rocky types have 5 gaits,, it is equivalent of riding a Cadillac compared to a Volvo.
Towards the end of November, while it still was somewhat warm, we headed lazily out to the Ranch, prepared for peace & quite, grilled steaks, & spending the day with horses, & various other ranch animals.




Pulling into the long lane, we were soon riveted out of our laze haze when several dogs announced our arrival with the heart of a blaring tornado warning.
After being mulled, licked, & crotch rocketed several times by the well meaning welcome wagon, Jack was off to investigate the chicken coop.
Jack, not too familiar with handling of ranch chickens,, bravely strode in the middle of hens pecking about, & soon was sent shooting out of the hen yard, they letting him know that he just was not part of the pecking order.
Jade & Josi, however, were already in the pasture, searching for the horses.
Soon, after the shake of an oat can, they emerged from the hills with high hopes of dinner time. After a time, they soon realized they were duped, & gave in to the many petting hands & sounds of admiration.
Rocky, the beautiful, black, mountain horse was soaking up the sun & treats, & probably was numb to the fact that I had sneakily brought his bridle & soon was saddled for fun!
Off to Big Lake Park we went. As always, horses are always reluctant to ride “away” from home, & he indeed needing some prodding, but soon, we were trotting down the road, & before we knew it, into Big Lake Park.
Wow,,, we did not know that on that particular week-end, everyone had decided to have a last cook-out, a last ball game, a last,, wow, soccer game!
It was a bit muddy, but Rocky dove over the mud stream with gusto & we were surprised to find a welcoming committee starting to form, but Rocky would not have any of it, we spurted up the hill, & soon were at a full bore across the top of Big Lake. We did this several times, & Rocky even bucked a few times, as he is an exhibitionist at heart, the little show-off. I could hear people screaming in delight, shouting, & even several groups broke into song, “Ole, ole, ole, ole”. I know I heard it clearly, but still thought I had to be imagining things. After slowing Rocky down to a walk, I realized I was not imagining things at all,
It was the soccer players, they had stopped & were pointing at us & singing the “Ole” song.


Instantaneously, we seemed to be celebrities at the park, people had their cell phones open, taking pictures, kids came running up, parents ran up to ask of they could pet the pretty “horsy”,, what was to be a nice, peaceful, quite ride, had turned into show boat. Rocky is feisty, but he seem to know that the kids were curious, & allowed a few to pet him, he scared several have to death when he shook his whole body to cool the sweat off of him, & to rid of flies at the same time,, most of these kids have probably never even seen a horse, let alone have one shake sweat &horse snot all over them at once, what a treat!
After sensing Rocky growing bored with all the hype, we excused ourselves & started for home. Riding home went much faster, as horses are always eager to be rid of the bug on their back.
Meanwhile, back at the Ranch,, (oh, come on now, you know you all have said that at least one time or another),, the kids took turns riding Rocky around a bit, & then soon he was relieved of his duties, brushed down, fed some grain, & happily joined his comrades back in the pasture.


The girls had brought soccer balls, & played around a bit, but the vigilance of the ever amorous dogs, the occasional clucking of the chickens, the neighing of horses looking for the buddies, the adorable new puppies crawling about the yard, & other peaceful sounds of the country took over, & we were soon lulled into a relaxing, peaceful, late afternoon, enjoying the smell of steaks sizzling on the outdoor grill.
The Moral of the blog is, (even if it’s real lame), “No matter where you go to relax, a vacation, a get-away, a cruise, a retreat, Disney World, a sneaky week-end, someone, somewhere, is always playing soccer”.

Black: Make learning a lifelong process

A recent article in THE DAILY NONPAREIL
Dennis Friend, Staff Writer



The classroom is not the only place a child learns. Parents can be instrumental in instilling a love of knowledge in their children that will last throughout their lives.

"The parent is the child's first teacher," said Dave Black, school improvement specialist for the Lewis Central Community School District. "The family attitude about learning is very important. We can make a difference in their attitudes."

Black said a good learning environment starts with parental attitudes, good communication between parents and children and a belief that learning is not something that starts and ends in a classroom.

"We're modeling appropriate behavior for our kids, you see," Black said. For instance, at the Black home, "We sit and read as a family every night. We all do crossword puzzles before supper. We engage our minds."

The idea is to demonstrate that learning is a crucial part of an active life. He suggested reading books and magazines, talking to children about things that interest them or you and engaging them in everyday experiences that drive home a message about education.

"We're remodeling at our house right now," Black said. "We're putting in light fixtures, and you have to use math and do measurements. How do you decide where to cut a hole or where to install a light? Involve the kids in the conversation. These conversations can make math real."

He cites landscaping a yard or starting a garden as additional examples that can be used to draw students into real-life learning experiences. If a child is involved in discussions about how tall a plant may grow or when a flower blooms, "you are engaging with kids in positive talk about solving real problems. They will get interested."

Black draws another example from his own life. He has a son who is a Marine in Iraq and another son at home. The resulting conversations teach everything from geography and politics to social studies and government.

The key word is "conversation," said Black, meaning there will be two-way communication, as opposed to one-way lectures or monologues. Parents can talk about learning something interesting, then ask about what the child learned in school. A parent might also ask what a child is interested in or ask how they feel about something.

"The learning process doesn't stop when they graduate from high school," Black said. "It's a lifelong journey. And kids learn a great deal from us when we articulate our feelings."

Other tips to turn learning into a lifelong process include keeping books in the house, turning off the TV once in a while and having children keep a journal or diary. He recommended word games and logic problems. He also suggested letting them help with grocery lists and having them write thank you notes because "it helps their writing and spelling and builds confidence and social skills."

Black warns about pushing too far or too hard, because "it's possible to de-motivate a child by going to extremes. That's true in school or soccer."

Internal motivation is the most powerful, he said, and the ideal is to teach a child over time to take responsibility for his or her own learning. Asking questions and providing learning opportunities and resources will helps, because "you want to help them find the relevance. It's about more than just pleasing a teacher. Otherwise, when school ends, they no longer worry about pleasing the teacher, and learning stops."

It's also important to remember that everyone makes mistakes, mispronounces a word or messes up once in a while, Black said, and expecting perfection does not help. There's also the prospect of scaring a child away from appropriate risk-taking behavior simply because they are afraid to fail.

"Kids need to learn to go for it," Black said. "They should not be afraid of taking a risk, or they won't ever swing the bat for fear of striking out. Fear of failure can diminish the chance of success later in life. It we don't have anyone taking a risk, we won't have new knowledge later on."

"The world wants you to be literate, to solve problems, to make good decisions. When you graduate, you don't have to get an 'A' anymore, but you have to be accountable," Black said.

"And you have to be willing to do the right thing when no one is looking."

©SW Iowa News 2007

The Perils of Criticism: Positive reinforcement can do more than negative feedback

By: Craig Fisher, Ph.D.
When you consider all the barriers that athletes face in their search for success and then think of all the ways coaches assist athletes in reaching their goals, there is something that just does not fit: That is the major form of giving feedback to athletes. Negative feedback, commonly and accurately called criticism, far outstrips positive reinforcement as many coaches’ major communication style. Add a sarcastic flavor to the criticism and what you have is one of the prime factors destroying athletes’ self-confidence. The real tragedy is that nocoach intends to be destructive and would surely argue that this is not the case. Let me suggest that you withhold judgment on this matter until I have completed my essay on the perils of criticism.
Allow me to get you personally involved in the discussion by asking you to respond to a series of questions.
• Does being criticized ever leave you angry, resentful, belittled or feeling rejected?
• Do you sense you ever make others feel this way, even unintentionally?
• Do you ever hesitate to offer helpful correction for fear of offending someone?
• Have you ever heard an athlete claim, "The coach is on me”? In your days as an athlete, did you ever say that?
• Right now, can you recall three times in your life when you really appreciated being criticized?
These questions begin to put a different slant on criticism, I hope, because you can see the picture from the receiver’s side rather than from the myopic view of the giver of criticism.
Criticism was originally conceived as a neutral, objective appraisal of ideas and actions. To criticize meant that you communicated in a way that enabled others to use the information to their advantage and benefit. Criticism, then, was a tool to enhance personal growth and relationships. Does your experience match this description? Or might it be valuable to consider just how criticism works?

Sid Simon, prominent growth therapist, suggests that people are connected by thin gossamer threads along which communication passes. When a person (the giver) sends along some critical comment such as, "How many times do I have to tell you," the barbed arrow is acknowledged by
the receiver who immediately sends back an equally caustic reply: "What gives you the right to talk to me that way?"
The reply might be verbal or nonverbal, depending on the equality of power in the relationship.
The athlete typically would not throw verbal darts at the coach following critical feedback, but the nonverbal signs can be just as obvious. The important point is this: The receiver of the criticism
loses a little chunk of self-confidence because of the negative message and immediately responds by sending an equally harmful reply. Not surprisingly, criticism begets criticism and soon threads are so stretched or torn that communication ceases. But consider who loses the most in this exchange of criticism.
It is well known that success tends to beget success, whereas failure tends to beget failure.
Equally well known is the adage that sugar attracts more flies than vinegar. The cost to the receiver of criticism, basically negative feedback, is a loss of self-confidence, the opposite of what the coach intended.
But this is only the beginning of the criticism cycle. When the athlete’s self-confidence is threatened, a protective strategy (albeit subconscious) is to send the return message to the coach to “right the ship.” Overtly or covertly, the coach is bound to receive emotional backlash, either in the form of anger or silence. The critical coach ends up the big loser because he or she is labeled a critical person who may see how such an innocent and maybe nonthinking comment gets blown out of proportion (from at least the coach’s perspective). The intention is to be helpful but the criticism achieves just the opposite result.
Why is criticism so destructive? First, criticism tends to close paths of communication, not open them. Coach criticism is intended to be a one-way street; no acknowledgment is called for, only the idyllic hope that the athlete will internalize all that the criticism entails and be grateful. Interestingly, it is the coach who labels the criticism constructive because “after all, that’s my job and I want my athletes to achieve their potential.” Need I belabor the point by asking you to
consider if the majority of athletes see constant streams of criticism as helpful. Very few athletes believe that constructive criticism is that beneficial.
Second, as stated earlier, coach criticism is usually followed by the particular athlete’s self justified emotional response (shouting back, denial, silence, moodiness). If you think about your past experiences, my guess is that you have seen all of these responses. Adding this emotional layer to the failure experience prevents athletes from being able to sort out what might be helpful to them.

Third, most criticism offers no suggestions for improvement. Where is it written that athletes tend to perform better when they are told what they are doing wrong?
Where did we learn that highlighting athlete’s errors results in performance changes? Or, if it does sometimes, is it the best approach? Are we so naive that we believe athletes will thank us for our reasoned criticism and vow to be better next time? What little I know about the complexity of human motivation and behavior change suggests that athletes tend to be motivated more with positive reinforcement (e.g., praise, recognition) than by punishing criticism.

Last, criticism overlooks the larger performance picture. In reality, most athletes do more things right than wrong, but coaches often tend to focus on the errors. If we get extremely critical, we can even begin to criticize the random and inconsequential errors always present in imperfect performances. We end up criticizing and trying to correct mistakes that rarely repeat themselves in the same week or month.
Is it possible to recast performance feedback in positive rather than negative directions? More specifically, is it not possible to reinforce performance when it is correct or approximates correctness instead of constantly pointing out what is wrong?
Why is criticism used so much? With all the obvious drawbacks of a critical communication style, why would reasoned individuals continue the practice? It clearly is not because it has been well thought out and systematically planned. And maybe that is what makes it so unfortunate. We are slaves to the power of models unless we recognize and learn to break the cycle.
Everyone has heard it prophesied: We will teach as we were taught, coach others as we were
coached and raise our children as our parents raised us. What have we experienced and what
behaviors do we now model? For a large number of us the answer is criticism.
I am not suggesting that any of us intentionally set out to destroy our athletes’ self-confidence and
place unnecessary emotional hurdles in their paths, but nonetheless that is the reality. Coaches have their athletes’ best interest in mind when they direct critical comments their way. That is what makes the outcome so unfortunate; we mean to help but often we hinder. On a more castigating note, there is a certain inherent cheapness to criticism. It is possible to use
perfection as your frame of reference and judge each of your athletes against that standard. The reality is that there is no perfect performance; therefore every performance that you observe
affords the opportunity for your critical comments. I refer to this as cheap shot coaching because almost anybody can do it; it takes no talent at all. If, indeed, you sense you must always offer some feedback, then you will always have material for your evaluation. But, then, that is the mark
of the mentally lazy coach, one who cannot see the big picture of emerging success for the egregious performance glitch.
I suppose by this point you have decided either that my arguments have some validity or that I am out of touch with reality and know nothing about coach-athlete communication. Because, after
all, constructive criticism is the backbone of sport skill improvement. For those of you who are going to continue to use criticism, hopefully not as unthinkingly as before, I offer some guidelines.
Periodically, you need to remind yourself of the main purpose of your criticism — to get athletes’ attention and motivate them to change their behavior. Criticism then, being as sensitizing as it is, needs to pass some particular tests. To be effective, criticism needs to be filtered before and as it is given.
Following are suggestions to you as coaches as you consider the application of criticism in the coaching process:
• IS THE TIMING RIGHT? Is the athlete in emotional shape to hear the criticism? Athletes
who are frustrated with their lack of success are not good consumers of negative
feedback; they have enough negative thoughts of their own to process.
• DO YOUR ATHLETES NEED MORE PRAISE? Positives are more powerful agents of
behavior change than negatives.
• IS YOUR CRITICISM NOVEL? Or is it the “same old, same old” harangue? The latter is
ineffective because you have heard yourself say too often, “How many times do I have to tell you that?”
• ARE YOU POSITIVE THAT THE ATHLETE CAN MAKE THE CHANGE? Is the behavior
primarily under the particular athlete’s control or are others involved (e.g., a bad pass
needs both a passer and a receiver’s participation). Does the athlete have the skills and
confidence to make the change? Is the performance error due to inadequate skill or a
lack of effort? The latter is perhaps correctable; the former demands time on task. Do not
dismiss the significance of self-confidence because it lies at the heart of behavior
change. Only self-confident athletes will be able to internalize performance feedback if it
is layered with negative evaluation.
• IS YOUR CRITICISM CLEAR ENOUGH TO BE ACTED UPON? Does the athlete know
what needs to be changed? Nothing is more frustrating than being criticized and not
knowing what to do to make the criticism go away.
• CRITICISM OFTEN FORECLOSES THE POSSIBILITY OF IMPROVEMENT BECAUSE
THE COACH CRITIC DOES NOT LISTEN TO THE ATHLETE’S RESPONSE. You must
process how the information is being received to assess its effectiveness (e.g., frowning
brow, gritting teeth, no effort made to change). Be quick to recognize any changes made
in response to your criticism.
• NO HIT-AND-RUN BEHAVIOR IS GOING TO WORK. Unless you are prepared to be
systematic with your criticism and commit yourself to the length of time it takes to change
old behavior and consolidate new behavior, it’s very doubtful your criticism will be
effective.

THE LAW OF THE HARVEST AND SOCCER

“I’m so confused,” commented Jean, a high school soccer player. “It seems like every coach I talk to tells me something different about the game. So, who do I believe?”
Our statement for Jean is, “Learn to figure out more and more about soccer on your own.” Please understand that we are not reducing the importance of your coach. What we are saying is to take more responsibility for figuring things out on your own. In accepting that responsibility, here is something you will notice. Most people talk about personal
preferences rather than about facts or laws. Throughout your book we do our best to stimulate your thinking in terms of laws versus preferences. Here is one example.

From Coach Robertson
Fortunately for my days in sports, I grew up around farms and farming. I say that because it was on the farm where I learned The 1st Law of the Farm. Students….Have you ever crammed for a test in school only to forget most of what you learned the day after the test? Players…..Do you ever allow yourself to get out of shape during the off season, only to show up for the first day of practice trying to cram in getting into shape? What growing up around farmers in the Midwest taught me was that there are seasons and times for everything. Take for example bringing in the harvest. Harvesting a crop and getting the reward was great. Harvest time was part of the reward for all of the sweat and back breaking hard work. But I learned early in life that you couldn’t just do the harvest any more than a soccer players can just do reaching their potential. You can’t cram on the farm and you can’t cram in soccer. There is a time of the year when farmers have to work themselves silly just to get the fields ready for planting. Then they have to plant good seed and the right seed. They couldn’t plant pumpkin seeds and expect to harvest corn, nor can you plant bad seed and expect to harvest a good soccer crop. Then the real work begins! They have to weed the fields, keep the bugs out, water the new sprouts—they have to tend the crops. Sad to say, but I also learned that farmers weren’t always able to bring in the harvest they had planned on, or thought that all of their hard work deserved. I learned real fast that farmers couldn’t control the rain, the wind, the sun, the bugs—they could not control all of the elements that helped bring in the harvest, or destroy it. In like manner, you can’t control everything about competing in the soccer. There are too many factors outside of your control to focus simply on winning; the harvest. But when things do go right, when you have done your best, when you have given your all to those things that are under your control, and the harvest does come in, it’s a pretty exciting time!

Take a quick stretch break. Take 3 deep breaths. Stretch out for a minute. Now we are going to suggest how The Law of the Farm governs soccer just as surely as the law of gravity influences your movements, your arm swing, and ball flight.
• There is a time to prepare. When you miss the window of opportunity to prepare for the season, and before games, you diminish the harvest.
• You reap what you sow. Do not think you can practice without intensity and a lack of commitment then expect to play with the right intensity come match time. Bad habits produce other bad habits.
• Pay attention to the things you can control. Good farmers pay attention to the things under their control. The things they can control can never be at the mercy of the things they cannot control. Accomplished athletes pay attention to performance factors under their control, including the mind’s side of performance. They enjoy the moments of practice, rehearsal, competition, and the harvest.
• Learn from feedback. True competitors learn as much or more from what went wrong in practice as from what went right in their preparation and performance. Learning from feedback is your major method of improvement. Athletic intelligence includes learning from mistakes, reinforcing what you did right, and from continuously preparing, practicing, and performing at higher levels. Athletes who do not learn from their competitive experiences are destined, and doomed, to repeat the same errors and suffer the same fate time after time.
• Remember The Law of the Harvest.


“Laws are starting to make more sense to me,” said Kim (a HS Senior soccer). “It’s kind of like jumping off a 30 foot bluff into a lake. You can’t jump off the bluff, get half way down, change your mind, and stop falling. The Law of Gravity rules!”


LIFE SKILL
• Do you ever slack off on your homework, yet still expect to keep your grades up so that you can play soccer? It doesn’t work does it? The Law of the Harvest catches up with you.
• Think of rest, recovery, and adequate sleep as one of your “seeds” for playing and performing up to your potential in school and on the field. Do you ever cut your sleep short to party, stay out late, or talk too long on your cell phone, yet still plan on playing well in tomorrow’s big game or do well on your Biology Exam? It doesn’t work. You reap what you sow and The Law of the Harvest catches up with you.
• You got the point, but one more for good measure. You have the right serving technique, which is a great “seed” for success, but you don’t handle stress well. The same goes with your teachers and coaches. You make fairly good grades and listen in practice, but you don’t handle stress well. Putting in the extra time to develop the mental skills that help you control your stress on and off the soccer field are part of preparing for the harvest.

WORK TOWARD THE LAW OF THE HARVEST.