i went to the doctor. i went to the mountains. i looked to the children. i drank from the fountains.

looks like in a couple days i'll be coaching a wee bit of football. {that's soccer for those of you who don't speak internationalsportalese.} my old man coaches down to the senior high school, and i'll be stepping in for the coach my old man coaches with b/c he {other coach} has to be someplace else doing something else with someone else. this is a summer league 7v7 where they play 3 games of 24 mins 2 nights per week. got it? good.

so here's the thing about coaching one night: you can't teach a hell of a lot in one night. you've got to have a focus, work on something in specificular. no worries - i do have a plan. it's a two-pronged plan, brilliantly designed so that if they don't remember the one thing maybe they'll remember the other resulting in their maybe doing one of the two things half of the time.

focus 1 - offensive communication. when your teammate gains possession, tell her if she has time or has a man on while you simultaneously move to create an open passing lane and then tell her where you are. the biggest mistake football players make is to call for the ball by calling the possessing player's name. "ace! ace! aceaceaceaceace!!" or they do something wacked out like clap or whistle or yipyap or make some other noise. what the hell good is that? you are either in front of, beside, or behind the player with the ball so say "up!" or "square!" or "outside!" or "back!" - tell the player with the ball what the options are for her. easy peasy.

focus 2 - defensive pressure. when the opposing team has the ball, pressure it. if you are a forward and just lost the ball to the defense, pressure it. if you are a halfback and the opponent is passing the ball thru the midfield, pressure it. if you are a fullback and the opponent is coming at you with the ball, pressure it. you can always pressure the ball no matter where you are on the field. some players are more naturally oriented to defense and some are not. if you're not a natural defender, don't clutter up your pretty little head with complicated techniques of jockeying or pushing a player to her weak side. keep it simple - just pressure the ball. don't get all crazy-physical and foul someone - just pressure the ball. don't worry about winning the ball back - just pressure the ball. all that means is make every attempt to keep yourself between the player and your goal, even if you are 50 yards away from your goal, and stay close enough to the player with the ball so that she has difficulty seeing her teammates or making a good pass. just pressure. if you're a skilled defender, you can do more, but if you are not a skilled defender, it's no problem - a little pressure goes a long way.

these two are tied together by encouraging your teammates to pressure the ball, which morphs into the offensive communication. wah-lah! it's like magicks.

i need to work on the verbiage a bit, tighten things up, stop babbling, but that's the basic game plan. what do you think? {haha, i don't care what you think.}