The Importance of Setting Goals and Having Accountability

Running in the wind, on hills and at altitude is a different experience than running inside on my treadmill at sea level, but that is how my running experience has changed these days. Every part of me wanted to stop and walk in the middle of my run yesterday, but I had two things going for me that helped me to complete the run.

1. The goal that I had set for the day was to run the entire length that had been prescribed. I have adopted a new running schedule that will prep me to be able to run a ½-marathon by August, and I have laid out on my calendar the expected mileage for any given day.

And, 2. A friend of mine, in Minnesota, has also started the training program so that the two of us can run the race together.

Everyone needs goals, and I am finding that it is increasingly important for me to have someone to whom I am accountable. Goals keep us moving in a direction toward what we want to achieve, but a general goal is not as effective as a specific one. If I say to myself, I want to run 4 days a week, I find that I am not as motivated as I am when I say, “I need to run 4 miles on Thursday”. Breaking it down, for me, is much more effective. I am a list-maker, by nature, so when I have on my daily itinerary that I have to complete 4 miles, I push myself to do it, because I don’t like leaving unfinished activities on my calendar. If I had written, “prep for 1/2 –marathon”, I would not have been as motivated and, although I may have run, I don’t know that I would have run as long or stayed as motivated when the run got difficult.

It is the same way that players prepping in the off-season should approach a long training program. It is not productive to simply say to yourself, “I want to be in shape by preseason.” That is a great long-term goal, but not specific enough to keep you motivated enough to do it. Lay out your goals by the week, and even better, by the day. What do you want to accomplish for your workout, today? How long do you want to run, how much do you want to lift? Which day can you put aside for your rest? Be specific with how you lay out your workout plan, and you’ll find it easier to complete those smaller goals.

When I played competitively, I was continually pushed to work hard by my younger sister. She and I both played, and then when we were home from college, we trained together. I took for granted her presence in my workouts and my goal-setting, because I always had someone to whom I felt accountable. The days I didn’t feel like running for 45-minutes, she often found a way to motivate me, and vice versa, and our sprints were more effective because we could push each other.

It is ideal to find a friend, or just a motivated workout partner to help you through the daily grind. It is, of course, not always possible to convince someone to work out as hard as you’re going to need to on a regular basis, but it is worth your effort to keep looking for some accountability. Check up on your teammates, or give a friend or parent the assignment of “workout warrior”. Tell them that you need to be asked every once in a while how your workouts are going, and then make it a priority to be able to tell them that you did it, and that this Tuesday was better than last Tuesday.

If you haven’t been setting small goals for yourself, make that a goal this week.

Remembering a season and readying for another...

Plenty has happened since I last blogged. Winter has come and gone, and life for Stout soccer has continued to pulse. The players worked indoor youth clinics in January and February and they have been part of a new program that takes our skills clinics on the road for area teams. On their own, the players worked through the winter and we are heading into our final week of our five-week spring season.

As a fun conclusion to the 2008 season, we postponed the team banquet so that we could take a dinner cruise on the St. Croix River. The weather was beautiful and it was a wonderful way to remember the 2008 season, to recognize some deserving players and to send off the seniors in style.

This weekend the team is taking part in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. For the third year, the members of the team have raised money for cancer research and starting tomorrow night, there will be a member of the team walking on the track for the 12 hours of the relay.

When classes conclude, mid-May, the players will head home for the summer and the intense preparation for next fall will begin in earnest. We are looking forward to a large incoming freshmen class, and tryouts in August will be incredibly competitive. There is a lot of excitement about what is to come.

For every season...

The seasons have changed for our team; from fall to winter, and from in-season to out. We finished with a tough game against La Crosse, losing 2-1 in the quarter-final of the WIAC tournament, but there were many things that happened through the year for which we can have some pride. We finished one place higher in the conference rankings, added three ties to our record, and continued to close the gap between us and our opponents. We still have a lot of work to do, and that harder work starts now and happens continuously until the start of preseason next August.

There will be several new faces next fall as we say goodbye to a group of seniors who have most definitely made their mark on the UW-Stout Women’s Soccer program. They of course added to the statistics page for goals and assists, they accumulated minutes played and fouls committed, but that is not what the players in years to come will hear about this particular class of players. This group is how the transition was made from one coach to the next with questions and challenges, with hard work and dedication and with a willingness to accept the changes that were thrust upon them.

This was the group that sat on the steps at North Hall my first year as coach and rattled off so many names that I felt sure I would never remember all of them. I am grateful for each and every one of the players who were a part of the last three years, but especially these seniors who have been so monumental in all that has changed. I may never know what, if anything, I may have taught them, but I know that I have learned immensely from this group of women. They have taught me humility, perseverance, ingenuity and sacrifice.

Seniors will come and go, and seasons too are in constant flux. I have been changed by this group of women, and with each passing season I know that I can no longer be who I am when we start. We have to change now. Our fall jackets will give way to parkas and the focus will change shortly from studies to family and friends. The seasons are inevitable, but we choose whether to be changed within the seasons we are given. The 2008 soccer season has changed record books and the paths of many players, and I as a coach was not unaffected by all that happened this season. It is now time to embrace this new season, the off-season, and make it a valuable time preparing us for that next season.

Hurry up and...wait

It has been a positive season so far, on so many levels, and after barreling through our conference games we are now in a holding pattern. Last week was our most demanding of the season so far, and I am continually impressed by the focus and drive of the members of this team.

We played an incredibly hard-fought battle against UW-Eau Claire (ranked #22 in the country) on Wednesday. We held them scoreless for the first 70 minutes of the game. After they scored, we nearly put in the equalizer had it not been for the athleticism of their goalie. They snuck in a second goal with 20 seconds left in the game and we were drained of everything we had brought to the field that day.

There was no rest for the weary and we had to muster up the same level of intensity and focus for our Saturday roadtrip to Whitewater for another epic battle. This time we put ourselves on the board first, but we were unable to hold on to the lead in the second half and lost the match 2-1.

Unbelievably, the women on this team were able to get themselves up again for our match against MIAC powerhouse St. Benedict's for our Senior Day game on Sunday. It was a back and forth game in playmaking and in scoring. We put ourselves up 1-0 and they battled back to take a 2-1 lead into halftime. We tied it up and then in the final 17 minutes of the game they stayed after a ball banging around in the box and after all the bodies had landed, the ball was in the back of the net. We lost the game 3-2, but it was a victory in spirit.

It took an incredible amount of energy for the team to stay up for game after game after game, and there truly was not a let down of the sort that would indicate a loss of focus. Practices this week have been similar and we look to recapture our home-field winnning record when we take on St. Mary's and Hamline in two non-conference games.

We could potentially be hosting the first round of the WIAC playoffs, but after all the hurrying to get through the conference play first, we have to wait to see what happens with Oshkosh and La Crosse.

The games and training for the next week and a half will be challenging as we attempt to hone the focus that has been so positive and keep progressing forward in everything we do. I am confident that the momentum that we have started is going to be hard to stop.

Soul Food

The way to a soccer teams’ heart is through their stomachs. The parents and families of this team are well aware of what makes the experience complete, and because of that there have been very few games when there were no treats to be passed around. We’ve enjoyed the hospitality and generosity of so many of the parents who have supplied pizza, ice cream, cookies, brownies and other treats after our games. We’ve had memorable experiences at the houses of several of the players and our family potluck meal was another fun day. Life is often remembered most favorably when there is food involved.

It has been fun to watch the team progress from separated groups of diners to the unified way they devour food now. It mirrors the progression of how much better they are playing as a unit right now. The more they have had a chance to eat together, the better they get to know each other and the more that translates out on to the field.

What I remember most from my college days were the meals and treats along the way. I remember great restaurants and meals at the houses of my teammates. It has always been that way for me. It’s funny that I remember my “lucky pancakes” on the Saturday mornings before my youth soccer games, but I could hardly recall much about the actual games.

The post-game treats we’ve enjoyed this season are indeed a representation of how “lucky” we really are. The women on this team are lucky to have the parents they do. They are lucky to be supported by the people around them, and I am lucky to be in the right place at the right time to sneak a few sweet treats along the way.

If food for the soul can be found in Tupperware, the Stout Women’s soccer team should have some of the happiest souls around.

There is, in fact, crying in soccer

One of my favorite films of all time has to be "A League of Their Own". Tom Hanks plays a disenchanted baseball coach in charge of coaching a women's professional baseball team in the middle of WWII during a time period when Major League baseball has stopped competing. He has his own troubles with alcohol and has few, if any, expectations of the athleticism of the women who play for him. He, of course, is quickly turned toward enthusiasm for the potential of the women on his team and it is a feel-good movie about exceeding expectations.

A great, and memorable line from the movie happens when he has just yelled at one of the women and she stands in front of him on the verge of tears. He struggles to keep control of his own emotions as he points fervently at her saying, "There is no crying in baseball...there is no crying in baseball."

I think it is a turning point for him as it is evident that he truly does care about what he is doing, enough to express emotion the only way that he knows how...even if that meant yelling at his players. He was a yeller.

I am not a yeller. I generally do not express much of the emotions that I feel on a regular basis during practices and games, but I discovered this week, that when the emotions are overwhelming, it is a tearful expression that grips me.

As a player, I could simply run off frustration, work harder when the chips were down or tackle harder on 50/50's. I have been challenged with a new way to express very real emotions about the games we prepare for and the practices we endure. I wouldn't say that I am weepy, but I guess I have embraced the cathartic release that tears can have.

We had a tough game this week. Not because we played so hard and were outmatched, but rather because we were not willing to leave what we had on the field. I was frustrated and instead of yelling, or throwing chairs or pouting, I guess...I cried.

I've seen tears from players I've played with and coached over the years. The players on both sides of huge games are quick to shed tears...some out of joy and others out of utter despair. Others cried because they were seniors and they knew it was the last game. It is an expression of a full commitment of everything that a player has that leads to such an emotional outburst.

Hanks eventually accepts the differences between some of the things that the women on his team do that no man would ever feel compelled to do. Tears are never really accepted, but he softens his approach to accommodate the needs of his team.

I hope that crying does not become a regular occurance for me or the women on this team...but I do think that there is a place for it. Sometimes, when you care enough about something, you cannot help but to shed a few tears.

On the road again...

We’re on the road again…literally and figuratively. We played Oshkosh at their place yesterday and we’re slotted to go on the road again for a game against Gustavus Wednesday afternoon. The team is also on a new figurative road that is taking us to some new places for this team, and we are all enjoying the scenery.

It has been a positive couple of weeks with equally positive weekends.
We had three shut-out wins at home and that weekend was full of family, and phenomenal weather. It was a truly incredible few days, and as a group we began moving with a positive energy that is going to be hard to slow.

I’ve been busy watching high school games, planning practices, attending shootarounds and watching film. The entire team has been busy with classwork, lifting, practices, study hall and training room expectations. They even went to St. Paul last week to get in training for our off-season fundraising.

I have to admit that when a player and a team are as focused as we are right now, there is not much room for life outside of soccer, but the nature of players who want to compete at this level is that soccer is life anyway.

I am continually impressed by the hearts of the young women who compete on this team, and after having a chance to see the support of their families, I am not at all surprised that they are the way they are.

I received an email early last week from the Oshkosh team that they were going to be wearing pink for yesterday’s match. It was in honor of breast cancer research, and a really worthy cause. I told the team about the gesture, and Ali Sonsteby, a sophomore on the team, suggested that we join the movement and put pink tape on our socks. They did that and added pink prewrap on their heads. It was a great idea that gave a physical demonstration of the heart of this team.

The game itself was an important one, and I am struck by how evenly matched we are on paper and very evidently on the field too. It was a great intense game, and we were energized and continually learning, even into the overtime periods.

We all hope that we’ll have another shot to play Oshkosh later this year, but until then, we are busy prepping for another non-conference game and another very important conference game against UW-La Crosse next Saturday. It has been good to find a new road….now we just have to stay on it.