An end and a beginning

We closed out our season against two of the top four teams in our conference, and although the results were disappointing, we have set ourselves up to continue to make strides in the seasons to come. We have spent the last few days as a coaching staff talking to each player individually to get a feel for what they think we can do to continue moving forward. It’s good to hear that we are all convinced that we have not yet exhausted the potential of the players on this team, and there is a willingness across the board to invest personally for the future successes of the group as a whole.

We are coming up on the important months for any college soccer program…the offseason. It is truly the time of year that separates the mediocre players and teams from those teams that are still playing at this point in November. This gets more at the character of the women on any particular team than what can be orchestrated by coaches.

The off-season captains have been chosen by the team, and it will be up to them and the other “leaders” in the group to motivate, inspire and push each player to continue to improve. We can’t stay where we are right now. Where we are is sitting on the sidelines watching the other teams in our conference play for the WIAC championship. That’s not where we want to be. We want to be announced at the start of the big games, a force to contend with throughout the entire season and recognized as one of the top four teams in the WIAC conference. That doesn’t just happen by itself. It happens because everyone involved in the program sets sights on those goals and makes the necessary commitments in and out of season to attain them.

We are planning for the end-of-the-year banquet, but it is also a gathering to celebrate all that is yet to come. Our seniors will be beginning careers and life outside of soccer and college, and the remaining players will start to turn their attention to what can be, and what will be better. It is the end of one season, and the start of the next.

Prepping for a big game

We are in the midst of preparing for an incredibly tough game this coming weekend against Stevens Point, and it is refreshing to feel the consistent focus that has found its way into our practices and into our preparation. Our goal is to field the best Stout team that we can, and to play a game that we can be proud of. What might that look like? Well, I never focus on the stats that would traditionally define a successful game, because if we do the little things well, the stats will take care of themselves.

We have turned our attention to the simplicity of the little things. We plan to make the most of every possession we have, to defend as a unit all over the field and to think and play one moment at a time. We know we’ll need to communicate effectively and to be intensely involved. We need to be present and challenge for every 50/50 ball and to sacrifice physically because we want to make a difference when we have the chance. It all sounds simple, but any player who has faced a worthy opponent knows that maintaining focus despite the reality of the opponent is more of a challenge than running for 90 minutes, controlling a ball that is on your feet and taking effective shots when given the opportunity.

This game is an important one, and the way to play an important game is to make every moment in the game THE most important moment. We need to stay focused on each play and to let those minutes add themselves up without being overwhelmed by the entirety of a 90-minute game. What a wonderful way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

Stepping up

I have to admit that I am an incredibly competitive person, and I have always enjoyed winning much more than losing. I have learned, over time, to take from the losses what has made me grow, but that doesn’t mean that I enjoyed it. It always feels even better to win because you should, to win because you’ve prepared well, and to win because you wanted it more. That is why the win against River Falls felt so good. We have managed to grow from the losses throughout this season and to pull from those growing experiences to get to a place that we should learn to expect.

I think it is fair to expect the level of play that we had against River and Whitewater and Hamline on a daily basis. It is a mark of a maturing team that where growth can happen it does, and then there is a humble recognition of the fact that there is always room to grow more.

We are no where near finished growing to the potential of this team or this program, and the best part about all of it is that we never will be. There will always be room for development, a chance to be challenged by better players and by better teams. We have a ways to go and we’ll go that way one game at a time, one half at a time, one play at a time and we’ll do it as a group!

Staying in the moment

Watching practice yesterday and the intensity with which the players are continuing to train and play, an outsider would hardly believe that we are a team who has only won four games this year. It was a good week last week with a win on the road against Hamline and then a very tight 2-1 loss to Whitewater. It is easy to be discouraged by the numbers and to write off a season when you have been in games and come up short most of the time. The women on this team have not done that. They are still committed to lifting, to training with intensity and to playing every game with the desire to win. It is partially the mark of a young and hopeful program, but more than that it is an indication of the character each player possesses. They’ve each made the individual choice to live in the moment. To work past those frustrating moments and not worry too much about what is coming down the line, but to stay focused on the here and now.

We face River Falls tomorrow in what will be the most important game so far this season. According to the numbers we are equally matched, but I know something about the Stout team that is not on any stat sheet. They will be there to play…they will play for each other and with an intensity that will be hard to cover, and no matter what happens on the field we’ll have done everything we can to play the best in the moment at hand. Isn’t that the point?

Back to the basics

Thankfully there are not many times in a season when I tell the team to forget everything they know about combination play, to stop building from the back and to simply put the ball forward and go after it. Only when the field we are playing on has standing water, thick piles of mud in random places and a strong wind that blows straight into one of the goal mouths would I tell them to scrap what we try to do and play like they did when they were five. It was not going to be a pretty game, and the team adjusted and simply played.

They simply went to every ball, ran at and through them, and put the ball in the net some of the times we had chances. There were memorable slips, mud caked uniforms, frozen hands and feet, a ball boy that went down right in front of our bench, a lot of jumping around on the bench (to stay warm) and a trip down memory lane that simplifies what can sometimes get too complicated.

One of the things my club coach always told us when I was playing is that soccer is a really simple game, and it is. It is easy to forget that simply running, kicking, shooting, attempting to pass, working to dribble, defending our goal and going for their goal are really the elements of soccer that always matter. At the college level intelligence starts to play a factor about how, why and when we do those things and to what degree, but the elements are the same.

Games like Saturday take out all of the strategy. They level the playing field for dribblers and play-makers and simplify the game to who can kick the furthest out of the mud, who can run fastest with water-logged shoes and who cares the least about what the uniform is going to look like at the end of the day.

If there is nothing else learned from games like Saturday, at least we know we can adjust to any conditions and still have the passion of little kids to just go out and play in the mud.

Growing through adversity

We’ve been through a tough stretch of conference play, and I have been pleased with the growth that has happened for our team in the midst of seemingly disappointing circumstances. The mental state of the team is in much better shape than would be expected at this point in a season that has not turned out the way we had all hoped. Each player has found a way to play for the sake of playing, to dig down and to push when it doesn’t seem like it really matters. They each seem to have come to the conclusion that what matters is that we push through because we should…that we play because we love to play…that we work because that is what and who we are.

A better team has shown up to play each game, and that is a movement forward that hasn’t yet made its way to the record books. The wins have been hard to come by, but we are winning nonetheless. The character that can only be built through adversity is getting stronger and stronger every week. The foundation needed to build a successful program consists of the attitude, work ethic and team cohesion that is solidifying with every passing practice and game.

The pieces are coming together and the results will undoubtedly follow. Good things happen when you are willing to learn from the hard times, and the women on this team are an inspiration because of their willingness to grow despite the adversity.

Character Building

When it seems as though there is no way to catch a break, we must find a way to just keep going. We had a rough game Wednesday against St. Kate’s…not because we were outplayed, but rather because we didn’t do what we needed to do to show up to play. We were not mentally prepared for the day and played without much urgency or passion.

The captains were part of a movement in a new direction to get the team more invested in mental preparation, and it paid off for the two games on the weekend.

A much more inspired team showed up to play, Saturday, for our second conference game of the year against Oshkosh and we found ourselves on the losing end of a 1-0 battle. It was an incredibly well-played game with a lot of speed playing both directions and it took a lot out of us.

We then had to board a bus for a 41/2 hour trip to Dubuque, IA on Sunday for the second game of the weekend. We continued to play well into the second game of the weekend, and dominated possession, shot attempts and overall play. It started to take its toll on us going into the second half and many of the players who had seen a lot of minutes on Saturday were starting to feel the effects of fatigue and injury. We had a 2-0 lead going in to the last 8 minutes of the game and we were unable to shore up where we needed to in order to hold the lead. We painfully watched one player, an inspired senior from Dubuque, chip away at our lead and ultimately take the win for their team.

It is hard to get back on a bus for a long ride home when a win was so imminent, but it is what we have to do. It is hard to continue to work toward bigger goals that will move the program to where we, the coaches, ultimately see it going, but it is what we have to do. It is hard to forget about record, to move beyond losses and to see the positives of all that has happened in the last couple of games, but that is what we have to do. We are starting to gel, to see the opportunities, to play better team defense, to trust one another and to play for one another. The focus is coming and the play is improving all over the field. It is hard to keep working, but that is what we have to do, and that is what we will do.

To Build from Here

We opened conference play with a win against UW-Platteville. We had to overcome quite a bit to pull that one off, and it has the makings of the propulsion to get us moving with some positive momentum.

Platteville is a long ways from Menomonie. I have never been through that part of Wisconsin, and I can tell you that it has some unparalleled beauty. We weren’t sure we were actually going to make it to the game on time because just after we left, we pulled over to the side of the highway because a door on the side of the bus popped open. It opened probably 4 more times in the space of about 20 miles, and we pulled to the side of the highway each time to get it closed. Thankfully, a mechanic was able to meet us on an on-ramp in Eau Claire to get the door fixed, and we were on our way.

We pulled in to Platteville pretty much right on time and headed to the fieldhouse to get ready. We found out that the football game that was being played before us was quite a bit behind schedule. There had been an injury that required an ambulance, and the game was only in the third quarter. We were directed to the grass field outside the stadium to wait for the go-ahead signal.

We waited…and we loosened…and we waited, and next thing I know the girls are playing some sort of camp tag game. Most of the players are linked by arms in pairs and four others are playing chase. The object is to get from one pair to another and link arms so that another player has to become the chased. I thought about how perfect that warm-up was. We weren’t using balls, and we weren’t getting our needed time on the turf, but they were getting ready. They were doing something that made them smile and enjoy each other, and they weren’t overwhelmed by the fact that things really hadn’t been going our way. They simply made the most of it.

That attitude and energy translated onto the field, and although the refereeing was a bit suspect and the field was bouncier than we were used to, they maintained composure and class and continued to plug away at what we know works for us. We had spent an entire practice on taking and defending corner kicks, and after forcing a few, we were able to convert for the one goal we needed.

What I love is that good things are happening, and the women on this team are making the experience theirs from start to finish. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Colorado or bust

After a frustrating start of preseason with weather that refused to cooperate, we boarded a plane and headed toward a trip of a lifetime. Everything that needed to happen in Colorado to make the trip go smoothly, happened. On our first day, we took a long hike in Boulder, CO that led to incredible views and a number of photo opportunities. The dinner that night was in an incredible setting and we enjoyed laughter, good food and a chance to get to know each other outside of the dorm confines.

Friday of our trip we ventured to downtown Denver where we walked on 16th Street Mall and got some souvenir shopping done. We met with a sports psychologist near the steps of the Capitol building and spent some time talking about what is going to propel us to the successes we all want.

Our first scrimmage was played at an unbelievable facility adjacent to the stadium where the Colorado Rapids play. The sunset that occurred during our game was truly breathtaking, and we played to a 2-2 tie with a women’s select team.

Saturday morning we loaded up the vans and headed to southern Colorado. We stopped in Colorado Springs to visit Colorado College’s campus. We made a hefty contribution to the bookstore there and then took a peek at the Division I women’s soccer practice. We then headed to Canon City, CO where we put on the life jackets and went white water rafting under the Royal Gorge Bridge. Only one player barely fell out, and the experience was everything that a team building adventure should be.

Sunday morning we went for a run in the scorching temperatures along a trail that runs parallel to the river. We spent the rest of the day preparing for our second game. We played Division II CSU-Pueblo, and although the score was extremely lopsided in their favor, we scored 4 goals on them and had many things to be excited about with respect to our play.

We boarded the plane early on Monday, and headed back to Menomonie to finish out the remainder of our preseason. We had all gained valuable experiences, a chance to get to know each other, and more pictures than we know what to do with. All of the hard off-season work paid off and the team is already brainstorming about going on another adventure.

Choosing Battles

They ran like they always do, in pairs…in sync. Warming up for another day on the soccer field, they did what they could to ignore the torrential rain that worked against their every step. The sweatshirts, t-shirts and pants were immediately pounds heavier with the soaking.

Most definitely not the ideal conditions for a fall tryout.

Every coach hopes to know which players are going to best help the program. They want to quickly identify those with the fastest feet, the longest endurance, the best skill. It’s difficult to do under the conditions we have faced thus far in our tryouts for the 2007 Stout soccer season, but many other things can be determined in situations like this.

Almost as important as physical fitness is the ability to decipher between which battles are worth fighting and which ones should be ignored. One thing that makes a good soccer player is her ability to adjust to her surroundings and accept those realities that cannot be controlled.

No battle will ever be won when it comes to the weather. The wind will continue to blow, the rain will continue to fall, and the choice becomes whether or not to stand and gripe about it, or to simply adjust.

The same goes for so many aspects of the game. No matter how bad the call was that a ref made, the choice is to stand and argue with him or to simply accept the new situation that has been created as a result of the call.

Where do you spend your energy? Are you preparing for that next moment, or are you stuck fighting against those things that have already happened?

Opposing teams and opposing fans can be equally as challenging. They often say and do things to take your focus off of the moment so that you turn your energy away from what you should be doing and instead you react to things they have said and done. Choose your battles.

Even when the weather is perfect and the opposing team is polite, there are always going to be battles to fight. You may not get the playing time you think you deserve, or get to play your favorite position, or you may be plagued with nagging injuries, but you always have a choice about what part of those things you are going to fight against. Choosing a reaction that will help you get from where you are to where you want to be, is often more than half the battle.

You’re not going to change the weather, a bad call, the choices of the opposing team, the reality of an injury, or the decisions of your coaches, but you are always in charge of the battle lines that are drawn.

Fighting for a Good Cause

I was tempted to hit the snooze, but there were too many reasons to obey the 3:45 am alarm clock. Eighteen reasons to be exact. The soccer team had coordinated efforts and created two teams of nine to walk in the Relay for Life fundraiser on Stout's campus. I had to get up. Besides, there was supposed to be a frozen t-shirt contest or something.

It hadn't really been all that long since I had found myself up in the wee hours of the morning, but for the first time in a long time it wasn't to satisfy the needs of the little people in my life.

When I got to the fieldhouse, the group had dwindled a little, but the ultra-dedicated were still among the walkers on the track. There were a few snoozers on the futon that lay at the designated soccer area, and remnants of an extremely busy night still littered areas of the multi-purpose room. The girls were not nearly as tired as I imagined they would be, and they were still as goofy and entertaining as always.

As I walked...

Laura and Cassey, the team leaders, were still there and still walking.

Laura had sent her mom back to the dorm many hours before, and she was in it for the long haul.

Cassey helped to figure out that she and Laura would probably walk for a total of ten hours before the 12-hour event ended.

Mallory was the first to really take note of what gravity can do to a pair of hands that have been walking for several hours. We told her to take her swollen hands to bed.

Rachel and Trish were not far behind when it was apparent that fatigue was getting the best of them. The incoherent sentences were a dead give away.

Amanda jolted awake at 5:00 am for her shift and it took probably 3 laps for her to figure out where she was.

Meesh lamented her loss in the big-glove boxing ring that had been set up earlier in the night. She will be looking for a rematch!

Jess enjoyed judging the karaoke performers, but resisted the urge to take a turn at the microphone herself.

And, while we walked...
The sun came up. The event closed down. Fatigue set in.

The several months that Laura and Cassey spent organizing and motivating the team to take part in the worthy cause for the American Cancer Society had come to a close. All together, the team was able to raise nearly $800 for the cause, and create priceless memories through the walk itself.

It is always worth it to be part of something worthwhile. To fight for something that is bigger than you are. It's ALWAYS worth it....even if it means fighting the urge to stay in bed at 3:45 in the morning.