A coach, a team, a goal, and this journal

"Find something you love to do and you’ll never have to work a day in your life."

                       The decision to coach soccer was quite possibly the best decision I have ever made. In 2003 I had my first experience as a coach. I was the head coach of a U11 team in my home town, since I was was still playing competitive club soccer this was an interesting situation trying to juggle the two, never less i enjoyed the experience and to this day I still see the kids I coached which are now in High School. I took a year off too graduate High school. The summer between High School and College I started coaching for Lakeville Soccer Club and spend 3 seasons coaching there. I was fortunate to have a lot of success there and enjoyed my time there a lot. In 2008 I decided I wanted to get involved with the Bangu program. At this time the announcement and subsequent formation of the Thunder Academy happened. As try-outs finished up i became the head coach of two boys teams, a U11 east blue team and a U12 south white. This blog is dedicated to the U11 east team. Other events happened and I ended up taking on the role of the South Academy Director, a role in which I enjoy as I get to oversee the development of two girls teams. Along with all this club involvement I also hold the title of Director of Development for Coerver Coaching which is a development program aimed at the individual player.

"Players win games, teams win championships"

               After the try-outs for the U11 east teams we decided that it would be best to progress with pool style training to make more concrete judgements about the players we had. In a sense we were extending try-outs through the fall. As the fall progressed we spilt the teams into tournament groups and one group traveled to the Nike Fall Classic in Chicago and the other to the Superclubs fall invite. Both groups had good outings and fun weekends with group that went to Superclubs going to the finals. Once we went indoor the groups were designated blue and white. Matt Holmes will be coaching the white team and i will be coaching the blue. We are now in the beginning of the indoor training season in which we will train 3 times a week and play in an indoor league.

"Dreams, goals, ambitions - these are the stuff man uses for fuel"

           As a coach i have found setting goals are very productive in the development of a team. It is always good to set short term goals to continuously monitor progress but it also a great idea to set a long term goal.We have several shortterm goals right now weather they are team based such as finishing top 2 in our indoor league or individual based like better ball striking for specific players. Our long term goal is to make it to regional's in 2011 hence the site name "road to regionals".

"Journalism is the ability to meet the challenge of filling space"

         The purpose of this journal is to give the players and parents a record of the team. They will be able to share this site with friends and family so they can track our progress. They will also be able to read about the teams development from the coaches stand point, a view that i feel will be beneficial. Also the players will be able to contribute to the journal so that they can take some ownership to it.

More to come...