I re-read the previous blog and thought I should delete it, but then decided to just leave it up as some people had already read it and I should probably just clarify what I meant.
I realized the previous post may have come across that I was excluding myself from what I was saying about working hard and having a passion for the game. Don't get me wrong, I am very much a part of this. When I was saying that "people need to step it up if someone gets after them" I was thinking of myself. If I misjudge a ball and it goes over my head, ok people make mistakes. If I do it again, I would hope that my team would get on my case and start telling me to judge the ball better and back up...and I hope I wouldn't get mad at them but realize that they are right. There are times out there where I get beat and I have stopped trying. When I am talking about people not giving up and hustling their butt to make up for mistakes, I am including myself in that because I know that I can improve on that a lot.
So if anyone from our Tauro FC team read the previous post, please don't read into it that I think you don't like soccer and aren't trying. That was not the point and I am not trying to point out any individual players. I also am not excluding myself from any comments I made. My sole desire of that post was to point out that if we want to start wining games we need to be fired up together as a team with all cylinders firing, meaning EVERY player must give it everything they have for 90 minutes and work together as a team.
I'd love to hear any comments anyone has on this.
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Passion...We Need You
Last night we played a game against SAL Engineering and we ended up losing 3-2. We scored within the first 3 minutes of the game. Then they scored a nice goal off a free kick and went up 2-1 when they scored on a breakaway. We managed to tie it up in the second half but a late header goal off a corner kick gave us the defeat. The first half was terrible. The second half was great and our team played hard. The problem is that we need to play that way for 90 minutes, not just 45.
It was too bad because that team was not good. We killed them the last time we played them. Some of us went for drinks after and talked about the team and I've decided to post one main thought that came up. There seems to be no passion in some of the players. Now this is obviously not everyone, but where is the fire in our team's eyes. When a player steps on the field it is time to go to war. If you get beat you need to bust your butt to make up for that. If you are continually making mistakes and someone starts to harp on you and tell you to step it up, don't get mad at them because they are right. You do need to step it up.
Playing well is about respect. When I coach my youth teams the one thing I want from them is to be competitive. I don't care if we win or lose the game, but I do care if we gave it our best and made it a game. Bad bounces and bad calls by the referee can cost you a game sometimes and you can't control that, so if you only base things on wins and losses it is not a fair picture. When our men's team plays a game, whether we win or lose I want that other team to know they had a game on their hands. That way they have respect for our team. It even goes down one more level to the individual player. If you want people to respect you as a player, you need to show some passion out there. You don't need to be an amazing player because if you show true passion out there and work your butt off, people will respect you.
Now for anyone on the soccer team reading this, don't get too caught up in whether or not you are one of the people I'm talking about. Honestly, I have no one in mind when I write that, it just seems to be more of a generic thing . I think our whole team needs to bond together, each player focusing on himself playing well, and this ship will turn around.
In order to turn the team around, I've decided (with input from the other people at Athena's last night) to change the focus of the team from wins and losses to something else. I guess you'll have to come out and watch next Wednesday night August 2nd at 7:00pm at Umea Vast (behind Lawson Heights Mall) to find out what that is!
It was too bad because that team was not good. We killed them the last time we played them. Some of us went for drinks after and talked about the team and I've decided to post one main thought that came up. There seems to be no passion in some of the players. Now this is obviously not everyone, but where is the fire in our team's eyes. When a player steps on the field it is time to go to war. If you get beat you need to bust your butt to make up for that. If you are continually making mistakes and someone starts to harp on you and tell you to step it up, don't get mad at them because they are right. You do need to step it up.
Playing well is about respect. When I coach my youth teams the one thing I want from them is to be competitive. I don't care if we win or lose the game, but I do care if we gave it our best and made it a game. Bad bounces and bad calls by the referee can cost you a game sometimes and you can't control that, so if you only base things on wins and losses it is not a fair picture. When our men's team plays a game, whether we win or lose I want that other team to know they had a game on their hands. That way they have respect for our team. It even goes down one more level to the individual player. If you want people to respect you as a player, you need to show some passion out there. You don't need to be an amazing player because if you show true passion out there and work your butt off, people will respect you.
Now for anyone on the soccer team reading this, don't get too caught up in whether or not you are one of the people I'm talking about. Honestly, I have no one in mind when I write that, it just seems to be more of a generic thing . I think our whole team needs to bond together, each player focusing on himself playing well, and this ship will turn around.
In order to turn the team around, I've decided (with input from the other people at Athena's last night) to change the focus of the team from wins and losses to something else. I guess you'll have to come out and watch next Wednesday night August 2nd at 7:00pm at Umea Vast (behind Lawson Heights Mall) to find out what that is!
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Victory is Ours!
This is my Under 11 Boys Gold (Division 1) team I coach. We are proudly (in a good sense) portraying our medals we won in the Mini Festival of Soccer. Sorry, what was that? What place did we get? Oh, we got 1st place and these are gold medals.
We only have 8 guys on the team now which is ok because at this age they only play 8vs8 and I usually bring up extra players from lower divisons to play with us. We did have 9 guys, but one of them moved to Edmonton but is coming back to play in the City Final. These guys on the team are phenomenal. If they were the same size as our Men's team I honestly think we would lose. They are going to be the future stars of Eastside Soccer. So far this season our record in league play is 9-0-3. We did lose a game in a tournament which devastated the guys, but we bounced back and still won the gold in the Eastside tournament.
The big City Final is this Saturday, July 29th at 8:30am inside the new soccer centre. We are playing Hollandia, the only team to beat us at all this year, and so it will be a big battle as we both fight for the Gold medal and be declared the Division Champions. Feel free to come cheer us on!
U20 World Cup in Edmonton - Want to Go?
It's hard to believe but Canada managed to win the privilege of hosting the U-20 World Cup in 2007. The games will be played across the country in places like Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Victoria, Burnaby and...Edmonton! Yep, only a quick 5 hour drive and you have the chance to watch some of the best youth talent from around the world! Many current soccer stars played in the U-20 World Cup before the actual World Cup. You don't think this is a big deal? Well, the U-20 World Cup is the second largest soccer event in the world...the only one bigger is the World Cup.
I know the games aren't until next July, but I have already bought my tickets...that is I've bought tickets for me and 16 of my closest friends. Yep, so far 17 of us have already bought tickets to go watch a double header game on Sunday July 8th in Edmonton. We are sitting in Section U (which is basically at center field) Rows 39-41 with between 6-8 people per row (that way we can talk to each other and not be all strung out along one long row).
But today is your lucky day...that's right because I actually still have 5 tickets left that are not spoken for. Do you want to come enjoy the fun on July 8th, 2007 in Edmonton? It's a double header game with Team Canada playing someone in the first game and then two other teams playing in the second game (we don't know who they are yet because qualifying is still going on, but I'm hoping one of them is either Brazil or England). The cost is cheap...for only $30.00 you get to watch two games of soccer! That's only $15 per game...that's almost cheaper than a Blades game and I can guarantee you this will be a whole lot better than any Blades game!
I only have 5 tickets left and I'm selling them to the first five people who contact me, so don't wait! Come enjoy the fun on July 8th, 2007 in Edmonton.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Free Stuff!
Don't you love it when you get something for free that you really like? I know I sure do and I've had my fair share lately.
A little while ago I received an item in the mail that looked like a card advertisement. I still read it and low and behold they told me that if I go test drive a car from where Shiela and I bought our Cavalier a few years ago, I would get a free IPOD Shuffle. It was almost too good to be true. So before the June 30th deadline I went on down to the dealership and test drove an SUV...I think it was a Torrent or something. They filled out the form and said I would get my IPOD Shuffle in the mail. And I did! I haven't figured out how to use it yet, but I have it!
The second free item came a few days ago. When the Toronto people were down for the Hbc Run for Canada they saw my cell phone I was using. For those that haven't seen it, it is a Nokia phone and is all taped up in the back because the battery kept falling out. Needless to say people make fun of me every time I use it, which isn't that often as it is aPay As You Go phone and I only put money on it when I will use it a lot. Anyways, one of the Toronto guys says he has a Sasktel phone back in Toronto from an old project they did and that he would send it to me for free. So about a week later I sent him an email to see if he was serious and he said he couldn't find the Sasktel phone anywhere...however he had a couple other phones and said he would send me one of those. So a week later I receive a package in the mail and there is a Telus cell phone in there. What a nice guy that Seamus is!
So yeah, now I have a new cell phone and a new IPOD Shuffle. I don't know if I will activate the cell phone or not. I don't need it right now and it seems like a waste of money to use the phone if I don't need it. But we'll see. I'm just waiting to see what else I am going to get for free!
A little while ago I received an item in the mail that looked like a card advertisement. I still read it and low and behold they told me that if I go test drive a car from where Shiela and I bought our Cavalier a few years ago, I would get a free IPOD Shuffle. It was almost too good to be true. So before the June 30th deadline I went on down to the dealership and test drove an SUV...I think it was a Torrent or something. They filled out the form and said I would get my IPOD Shuffle in the mail. And I did! I haven't figured out how to use it yet, but I have it!
The second free item came a few days ago. When the Toronto people were down for the Hbc Run for Canada they saw my cell phone I was using. For those that haven't seen it, it is a Nokia phone and is all taped up in the back because the battery kept falling out. Needless to say people make fun of me every time I use it, which isn't that often as it is aPay As You Go phone and I only put money on it when I will use it a lot. Anyways, one of the Toronto guys says he has a Sasktel phone back in Toronto from an old project they did and that he would send it to me for free. So about a week later I sent him an email to see if he was serious and he said he couldn't find the Sasktel phone anywhere...however he had a couple other phones and said he would send me one of those. So a week later I receive a package in the mail and there is a Telus cell phone in there. What a nice guy that Seamus is!
So yeah, now I have a new cell phone and a new IPOD Shuffle. I don't know if I will activate the cell phone or not. I don't need it right now and it seems like a waste of money to use the phone if I don't need it. But we'll see. I'm just waiting to see what else I am going to get for free!
I'm in Full Swing Again!
Hi Everyone,
Man I feel like I have been gone for a long time...at least without blogging. In my last post I was just about to head off to Edmonton and help coach in the Rocky Mountain Cup with the U13 Provincial boys team. Our goal in that tournament was to get a medal and nothing less was acceptable. Our first game against Newfoundland went ok once we calmed down. When we went to BC we got scored on in the first 45 seconds of the game. We told our guys that if nothing else we cannot get scored on in the first minute. Well, we broke a new record and within 25 seconds we were down 1-0 to Newfoundland. Then suddenly it was 2-0. We finally turned it around and won 5-2.
Our second game was against Alberta North. It was like watching David and Goliath out there as those Alberta boys were big and out muscled us. We probably played our best game ever against them, but we just couldn't pull out the win. The highlight for me was when the head coach got kicked out of the game for saying something to the linesman and I got to take the helm for the final 10 minutes. We scored our only goal against Alberta when I was coaching! But we still lost 3-1.
That set us up for the bronze medal match against Manitoba. Again, we came out a little slow and suddenly we were down 1-0, but at least it took more than 25 seconds. Then they scored again, but luckily there was an early offside call that everyone had missed and so the goal was disallowed. That gave us the edge we needed and our guys went on to a 3-1 victory as we claimed the bronze medal!
Other than that, my job with the Hbc Run for Canada is winding down and I only have another 4 days of work. After that I'm unemployed again and I'm looking forward to relaxing in August (while looking for a job of couse!) So I'm going to be blogging on a regular basis now, catch up on my surgery stories and get back into some classic Fact or Fiction. Stay Tuned!
Man I feel like I have been gone for a long time...at least without blogging. In my last post I was just about to head off to Edmonton and help coach in the Rocky Mountain Cup with the U13 Provincial boys team. Our goal in that tournament was to get a medal and nothing less was acceptable. Our first game against Newfoundland went ok once we calmed down. When we went to BC we got scored on in the first 45 seconds of the game. We told our guys that if nothing else we cannot get scored on in the first minute. Well, we broke a new record and within 25 seconds we were down 1-0 to Newfoundland. Then suddenly it was 2-0. We finally turned it around and won 5-2.
Our second game was against Alberta North. It was like watching David and Goliath out there as those Alberta boys were big and out muscled us. We probably played our best game ever against them, but we just couldn't pull out the win. The highlight for me was when the head coach got kicked out of the game for saying something to the linesman and I got to take the helm for the final 10 minutes. We scored our only goal against Alberta when I was coaching! But we still lost 3-1.
That set us up for the bronze medal match against Manitoba. Again, we came out a little slow and suddenly we were down 1-0, but at least it took more than 25 seconds. Then they scored again, but luckily there was an early offside call that everyone had missed and so the goal was disallowed. That gave us the edge we needed and our guys went on to a 3-1 victory as we claimed the bronze medal!
Other than that, my job with the Hbc Run for Canada is winding down and I only have another 4 days of work. After that I'm unemployed again and I'm looking forward to relaxing in August (while looking for a job of couse!) So I'm going to be blogging on a regular basis now, catch up on my surgery stories and get back into some classic Fact or Fiction. Stay Tuned!
Tuesday, July 4, 2006
Quick Update
The Hbc Run for Canada went well with nearly 500 people in attendance. It may be more than that but the official numbers won't be in for a while.
I can't write much because I'm off to Edmonton with the U13 boys Provincial team from Wed to Sunday as we are going to the Rocky Mountain Cup. We play Newfoundland in our first game. I'll be back to regular blogging sometime after July 10th.
See you all then!
I can't write much because I'm off to Edmonton with the U13 boys Provincial team from Wed to Sunday as we are going to the Rocky Mountain Cup. We play Newfoundland in our first game. I'll be back to regular blogging sometime after July 10th.
See you all then!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
