| Convention Musings (March 2008) |
Observations from the 2008 NSCAA Convention in Baltimore
By Jay Martin
The Walt…
The Walt Chyzowych Award, or as I call it – The Walt – is unique. Most awards named for a prominent person honor the recipient. The Walt honors a worthy recipient but it also honors Walt every year. The recipient usually has had a special relationship with Walter. It is fitting, therefore, that this year’s recipient was the man who worked with Walt the last eight years of his life. This year’s recipient was Jay Vidovich, the head coach of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, the 2007 NCAA Division I men’s national champion.
The award is given to a “…coach who promotes the game of soccer as exemplified by the life of Walter Chyzowych.” Vidovich is a worthy recipient.
Jay played soccer at Ohio Wesleyan University for three years after a year at Indiana University, where he came in contact with NSCAA Honor Award winner (and former recipient of The Walt) Jerry Yeagley. In three years at OWU, Jay’s teams had a 50-10-4 record, won three conference championships and gained three NCAA Tournament bids. As a senior he was captain of the OWU team that made it to the Division III “Final Four.” He was a “coach on the field” for the Bishops, the kind of player every coach would like to have.
After coaching and receiving his master’s degree at Regis College in Colorado, he returned to OWU and was assistant coach for two more years. The team was 34-6-4 with two more conference championships and two more NCAA bids.
In 1986 Jay moved to Wake Forest and began his tenure of eight years under Walter Chyzowych as the assistant coach. At that time he began his graduate education in soccer. Life was not easy early for the dynamic duo. They were at a program that was only eight years old with no soccer tradition; they were playing in the best soccer conference in the country and they were at an institution that had demanding academic requirements. Things were tough. But they persevered and they fought hard, which is just what they would expect from the players on their team.
Walt was a mentor, a teacher and a friend to Jay and taught him how to manage and motivate men, how to identify talent and how to run a soccer program. He also introduced him to the cream of the crop of soccer coaches in the country. He met and learned from the likes of Bob Gansler, Joe Machnik, Jay Miller and Nick Szlatar, to name a few.
When Walter died in 1994, Jay was ready to be a head coach. In the last 14 years he has pushed and prodded the Deacons to the highest level. The Wake Forest team is considered one of the top programs in the country today. His work culminated in 2007 with a 22-2-2 season and a national title.
It is now time for Jay Vidovich to become a mentor, a teacher and a friend to a new generation of soccer coaches. He has the opportunity to perpetuate the legacy of Walter, and who better to do it?
The Paul…
The Soccer America article by Paul Gardner published right before the 61st Annual NSCAA Convention in Baltimore was a slam on the convention program. Gardner criticized the high number of English coaches presenting at the convention. In light of the slow demise of English soccer, he may have a point – maybe we should have asked Bosnian coaches!
It is true that many presenters were, in fact, English. The list included long-time NSCAA friend Bill Beswick and former England National Team coach Steve McClaren; however, whether you agree with Gardner or not, there are reasons for this Anglo invasion.
There is no question that the Association and its Director of Coaching Education and Development, Jeff Tipping, have more contacts in England and Europe than in South America or Asia. And it is difficult for the Convention Committee to turn down coaches from such EPL clubs as West Ham, Manchester United, Blackburn etc. Many EPL teams are searching for a way to “get into” the American market. Where better to start?
It is difficult to fill a program like the NSCAA Convention. The path to bring a clinician in has to be a two-way street. The NSCAA wants the coach to attend, but the coach must want to attend. The NSCAA has a great relationship with many “big-time” international coaches. Past Convention programs have included national team coaches from France, Italy, Brazil, Germany, Japan and China. All were received with enthusiasm! But it is difficult to get these men (and women) to attend every year. We have had the Technical Director of UEFA (Andy Roxburgh) many times and will surely have him again. Tipping asked the technical director of Sao Paulo to be a guest, but was declined. The Brazilian women’s coach agreed to attend but could not get a visa in the short time between accepting the invitation and the start of the Convention. A Mexican first division coach turned down an offer the week of the Convention. Far more invitations are extended than accepted.
The NSCAA has tried to offer a taste of Brazilian soccer in recent years by offering a course in Brazil with a professional club. One course doesn’t help the majority of members – a coach attending the Convention would serve the Association far better, but the NSCAA is working to establish a South American presence. In addition, only Argentina has a soccer coaches association. In the other countries there is no place to go to find coaches who are interested in helping other coaches. Carlos Alberto Parriera often has cited the lack of an organized coaches association as holding Brazilian soccer back.
Two of the most important criteria when searching for clinicians are availability and language. In many countries January is a busy soccer month. Coaches simply aren’t available. Having a coach with the ability to present in English is important. In the past, the NSCAA has tried interpreters, but with mixed results. The convention environment is suited best for English speakers.
We want to get better. We want clinicians that the membership will enjoy and learn from. We want to have our members think about the good, the bad and the ugly of soccer. We want to challenge the membership and will work hard to continue to do so.
We try to bridge this gap in SJ by publishing articles and interviews from coaches from around the world and will continue to do so.
The Book…
A very interesting book surfaced during Baltimore 2008. The book was published by Meyer and Meyer in Germany but written in English. The coach, Detlev Brueggeman, is an experienced teacher of the game (DFB and FIFA certified) in Germany and wrote Soccer Alive: The Game is the Best Teacher.
The premise of the book is that coaches should structure training sessions based on what is needed by the team and how it is needed in the game. The book suggests that coaches should identify problems in the game and use the game situations in training to improve particular movement and behaviors necessary to be successful. The coach will duplicate the game situation in training and allow the players to find the best solutions. By isolating certain moments in the game for training, the coach can create goal-oriented, developmentally appropriate and progressive training sessions.
This is the first of two volumes that Meyer and Meyer will offer. The book is geared for children and players at a lower level, but the process will work for players at all levels.
An example:
• A game situation where a midfielder is dribbling at speed from the middle third to the attacking third and into the penalty box.
• The coach “freezes” the situation in front of the penalty box, where the ball carrier has to decide how to proceed according to the behavior of the supporting players and defenders
• This can be transferred into the training session by:
o Using two strikers and four midfielders against four defenders and four midfielders on one goal. The attacking players defend two small goals at the midfield line. There is a second goalkeeper between the two small goals to start the play after a goal
o When a goal is scored, the next attack starts with the keeper throwing to a midfielder who must dribble first (replicate the game situation).
This allows the coach to manipulate all the variables in that game situation to improve the decision making of attacking midfield players.
Get the book and try it!
The End…
In the end, Baltimore was the biggest convention the Association has had. There were more than 4,300 coaches in attendance. Many had a great experience…again! In spite of the concerns voiced by Mr. Gardner, we must be doing something right.
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