Worked the first games of the season this past weekend. All u17 and u18 boys. In the past this same tourny has been a weather nightmare. Rain, cold, sleet, snow and lots of wind in the past. This weekend, light winds, sun and mid 70′s. It seem to effect the players as well. Not nearly as much moaning and petulant play. Just hard, fast and talented. There were over 100 college coaches there to watch the boys and it showed. These boys would stop for nothing. That is impressive when you think that we’re playing full 90′s in temps that are 40 to 50 degree’s above what most of the players are used to. A number of these teams left snow covered cities to come and play.

The only reason that I survived, physically, was all the running that I had put in with the girls soccer team. If not for the past two weeks of everyday running I would not have made it. At the end of the weekend I was tired but not to bad off physically, and I had only put in a few (count 2) long runs. All the rest had been sprint work. I think I know what my pre-season will be from now on.

So I’ve been working with the real head coach (RHC) and learning a lot. He takes off in a few days and then I have to be in charge for a while. He’s really helped in terms of using specific drills for a specific goal. Even after only a week I can see improvement in some players ability that we’ve been targeting. With him gone I won’t be able to work tactics and skills as much as the RHC, but I can get them in shape. We are going to run. This will help me get in shape for the season too. We’ll see how they, the players, respond to that.

So a friend of mine became the soccer coach boys and girls at a local school. The problem that he’s having is that for the two weeks before the girls season starts he has to be in China for a wedding. This is where I come in. I’m the stand-in “head” coach for those two weeks. This will be the most time I’ve ever spent with teenage girls. Even when I was a teenage boy I didn’t spend this kind of time with this many females (going to an all boys school). This could be an education or a nightmare or both.