Season Synopsis - Encouraging

I'm sorry that the season didn't turn out the way many of us expected it to. We can learn a lot from this season that will help us achieve more than we may have been able to had we had a decent season.

I loved a quote from an article about Paul Pierce whose last second 3-pointer was disallowed after instant replay. It's on the wall above the Boston Celtic weight room and it says "What hurts more the pain of hard work or the pain of regret?"

It takes a season like this for us to start realizing what it takes to win and keep winning. Some of the things that I noticed during this season will help us in the off-season and during next season. I may not have received these insights had we not had a rough season.

During the season after we started losing, I got a call from a player who asked me if I could open the gym at 5:30 so he could practice. I know he put in extra hours and he learned a lot about what it takes.

When a player didn't start, he moped around for a couple days then realized that worrying about something or complaining about it will not change your circumstances or bring to pass the thing you are worrying/complaining about. He began working harder, not complaining, made some attitude adjustments and became a much better contributor to the team. This is what it takes.

When a couple other players had some trepidation concerning free kicks, they asked for additional advice and practice. We spent a Saturday and subsequent after-hours practice time on the free kicks. Thereafter he assisted 2 goals because of his additional practice. This is what it takes. Pants Party!

When a player didn't get much varsity time he played his heart out in every JV game that he was able to. This is what it takes.

A couple players already had their fees taken care of but still sold cards and refereed so that others could play. They didn't complain, they just went to work. This is what it takes.

So where are we now? Are we going to take the great examples above and follow them? I think you will.

Lastly, I'd like to mention a pattern that I would like you to remember. I've also described an application example. It starts today!

Quote:
Watch your thoughts, they become words;
watch your words, they become actions;
watch your actions, they become habits;
watch your habits, they become character;
watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.

Application:
I think we can we state, what am I going to do about it?
He guys let's practice, this year is our year to win state
Scrimmage tomorrow 6:30am, you in?
Skills n drills Thursday, sorry FIFA 2016, you're going to have to stay in the case again
I can't wait to start this next season, we've been working so hard
4A MVP State Champion earns scholarship to D1 school

Text destiny once you've read this. Thanks for all your efforts this year. 

Season Synopsis - Critical

I had a strange dream last night. I was officially the coach/player of our soccer team and the other team kicked the ball out of bounds. I went to kick the ball up field and somehow I kicked it in our own goal. I went to kick it again and the same thing happened but this time I saved it and the ref gave me a yellow card. The third time I kicked it and the grass was so thick and the wind so strong that the ball went only about 20 yards or so. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't kick the ball the way I wanted to.

This dream strangely reminded me of this season. We tried running a lot, we lost. We tried more fundamentals, still lost, new formation, team building, scrimmages, etc., still couldn't get the team to move in the right direction post spring break.

I don't pretend to know exactly why our season went the way it did, but I have a couple ideas.

First, I received feedback from last year's team that they needed to have more fun. One thing I think we did have a lot of was fun, which is important and necessary. People playing forward, counting megs, world cup, tournaments, etc. were a lot of fun, but not sure if they helped us win games.

Before the last game I had a couple people approach me with their wishes for the game and none of them had to do with winning. After we lost the last game I looked around to see many smiles, laughs, hugs, etc. If our goal was to have more fun this year than last, then I believe we did. It is important that whatever the circumstances you have a good time.

For me, there is something that stirs deep inside with a well fought victory, much deeper than just having a good time. I played in indoor game not to long ago where we won 20-1. Although there was nothing on the line for the other team and everyone played every position, I don't think they had fun and it was kind of boring for us. We beat another team that was really good and I think we talked on the sideline for an hour about how much fun it was

Everything that I put my heart into and came off victorious, had many moments that were not fun, even miserable, but the good, bad and ugly was worth every effort. "I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious." Vince Lombardi. 

Second issue, I believe, was our off-season preparation. I wasn't aware of any practicing as a team during the summer, fall or early winter. Even the early mornings had only a handful of attendees. For a team to really gel, they need to play together a lot. When I was about 23 I had played with a group of kids for about 2 years. We played together every week either co-ed, indoor, outdoor or tournaments. We ended up beating BYU, UVU and everyone in the Utah County Premier league for almost 7 years straight. I don't believe we were more talented than every team we played, we just worked so well together.

Third, we had a hard time taking one for the team. Whenever someone would come out, they would be upset. We would win a game and a people who didn't get to play the position they wanted would say how boring the game was. When people would come off the field they would tell me they were better than the person that came in for them instead of cheering that person on. Players hoping others would fail so they would still be ahead on the stats board and the list goes on.

When everyone feels trusted, supported and cared for, they put forth a much better effort. When it is not about you but others you will be surprised how much you will grow. For next season, remember to let people change their ways, let people grow, believe that people can change and be the one to help the one. Philips brooks - how carefully men creep into nameless graves while now and again one or two forget themselves into immortality. Forget yourself and go to work - Gordon B. Hinkley.

As a coach, if I have not taught you to not only be the one, but to help the one then I'm deeply sorry for that oversight. Encouraging others and achieving something great together is much more important than playing time, your role, stats, or winning.

Text critical to me if you have read this.

I was recommended a documentary called Mitt. It's a painful documentary to watch. Hopefully some of you know who Mitt Romney is. If not he was the last presidential candidate for the Republican party. He worked, he prepared, he put himself out there, sacrificed it all for his dream and his dream never came true. Do you think he thinks it was worth it?

There were four things that I hope all of you think about from this movie as we go through the rest of the season:

1. After the last debate his campaign manager said one thing to him, whether you won or you didn't you want to be known as a fighter.

2. The sequence of the movie shows him flying into the venue where he is to watch the results and he said this, "I always slept well before an election because I knew I'd given everything so I didn't worry, I'd done everything I could, left it all on the field."

3. His campaign manager in his concession speech said "I'd rather lose with this guy than win with anybody else."

4. True wealth in life is the associations you have with other human beings.

Would your teammates consider you a fighter? Have you left it all on the field this year? Would you rather lose with his team than win with anybody else? What relationships have you built over this season that have enriched your life?

Goals - Aaron Conrad, Drue S.
Assists - Trevor Monney, Dustin Henry

Player of the Game: Trevor Monney, hustled, talked, sent some great crosses in the box, kept his head up.

Have your answers prepared for Thursday's practice. I'll be asking you. If you don't want to answer them, then email me in advance and I won't pick on you herrtaylor@gmail.com.

Text "mitt" after you read this.

I think today was the first time I've been heckled by a fan. He kept yelling, "Don't you want to win the game coach?" as I kept telling you guys to leave the ref alone and play soccer. To answer his question, NO, I don't want to win games where we yell at the ref and each other. Soccer isn't about winning, it's about learning. If we won because of an unsportsmanlike play on our behalf, or after playing terrible, the win means much less than a loss that we learn from or a game we played our best.

For those of you that lost your head and got upset at others, apologize, forgive yourself and remember what losing control got you today (benched, carded, Coach Taylor's semi-righteous indignation, etc.). I'm so tired of hearing, yeah but he, but coach, but the ref, but my parents, etc. You wouldn't be on this planet if other people were responsible for your actions. For you gamers, PWN your reactions to these situations.

I just got done reffing a U14 competition game for our fundraiser/service project. The score was 10-2, pretty boring game, but the kids were just glad to be playing soccer. It was a refreshing reminder that although it means everything in the moment, it still is a game. A game that is supposed to bring out the best in us individually and collectively.

Let me show you some examples:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WtyJO9R3I0

I know this was a rough game and losing isn't fun. Could you imagine being Brazil and getting beat 7-1 in front of a country where soccer is religion? It's just part of sports, some games you just get beat badly. The 1992-93 Chicago Bulls won the NBA championship. You weren't born then I know, but ask your parents about it, they'll remember Michael Jordan and his 3 peat NBA titles. One stat that I'm sure you'll never hear is that they lost to the Knicks that year, by almost 40 points. This stat is irrelevant because it's just one game. The stat everyone remembers is that they won 3 titles in a row. It's what you do after the defeat that people remember.

Players of the Game:
Alex Jessop - played his 15 minutes with everything he had, I told him to go in, hustle, press the wing and that's exactly what he did
Anferny Mendoza - pulled him off, told him to start winning balls in the middle and distributing, that's what he did.

Let's win, let's learn and let's love. Text "PWN" to me when you read this.

What a crazy game! I don't ever remember the wind being such a factor in a soccer game. A great thing about this game was that despite the circumstances (wind, cold, turf, ref) we prevailed. We won the game in overtime into the wind with a great combination and finish up front. I also never in all my years remember a referee adding 10+ minutes of stoppage time and awarding 4 corner kicks in a row.

As much as many of us don't like to admit, what we achieve in life is due to our choices and attitude regardless of circumstances. It was a bad pass, ref was terrible, their defense was so cheap, yeah but a ref can't say that, coach doesn't put me in long enough, my teammates aren't giving their best, etc. 

Here is a quick anecdote for you:

“Widely regarded as one of the best wingers ever to play the game, Garrincha was a world cup winner in 1958 and 1962, playing in the same Brazil team as Pele. The South American’s achievements are made all the more impressive given the fact that his spine was deformed, his right leg bent inwards and his left leg six centimetres shorter and curved outwards from birth.” With his condition he shouldn’t have even been able to walk.” The team never lost a game with him and Pele together on the pitch. It was said of him that only 2 players have single handedly won a world cup, Garrincha in 62’ and Maradona in 86’.

Keep this attitude, keep this frame of mind that you are responsible for results. I see many of you working harder and harder as the season goes on, this is exactly what it takes. You will be proud of the results.

Goals: Ryan Steggell, Jason Parades
Assists: Vincent Luna, Ryan Steggell

Player of the Game: Jason Parades – Game winning finish!

Text "We can do it!" to me before practice and we'll give you an extra 10 minutes of 4v4 instead of 10 extra minutes of running. 

Mountain View was one of those games where things didn't go our way.  We get a couple different bounces and the game goes our way. We can do it!

The easiest way to begin believing in yourself is to work as if every game's outcome depended on you and you alone. This eliminates blaming others, the ref and cheaters on the other team. The only way to help others be better is to inspire them through example.

From a blog I read the other day "I learned this lesson at an early age…I had a basketball coach take me aside after I finished far ahead of the pack after a long set of down-and-backs. He pointed to a slower teammate who was still running his lines and said, “he may not be as fast, but he’s giving 100% – Did you?” He went on to say, “it takes no talent to hustle and your team deserves better.” I don’t ever remember dogging-it again."

When we watch game film I'm so impressed with the moments when I see someone hustle back, press forward, mark, make runs off the ball, etc. when no one is looking, they are just hustling. I love these kinds of plays and it is so important for the game to tilt in our favor for us to hustle. You guys are working much harder than last year's team.

I remember when I was a senior in high school. We had a decent team, but I swear the first 2 hours of practice was running. It was so painful. We were doing the 10 yard down and back 100 yard ladder drill. Such a painful drill. Most of us cheated because it was just so hard. I remember looking around as a senior, seeing all the people cheating and saying to myself, no, I'm going to give it my all even if I'm last. 

Every drill from there on out I gave it all I had. I didn't notice it right away, but I started to be a standout in the drills, even against the cheaters. I began winning races against kids that were at the beginning of the year, much faster than me. Not only was I faster, but others started to work harder to try and beat me. Every game from there on out went differently. We won region outright the only time ever in PG history. We were arguably the least talented team in our region. We only had 2 players that played in the competition premier league.

I went down to college a couple  years later. I told the other referee before the game that I was from PG. He said he used to ref them a bit and there was some forward with an afro who was the fastest forward he'd ever seen. I told him it was me and he laughed, then I punched him in the face as hard as I could and filled his gas tank with powerade. Well I didn't do the second part, I just said it was me and thanks, then I stole his wallet.

Hustle changes your mindset. It tips the luck scale in your favor. It gives you a sense of satisfaction no matter how the game goes. Hustle isn't working harder than the guy it's pushing harder than you thought you could push. 

A couple examples - Jason's goals against Skyline and Corner Canyon. Vinny being in the right place at the right time for all his goals. Elijah keeping the shutout against Skyline!

You guys are a great team and you can do it!  Text "it's up to me" if you believe in yourself. If I don't get a text from you before end of day tomorrow ere will be lasers. 

Timpanogos 2 Skyline 0

The first Timpanogos team to beat Skyline, congratulations boys!

From lowest lows to highest highs. We lost 2-0 when we were up a man to Murray then showed up yesterday and beat a great team.

Although the first 15 minutes looked a little scary, a hustle goal from my hispanic connections put us back on our game. I re-watched the game film and I noticed a couple things that got me excited about the rest of the season. First off, Skyline is a solid team, their weaknesses were few and far between, but both our goals came off them. They didn't do the little things off the ball - marking and hustling and their winger backs weren't great distributors.

Watching game film is always revealing because you can't argue with what you see. Once our hustle, communication and ball movement becomes instinctive vs forced we will be the best team out there. I'm looking forward to our next game!

Goals: Jason and Vincent
Assists: Vincent and Ryan
Player of the Game - Eljiah Nimmer - great tackles, good composure, his girlfriend must have been at the game or something.

Lastly - watch this video on moving the ball forward. BVB, 2012, one of my favorite teams to watch didn't play around with the ball much. Passes were forward and quickly. Purposeful longballs when they were there. But ball is advanced forward with number as quick as possible. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkB7INWU3sA

Text "hustle" after you have watched the video.

JV Skyline - Coach Brough

What motivates you?  Why do you come to practice and games each week? Why do you play soccer?

These are questions that we need to answer individually and as a team.  I believe the sooner we can answer it, we can form a team identity.  Today's team didn't really show up to the field or have an identity.  We were lazy, too easily pushed off the ball, played with zero passion and just didn't seem to care.  Skyline was bigger and faster and worked together as a team.  We can do everything they did today, and better.  I know we can.

Gentleman, I care.  A lot.  If that wasn't noticeable today on the sideline, I don't know what more I need to do.  As much as it may seem I like to yell and scream, I really don't care to.  I love being positive, encouraging great play that COMES FROM WITHIN players who demonstrate their desires in their actions.  There's no greater manifestation of will, grit, determination and everything I love than hard work.  That's what it takes to be successful in life, soccer, anything! HARD WORK.

I hope setting that expectation now to work hard will stick with you all season long, and hopefully all your lives.  Come ready to work tomorrow, and please re-visit your goals.  I hope to see a lot more hunger and passion in our practice tomorrow and games going forward.

**As an aside, I heard a lot of people say, "no one was supporting me coach," or, "I didn't have anyone to pass to."  If we're all saying this, then that means we're ALL guilty of not supporting our teammates (w/ or w/o the ball).  This is important that everyone realize they're all equally responsible, both people with and without the ball.**

SOME GREAT QUOTES:

"You build on failure.  You use it as a stepping stone.  Close the door on the past.  You don't try to forget the mistakes, but you don't dwell on it."  -- Johnny Cash

"Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be." -- John Wooden

"Consider the rights of others before your own feelings and the feelings of others before your own rights." -- John Wooden

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." -- John Wooden

Losing Is A Disease -

Driving home from the Murray game I was something I haven't been in a very long time - angry. I get frustrated from time to time, but not angry. I'm not sure how I let this game get to me at that level. 

After returning home from a weekend away with 7 smelly and immature scouts, I was still a little upset about the game and went back to one of my filed documents entitled something like "life changing advice". I have a list of talks and quotes that I've gathered throughout the last 10 or so years of my life. There were 2 things that I gleaned from the advice on these documents.

#1 - Never let failure progress from an action to an identity. One of the biggest predictors of success is the ability to fail, learn from that failure and move forward with a better knowledge of how to succeed. Failing isn't the problem, not learning from the failure and working on the solution is.

#2 There was a U of U football player who lost a really tough football match. He told his mother about it and she gave him this advice, "come what may and love it."

He further commented, "I don’t think my mother was suggesting that we suppress discouragement or deny the reality of pain. I don’t think she was suggesting that we smother unpleasant truths beneath a cloak of pretended happiness. But I do believe that the way we react to adversity can be a major factor in how happy and successful we can be in life."

"If we approach adversities wisely, our hardest times can be times of greatest growth, which in turn can lead toward times of greatest happiness."

As mentioned, how we react to adversity will lead to either greater happiness or unnecessary suffering. Greater progress, growth and capability or digression, damnation and disillusionment. Sports is a great way to learn this great lesson that our attitude and work ethic are much more important than a single event.

What did you learn from our failure on Friday?

What are you going to do about it?

How is it going to make you better?

Text "come what may and love it" before today's practice.

JV Post from Coach Brough:

Wow gentleman...gutsy performance today to pull out the win.  Congratulations to Cameron Peterson, with a number of huge saves to make Marc Bichon's trickling-across-the-goal-line effort the game-winner.  Player of the game goes to Cameron just by a hair because of the multiple big saves.

There were some great things I saw today on our field.  I loved the increased communication (can still improve) and positivity on the field (can also improve as well).  It's incredible to see the impact that has on your mental state both individually and collectively.  I'm not sure if you all see it as clearly as I do, but there are definitely times when it's more apparent than others.  I hope to continue to see that type of approach to the game.

The attribute of the day is hard work.  Hard work is what allowed us to beat a much faster and seemingly more physical team today.  We out-worked our opponent; simple as that.  Some great 1-2 combinations, Marc's goal, and long-term possession resulted from a lot of hard work.  I hope you took to heart what Skyler Halford said the other night at the team dinner: "there is no replacement for hard work.  Coaches were 'forced' to play me because I just worked harder than others and wouldn't quit."

Now, before we go on patting ourselves on the back, realize that soccer is a fickle game.  We played other less-skilled opponents this season and tied or lost to them.  It seems we play best when playing "up" competitively.  I hope you all can take what you learned from the game and apply it to your individual efforts for improvement and come ready on Monday to bring it all together as a team.  Our defense was shaky at best, and our first touch is still letting us down too often.  But let's savor the moment and the big win against a great opponent for now...just realize that we need to continue to work hard at practice and most importantly: 

HAVE FUN! :)

Last game reminded me a lot of my truck I bought last year. Back in the day vehicles used carburetors and they get clogged pretty easily. The carburetor mixed the fuel and air so the engine had the right mixture to run properly. If the mixture was off a little, or a jet was a little clogged the vehicle would usually still run, but not well. For running around town and doing basic off road stuff the truck did fine and the parts functioned well enough to get around.

 I enjoyed the truck for basic stuff and basic obstacles. I sold it to my brother who drove it everyday and did some very demanding off-roading in it and the carburetor kept getting clogged and the truck wouldn't run well in these circumstances. Eventually the truck broke down. Not for lack of effort, but merely because the parts weren't functioning well together and couldn't handle the strain of more demanding situations. Our team functions very well against basic teams and we have played a couple of them this year, but what is it going to take to function well in demanding situations? What is stopping us from having smooth transitions from the back to middle to front?

How many of you have done research on the 4-3-3 system?

Here is a very basic interpretation of the 4-3-3 - it's all about triangles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXWq34XByjc

Here's another one:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv5RDv8KbEQ
Germany played a very similar system to destroy Brazil 4-2-3-1 which is what I was telling our center forwards to do yesterday. Watch the game and see how they are rotating their midfielders and wing defenders. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0hcrqf4Af0 I couldn't find it in English, sorry.

"It is often said (with good reason) that games are not won on paper, since there is no one given tactical system that is inherently better than the next – it’s all about team dynamics."

I'm not asking you to like the system or be the best at it, I'm just asking you do your best to learn it. I'm asking you to do your best to work on your foot skills and vision at home. We are not going to be state champions by just working hard at practice. Do you have a goal for the season? Have you written it down? Defense do you have a goal, offense, etc.? What is our team goal besides winning state? Once we get the right mixture to fire to full capacity, you'll be amazed what this team is capable of.

Text "carburetor" to me if you have read this.

Referee Schedule for this week. Blacked out games are already complete.

Here is the ref schedule for Saturday:

Coach K asked each of you to watch "Who Moved My Cheese?" Each player needs to watch the youtube video of this and text me the answers to the following questions concerning the clip.

1. What are the names of the four characters from the book?
2. What was one of the writings on the wall?

▶ 12:52

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDNhEYpBPbY

Text me the answers before Friday's practice and we will play a couple rounds of world cup instead of piggy backs. Eveyone on the team must text me before practice.

I've been trying to process this game in my mind, were we tired? Was Park City in better shape than us? Was it the turf? The ref? Did we understimate them?

I'm not sure what to think of the main problem, but it seems like there were a couple factors here at play that all affected us. I think there was a great deal of individual effort in spurts, but we really never came together as a team to connect consistently enough to tire out the other team. We played well in the final third, but had a tough time finishing very straightforward chances.

I want to highlight something more important from this game and from the CC game. Here are the 2 emails that I received from opposing players:

From Park City:

"My name is Charlie Urban. I am the goalie for Park City High School. To begin with, I would like to formally apologize for my ill-tempered behavior. What I did out there was irresponsible and impudent. I have no idea what factors led to my undesirable actions, but I want you and number 8 to know I am sincerely sorry. Also, no my coach did not make me write this, I just feel resentful towards my mannerism and I hope if we meet again I behave appropriately."

"I play on Corner Canyon's Soccer team. During tonight's game I said some things I regret and usually don't say. I was frustrated and lost my head. 
As a result I changed my behavior. I would appreciate it if you read this to your players so they can know that I'm sorry as well. I talked to a few after the game and apologized. I don't want to represent Corner Canyon in the way that I did. Who I was tonight wasn't me and it didn't truthfully reflect me or my school. The one thing that sucks about sports is that you make enemies with people that you don't know, and it's because you have the same goal. I don't want to make enemies with any of your players so I apologize for my behavior this afternoon. You guys have a great soccer program and I look forward to playing you guys again."

Here's my email back:

"I just received your email and am very impressed with your willingness to apologize. It shows a lot about you, not only as a player, but as an individual.

Though sports does have the ability to bring out the worst in people, it also has the ability to bring out the best. I’m not sure that you realize this yet, but you sending this email is sports bringing out the best in you. Sometimes it takes a mistake to do that and we all make mistakes. Just don’t let the mistakes define you and in this case it hasn’t, your apology has!

I’m going to post your email on my blog www.mrtsoccer.blogspot.com tonight and will make sure they all read it. I’m really proud of you and glad we get to play against players like you."

I hope that our conduct on the field and off the field reflects to others the person we want them to see. I will never forget when I lost my temper and threw another player out of the indoor arena after he punched me in the back of the head. My parents, girlfriend and other people were in the stands and I felt so stupid. I went to apologize to the other player later and he wouldn't accept my apology. I had a hard time forgiving myself, but knew that I never wanted that to happen again. 

We all make mistakes and what we do after the mistake is much more important than the mistake itself. If you're never making mistakes then that is the biggest mistake of all. For you perfect people, you landed on the wrong planet and I've built a homemade rocket to send you back where you came from.

Text "apology" when you have read this with your name please.

Post from Coach Brough:

Roger

Today was a frustrating game for us as a team.  As I think back on the things I saw today, our first touch and lack of patience in maintaining possession really hurt us.  I believe we were a better team in a number of ways, but the most prominent thing that we can learn from Park City's team was the speed of play with regards to ball movement.  They were excellent at taking controlling first touch and then looking to distribute quickly to their moving teammate. 

Please recognize the operative words in the previous sentences (italicized). I don't want to dwell on the things that we didn't do well or execute, but it's important to recognize where we fell short, learn from them, and re-double our efforts to improve those parts of our game that are lacking.  The previous paragraph's last sentence is something I would LOVE for our team to be better at.

I've listed some things for us to work on below, but most importantly, I want to see and feel that we have collectively "bought-in" as a team to a vision that we all agree on.  Please come ready tomorrow to work hard and discuss what this will be for our team this year: 

THINGS TO IMPROVE:

1. Individual work/effort...aka "hustle", particularly on defense; and everyone defends.

2. Communicating with teammates.

3. Playing simple and patiently, maintaining possession until an opportunity arises.

4. First touch.  This was killer today, and something we all need to work on individually.  **Just like a music group, we have to work on our own craft/skills and then bring that to practice to put together as a whole team.**

As a last side note, I was a bit perturbed on the bus ride home as many players were joking and laughing with each other after a poor team performance.  I would have hoped that players would have taken to heart what I said on the bus a bit more seriously: "Taking the time to analyze your individual efforts and contributions on the field today and see what you can do to improve yourself for your own satisfaction and the betterment of the team."  Just like Coach Taylor's previous blog post about Varsity's game vs. Corner Canyon (2nd-to-last paragraph), we need to be all about the success of the team...I believe that is fundamental to the success and vision that we need to have for this season.

Thank you for working hard, and let's get back to it tomorrow!

Player of the game: Marc Bichon (again)

"If you fail to prepare, then you are preparing to fail." - Benjamin Franklin

We have been working a lot on combinations in the final third. Watch the first 2 goals from Arsenal to see why we work on these combinations - combinations

Dribbling is just too much effort for too little reward.

Friday's game was an attestation to the potential that this team has. There was no individual out there that did not play with heart and no individual that wasn't smiling on the sidelines (except Aaron) don't worry your behind will heal. With great potential come moments where we make mistakes and where we have moments of brilliance. We won 5-1 against a team that had a great front line and a solid midfield. Their defense was suspect, but mostly because of the way we moved the ball out of the back and exhausted them. We started to do a couple thing very right in this game:

1. Defense playing out of the back and pressing up the wings.
2. Forwards crashing the goal and making them make mistakes
3. Midfielders and defense moving the ball quicker
4. Holding the shape on defense to not get too stretched
5. Hustled back on defense and supported offense on counter attacks

This is a great win to build off of and work harder. If any of you have watched Saturday's Warrior there is a missionary who writes his girlfriend all of these love letters and she always ends her letters with "work harder!" Now is that time for us to use this win as a catalyst to a fantastic regular and post season. If we work harder, smarter and better we have already seen what we are able to do on the pitch. You guys are talented, and will able to reach the goals you believe in and move heaven and hell to accomplish. Happiness is victory, joy is knowing you did everything you could to achieve it. You will love the change that happens through this process. I hope some of you are putting at least an hour in today of individual practice or team practice to meet the next challenge.

It would be uncoachtaylorlike to not mention a couple things that need to change for us to have this kind of success against top teams. I'm all about giving each of you opportunities to have some fun in the game, but not if it comes at the expense of teamwork.

When I was in High School one of my friends was obsessed with WWF (world wrestling federation). I watched it a couple times and I still remember "The Rock" who later acted in movies which all were hilarious because of how horrible of an actor he was. Anyway, he had saying that some of you might now "Know your role and SHUT YOUR MOUTH!!" He would always yell the second part of it.

You might think you're a winger, a forward, a defender, etc. What you need to realize is you are whatever your team needs you to be. You shouldn't care if it's boring, too hard, unbecoming of your abilities etc. Great teams are satisfied when the TEAM succeeds, not when yourpersonal wants are entertained. When you get your chance to be whatever the team needs you to be you take it on full force. Be it playing in a JV game to inspire other players and be an example, go in goal, shag or tell coach Taylor to drink more water, whatever your role is, know your role and find joy in the privelage to be a part of this team.

Text "know your role" to me after you have read this. You will all run Monday until everyone on the team has read this blog so spread the word. I would also suggest that you guys get together on your own and work on those combination drills and free kicks.

There was a doctor who met with an 88 year old man who had all sorts of blood, kidney and other health issues. The patient had been to many doctors and this latest doctor thought, how can I help this guy, he's already been to every specialist out there and nothing has helped. He looked at the patient and he quietly just asked "What are your goals and how can I help you?" The man quietly explained that all he wanted to do was be able to walk without falling down and go home.

That's what I'm asking you guys this year. Come ready Monday to discuss it with me - "What are your goals and how can I help?

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865623794/High-school-boys-soccer-4A-team-by-team-region-capsules.html?pg=all5. Timpanogos High School

Team schedule

Head coach: Scott Taylor

2014 record: 7-8-3 (Tied for fourth in Region 7 with 5-6-1 record)

2014 postseason: Lost to East in first round

Returning contributors:

Caiden Brown — senior — goalkeeper

Aaron Conrad — senior — midfielder

Ryan Steggel — senior — forward

Dustin Henrie — senior — defender

Coach comment: “We are a very young team but most have seen significant playing time for top teams and varsity last year. Two of our four returning seniors have already committed to play at BYU and are very excited to showcase their collegiate-class talent in their final high school season.”

Game Recap American Fork:

I like to bake occasionally, but it is sometimes hard to do. Especially when structure is so important for the cake to not collapse on itself. I've noticed that cake taste fine as dough or  fully cooked, but a doughy middle ruins the whole batch and the cake will collapse on itself.

We played hard against AF, heart was there, but our midfield was a little doughy and it hurt our efforts moving the ball forward and side to side. Our exhausted midfield had little combination play and we collapsed on ourselves. Granted we did outplay them and had many more chances than they did, but chances don't necessarily equate to wins. Heart kept us in the game.

One thing that got me excited about coaching this year is that you guys wanted to go to overtime. Last year against copper hills and against PG everybody just wanted to quit, a tie was good enough. We have people begging to go on the field this year instead of wanting to get taken off. We have some great potential and I'm excited to see how we progress as we work hard and work together this year.

First one to text "dough" to me has 5 minutes of shooting drills instead of 5 minutes of running.

Players of the game - Dustin Henrie for talking, moving and distributing out of the back.

JV AF Post

From Coach Roger

Today was a great learning experience for our young team.  There were a lot of great things I saw both individually and collectively.  The team we played from AF is an excellent team, well disciplined and technically sound.  I hope our team can recognize a great team when we play one and learn from the experience and become better because of it.

Before we get into the game, I want you to know I love being a positive reinforcer type coach.  When we share the same vision and belief, I believe we can accomplish anything we set our minds to.  I hope we can work to establish this shard vision and belief as the season progresses, but it is still early and we have a ways to go.  I'm proud of you and the efforts you made, and I hope we can learn, improve and be successful together.  I love reinforcing the positive and will look to do so throughout the season.

We are still struggling to communicate.  When we all take upon ourselves the responsibility to defend "our man" (depending on shape/formation), or work a quick 1-2 combination, communication has to be at the core of what we do.  Marc and Ben had some great combinations, as did Rasband and Jacot on the other side with some forwards checking to the ball to assist the ball forward (Alex, Silverio, etc.).  

We are still learning and growing with each other, and through that there will be some growing pains.  But lets look to stay positive, work together and share in that belief and vision, and the sky will be the limit for our team.

Player of the game: Marc Bichon

Friday was the largest margin of victory since I've been coaching at Timpanogos. We beat Orem 5-1 and Murray 4-0 last year. 5-0 is not only a great win, but every one of our forwards has already scored this year. According to the stats sheet we outshot them 25-1. This all started with a great combination in the first 5 minutes of the game that set up a great chance for Steggel who did nothing less than bury it in the net on his first attempt of the game. I watched each player work, move, communicate, cover and combine to run the other team ragged. It takes a lot of heart to come out swinging like we did and not stop until the KO punch has been delivered, no matter how tired you are.

I'm excited to see what this year has to offer. If we keep improving, keep striving and work hard, nobody will be able to stop us.

Player of the game: Ryan Steggel 2 goals and an assist.
Goals: Ryan Steggel, Ryan Steggel, Jackson Bretzing, Vincent (Pollo), Drue Stritikus

We will be leaving right after the game on Friday to go on the retreat.

Retreat Packing list

Sleeping bag
Pad (waterproof if possible)
Tent
Shovel
Pole Digger
Pole driver
Working Gloves
Pick
Lunch for Saturday
Wood for fire
Knife
Paper, Pencil/pen
Running shoes
Extra fence posts if any, extra fence wire, supplies, etc.
Working boots

Address

5074 W 7300 S Benjamin (Spanish Fork, UT)

For detailed instructions type in address above into Google maps. For some reason it won't let me post them.

I will have a truck with a trailer so we should be able to haul everything down.

Timpview 1-0. This was an interesting game. 1st time with a new formation and many players on the field that have never played together before. New formation, new players, not bad. We fought hard, no one came off the field crying (one came off the field bleeding), no penalty kicks, no silly fouls right outside the box and very little negativity. I'm excited to see how we do when we start to get used to each other, learn the system and get healthy.

I watched an interesting documentary while doing the dishes last night. There is a small creature in Africa called the honey badger. In South Africa there is a saying in Afrikaans that translates "as tough as a honey badger." These little creatures fight lions, hyenas, rhinos, you name it. On top of all of that the thing that impresses me the most about them is their perseverance. They will literally stop at nothing to get what they are working for. To the point of defecating in the same place and piling it up for 3 weeks to get a pile high enough in order to climb out of their cage.

We can learn a lot from nature. If you read this, text "honey badger" to my phone before 5pm today and you (if player) or your son (if parent) will be first in line to eat Friday at the retreat.