College Soccer....Lets See Where the Game Takes Us? - Chris Kranjc, Hastings College

Today's Blog entry comes from Chris Kranjc, the head men's soccer coach at Hastings College.  Chris shares his reflections on coaching soccer in the GPAC and NAIA.  Kranjc has led the Broncos to 15 straight GPAC regular season titles and the NAIA National Championship in 2010.   I thank Chris for sharing his insight and reflections with us this week.

As a small college coach, I have been able to witness the game at all different levels. I have seen U6

teams train and play as well as national teams train and play. Now, I will say I have done little research for this topic as many of the questions I will pose come from observations from the last 17 years of my coaching. We are getting better with our methods of coaching, we are becoming more aware of the development of the player but yet we still have not made the strides necessary to elevate the coaching and development of our players as we tend to emulate other countries or styles to create our own. So, let’s start with this hypothetical thought…..Go tell the DFB (German Soccer Association) that you like all their work. Then tell them Germany has expanded size wise to now include 7 time zones, you have added 200+ million people, soccer is now the #5-8 sport in the public attention and the Latino and African American populations are not really integrated into the mix. My point is we are so unique, HS soccer is a reality, pay to play is a reality, college soccer is a reality, etc, etc. We have the resources, we have the demographics but yet we still tend to follow the leads of other countries without creating our own brand, or have we?  What about curriculum vs player needs?

Let’s consider this excerpt from Soccer American where they interviewed Garces….

The club coaches say the Federation doesn’t dictate to them how they should coach their youth, or what formations to play, but Pachuca’s Sporting Director Marco Garces says there’s a general agreement of how Mexican soccer should be played. Soccer America August 2012.

“I think there’s an overall respect for the game, for the ball,” Garces said. “We all try to play out of the back. We try to play a more sophisticated type of soccer in the sense of having the ball, not losing possession. In general, there are always clubs that try different things. But overall the style of play in Mexico is to try and hold possession and to try and create chances. It’s positive for development."

Does our curriculum address this? More important does our environment address this? Is there any way to incorporate this line of thinking into how we “conduct business” in this country? While I truly believe soccer continues to rise in the USA, we still have issues at the grassroots level. Too much emphasis on winning, “levels”, and money rather than the focus on development of the player and person. At the college level, we continue to see players not prepared with the skills necessary to compete and even lead from within their team. Even though we have moved in a good direction with our academy teams, it also has seen ripple effects on the non-academy groups. What is our mission within this country to better promote the game, promote development, and develop positive interactions?

Now, here is passage from Ian Barker, DoC of the NSCAA…
“Collaboration and consolidation. The leaders in all the constituent groups need to come together and work in the best interest of not only their constituents, but also the development of the game. There needs to be common ground and healthy respect for where there is agreement to disagree. The game could also be empowered and invigorated at a youth level if some of the acronyms partnered or merged.” Soccer America October 2012
Interesting thought as we have too many “rival” organizations vying for numbers. It is about money, ego, and wins as discussed above. If we are to develop the game and the players, should we consolidate clubs, leagues, etc? We know high school soccer is a reality. Are we taking those opportunities away for kids to play for their high school? Does it seem the USSF is solely focused on the academy player rather than the whole? How do we collaborate and consolidate for the betterment of the game and for the total development of the player?
Follow or Lead?
Every time someone thinks they have the answer and it is Brazil, or Spain, or an “academy”, or a better youth organization than the next we get distracted from creating the US brand of soccer. We have best sport sciences in the world, we have vast network of coaches and scouts, we have some great minds….how do we take the lead in forging ahead with the development of our players? Should we continue to emulate Spain, Barcelona, Germany, etc. or develop our own methods, our own ways, our own brand? Discuss…..
Development of Coaches and our brand – Let’s get talking!
Steve McClaren, article in the December 2012 edition of the Guardian,-‘Dutch have a different agenda. Everybody here wants to get the ball out, they want to be a coach. They discuss with you not winning or losing, they discuss tactics. ‘Why did you play that team? Why did you make that change?” It is not about: “Win, you’re the hero; lose you’re the bum; draw, you’re somewhere in between. It’s a football nation, a coaching nation. The develop coaches here.’

How we develop this in our country? Conventions? Coaching schools? Surely those 2 avenues cannot be enough? How do we as coaching professionals bring this into our communities as we know in order develop players, we develop ourselves? Coaching Education is vital to the development and success of the game. Coaches need to be instructed on teaching of skill, strategy, physical, and pedagogical side to coaching. We also need parent education to be installed in communities to discuss the value of sportsmanship and bought into what development entails. Character education must be also be considered in grassroot programs and coaching education.
Training Environments for Player Development:
At my A license in 2004, Coach Arena said something very profound to our group that has had an everlasting impression on me: “To get better at soccer, you must play soccer.” Simple, right? I know. Also, at a NSCAA Symposium in 2002 Coach Gansler stated, “In order for technical development to occur, there must boundaries, pressure of opponent/time/space, and ball.” Ok Chris what is your point…my point is how can we simplify our training environments but yet make them more constructive, competitive, and economical for our players? How do we produce intelligent, technical players? And ultimately what are we developing for? I see so many players who are not technically proficient as our mindsight is to win, win, win. So players are taught to run, run, run. Kick, kick, kick. Even at D1 programs, the object is not on the game but the result. I see more NAIA, D3 teams that play soccer. Can we change this? Can we implement more competition in training and take away the need to win before U16? Absolutely. Lets see where the game takes us.

-Chris Kranjc

Learn more about Chris Kranjc HERE

Follow Hastings Men's Soccer on Twitter @HastingsMSoccer

 

Five Positives of Travel Basketball - Corey Westra, GPAC

It’s 6:30am on a Saturday morning and I am in the lobby of the Embassy Suites in Omaha, Nebraska.  After not being able to sleep I grabbed my laptop and headed down to catch up on some work (and social media if I am being honest) and so far two volleyball teams have come and gone from the

breakfast table before the sun has even come up.  At 6:30am on a Saturday already over 30 kids have had breakfast and are ready for their day.  What is this?  Yes, you guessed it the big two words “travel ball”.    Whether it be volleyball or basketball this is the heat of travel season in both sports and Omaha is apparently the Midwest gathering spot this weekend with two rather large tournaments.

Notice I did not say the two “dreaded” words in reference to travel ball.  The truth be told that’s why we are here too.  My son’s fifth grade basketball team is playing here in the Omaha area (Bellevue) as well this weekend.  This is my wife and I’s first year in this “travel ball” system.  We are learning about how this works and what it is all about.  It’s been an interesting couple of months of observations so far.  However, this blog is about the positives and not the negatives of “travel ball”.  Believe me I wrestled with doing this and am very cognizant of rat race it can be, but that can be a focus of future writings.  

I am going to share my casual observations of what good has come from our experiences so far on the road this winter.

1.  My son loves it.  Period. Explanation point even!  This is his journey and not ours.  He loves his teammates and the game of basketball and he is happy playing with these guys.  Let me repeat this is his journey not ours.

2.  Team makes all the difference.  We are lucky, his team is a bunch of great kids.  In all seriousness you couldn’t find a better group of 10-11 year old boys.  Respectful, courteous, and compassionate.  I can tell you this because my son had fears early on before the first tournament and the veterans of the group took him under their wing and walked him through it (not parents, kids helping kids…yes it can and did happen).

3.  Coaching Counts.  I am not talking x’s and o’s here, I am talking coaches as people and humans.  I am also not talking winning here, I am talking the big-picture approach to the game and life.  We are fortunate and have two great coaches that get it.  Our team is focused on leadership (hence the name

Leadership Basketball) and our boys are learning it from two of the best leaders I know.

4.  Family time.  We have about as many little sisters and brothers at games as we do players on the team.  They run around and get along as well as the players on the team do.  For my daughters these travel weekends are not about the games ,but those times spent with friends as gym rats.  For us this includes grandparents as both my wife and I’s parents have not missed a tournament yet.  My brother has come and sister have come to games to support our son, that’s a true blessing.

5.  Win or lose there is always a pool at the hotel.  The games do not matter once they get that swimsuit on and go to the pool at the hotel.  Our job as parents to help them remember that there is always a pool to jump into and forget about anything bad that has happened.  There is probably a metaphor here of “cleansing” but did I mention it’s early in the morning so my brain isn’t fully awake yet.

So it’s now almost 8am and another three teams have come and gone from the breakfast table on a Saturday morning at the hotel.  I guess the Saturday mornings of my youth of sleeping in and watching cartoons are slightly different these days.  That’s probably ok too.  As I shared with my wife last night, “there is just something enjoyable about that sweaty smelly kid with a big smile in your car after a game.” 

Remember it’s your kid’s journey and not yours!

-Corey Westra

Learn more about Corey Westra HERE

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Being a Servant-Leader, What does that really look like? - Corey Westra, GPAC

For my Masters class this week I was asked to research servant-leadership styles and how those styles impact the decision making process.  Servant-Leadership is a focus of the NAIA through the Champions of Character Program and much of our focus is on what that means for our student-athletes.  However, what does it look like to be a Servant-Leader as a Coach or Administrator?  I felt the discussion board I did for our class had some points I could share in this blog. 

What characteristics can shape and guide a servant-leaders behaviors and decision making  processes?  It is easy to simply say that being a servant-leader is focusing on others, but what does that mean and what characteristics does this entail?

In researching this topic I found an article that focuses on ten key skills that define servant leadership.  Larry Spears from the Spears Center in the Journal of Virtues & Leadership identifies the following these items as key servant leadership traits when it comes to the decision-making process: 1.) Listening, 2.) Empathy, 3.) Healing, 4.) Awareness, 5.) Persuasion, 6.) Conceptualization, 7.) Foresight, 8.) Stewardship, 9.) Commitment to Growth of People, and 10.) Building Community (2010). 

As you consider how these characteristics apply to a servant-leader’s decision making process it is clear that there is a true focus on outward skills and actions of the leader in all ten of these traits.  None of these skills are inwardly focused and I feel that is a key to being an effective servant-leader.  Being a servant-leader is about those you serve and how you serve them.  Servant-leadership requires action. 

These ten items focus on varying areas of serving not only others but serving the whole as well.  I will break down my thoughts on three of the traits that Spears lists and why I feel they define servant-leadership.

First and foremost is listening.  Spears puts listening as the top characteristic of being a servant-

leader. I agree that it has to be first on the list because it drives all the other traits and in some ways is the stake that holds everything in place.  So much is put on what leaders say and do, but how do leaders hear and listen to what their followers are saying?  Spears states, “listening coupled with periods of reflection is essential to the growth and well-being of a servant-leader” (2010).  I would argue that this means active listening and not passive listening.  For example, many leaders tend to pass off listening as simply gathering feedback with no interaction (i.e. e-mail feedback or comment cards).  I feel that being there in person and listening with your ears (and eyes) is critical to a servant-leader.  I see this on our college campuses when a President can leave his/her office and go sit in the cafeteria and have conversations with the students.  First it proves that the President will eat cafeteria food, but being in and among those students daily life and listening is a very important to being an effective leader of their particular school.

The next trait I found as a key one for servant-leadership is foresight.  Everyone has heard the phrase that hindsight is 20/20, but what if foresight could be 20/20?  Obviously that can’t happen 100% of the time but looking ahead on outcomes is critical to the decision-making process of a servant-leader.  Much of this comes with experience and what I call the “being in tune” factor.  If you don’t know your workplace, company, or school, and the varying personalities within, then your foresight for them is probably not going to be very good.  I know I have worked with leaders with very poor foresight ability and it, to me, was a direct reflection on not being in touch.  Spiers states in his article, “foresight is a largely unexplored area in leadership study but one that is deserving of careful attention” (2010).  He goes on to say that foresight is, “…learning from the lessons of the past, the realities of the present, and make the likely consequence of the decision for the future…” (Spiers, 2010).  Reflecting on past experiences can be a key factor in future decisions for a servant-leader.  A servant-leader has to be able to tie things together and be able to review and reflect on all if his/her decisions of the past to have the ability to have foresight in the decision making process.

The final characteristic I want to touch on is building community.  Leaders, to me, can easily get
caught up in the inward part of their job.  As humans we want to build ourselves up in what we do.  How does this decision make ME look?   However, how a leader builds his/her community around them is a key trait to being an effective servant-leader.  This is done, according to Spiers, by simply “identifying ways that people can be a part of their particular community with the organization” (2010).  I agree that how a leader encourages and fosters this among their organization is paramount to creating a place that community is strong.  If the parts of the system are engaged in the group, with purpose, then the whole community is strong.  This all starts with an outward focus as a servant-leader. 

Being a servant-leader is not easy and it cannot be done passively.  I felt the ten traits presented in this article covered a wide range of areas that can shape the behaviors and decision making abilities for a servant-leader. 

Works Cited

Spiers, L. (2010). Character and Servant Leadership: Ten Characteristics of Effective, Caring Leaders. Journal of Virtues & Leadership. Retrieved February 13, 2015, from http://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/jvl/vol1_iss1/Spears_Final.pdf

-Corey Westra

Learn more about Corey Westra HERE

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