8/17/06

How stupid can you be?

I just got a call from a soccer player I used to work with. He wanted my opinion and advice on an issue that had come up today with his wife’s team. She plays at a DI school and is also a U23 National Team player, obviously a good player. They measured body fat today and she come out fatter than she should be. Now what? She can’t be fat to play at the level! It gets better, the team is going to train three times a day. Anyone who does not pass the “fitness’ test gets to get up at 6:00 am and do extra fitness work before the three practices. BRILLIANT!! How many games do you think they will lose because of this? They will all be flat for the first three weeks of the season, if they are not hurt. I am going to be following this situation quite closely. Unfortunately this is the norm for many programs. I am convinced that many of these coaches do this because they do not know the game or how to coach so they just occupy time doing “fitness.”

3 Comments:

At 8/17/06, 10:37 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Vern,

This is one lesson that it helps to learn firsthand which is a little easier to do at a sport like crosscountry than soccer. I am not sure if some of these coaches learn because they keep repeating the same lesson/mistake. Anyone that has coached at all would like to have a practice or two to repeat over and change but some just keep repeating the same mistakes and think they are going to get a different result the next time.

Mark Day D.C., CSCS, DACBSP

 
At 8/17/06, 10:55 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

In the movie Miracle there is a scence called "legs feed the wolf" track 8. the scence takes place after a pre-season game where the team was goofing off and coach Herb Brooks was so angry he skated the team until Mike Eruzione yells out "Mike Eruzione Boston Mass I play for team USA." In this sport it happens all the time. I don't agree with it for the same reason someone could get hurt. How else could a coach send the message?

 
At 8/18/06, 8:13 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I gues the athlete came in with a poor body fat percentage. Why is that Vern?

 

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