Tonight my U18 Team played the CSC Coach's Men's Team. Not a big deal right? The last time we played them I had my full 20 man roster and we won 3-2 in a very hard fought, educational game. It was a big win and we played pretty well. Tonight wasn't horrible per say, but there were some differences from then until now, and a certain Coach from the opposing team had me almost on the field in a fight. I came very close to pulling my entire team off of the field and walking away.
The night started slowly, only 10 of my players showed with an 11th showing minutes before game time. With 4 starters out, I wasn't sure what to expect, but as a Coach/Trainer I have to find the Coaching moments... so I did. We were going to run a 4-5-1 and hold the ball up as much as possible, conserve our runs and progress up field as a unit and shoot from range with one striker crashing. All was set.
We possessed the ball quite well for the first 7 minutes (I have a player that can't make a rudimentary pass so every time the ball went to him, we lost it, but it was a practice for us so I kept composure and coached through it. In fact, at one point, one of the coaches from the other team was helping him with a few pointers, I was happy to hear that). On to the good part...
... The other team has a Coach that doesn't know what a friendly game is apparently. He had a foul called on him in the first 10 minutes, he forearmed one of my players while that player was over a ball about to make a pass. His forearm went in to his neck his hips followed suit, player down, foul called. Moments later, my striker working back to play a ball from his position to a center back, Coach Player, slide tackle from the back, grabs players jersey and pulls. Another again, my CM working the ball to the outside dribbling looking to play over the top, Coach Player, incessantly hacking his ankles telling him as long as he holds the ball he's gonna hack his ankles. (that wasn't so bad, but it gets better). Second half, my players are tired of him, his players are making jokes at his expense, every time someone missed a shot he came unglued at them, whatever. We go in to the second half down 2-1, but considering our circumstances we were playing extremely well. I was getting amazing results from some guys who don't play much. 15 minutes in to the second one of my CB's goes shoulder to shoulder with Coach Player guy and Coach Player guy goes down, ball goes out of play. CB reaches out a hand to help him up. Coach Player response, "Get the f*** away from me, I don't need no f****ing help from this sh*tty ass team! This is the luckiest piece of sh*t team ever!"
These are distinct instances that I can recall. There were a few more but they were inconsequential. I am all for physical play, almost all of the other players were playing physical, but not aggressively dirty. In fact, I would love to play that team all the time because of their type of play, but because that one individual plays for them, I have refused to play that team any more. It's not worth risking injury over something so trivial as a friendly match. Maybe I'm just being a bit ridiculous, but I could never imagine cursing at my players, or someone else's players on a field. My players don't even curse that way and they're 17 years old.
At the end of the night I was happy with how we played and certainly happy with the result. But I was very upset with the quality from one specific individual from the other side. Well two individuals. As Coach's in this program it is imperative that set certain standards for ourselves and our team.
After typing all of this I just realized, I have had an issue with CSC for a while now, this is just me searching I'm sure. Ah well, another lesson learned.
The night started slowly, only 10 of my players showed with an 11th showing minutes before game time. With 4 starters out, I wasn't sure what to expect, but as a Coach/Trainer I have to find the Coaching moments... so I did. We were going to run a 4-5-1 and hold the ball up as much as possible, conserve our runs and progress up field as a unit and shoot from range with one striker crashing. All was set.
We possessed the ball quite well for the first 7 minutes (I have a player that can't make a rudimentary pass so every time the ball went to him, we lost it, but it was a practice for us so I kept composure and coached through it. In fact, at one point, one of the coaches from the other team was helping him with a few pointers, I was happy to hear that). On to the good part...
... The other team has a Coach that doesn't know what a friendly game is apparently. He had a foul called on him in the first 10 minutes, he forearmed one of my players while that player was over a ball about to make a pass. His forearm went in to his neck his hips followed suit, player down, foul called. Moments later, my striker working back to play a ball from his position to a center back, Coach Player, slide tackle from the back, grabs players jersey and pulls. Another again, my CM working the ball to the outside dribbling looking to play over the top, Coach Player, incessantly hacking his ankles telling him as long as he holds the ball he's gonna hack his ankles. (that wasn't so bad, but it gets better). Second half, my players are tired of him, his players are making jokes at his expense, every time someone missed a shot he came unglued at them, whatever. We go in to the second half down 2-1, but considering our circumstances we were playing extremely well. I was getting amazing results from some guys who don't play much. 15 minutes in to the second one of my CB's goes shoulder to shoulder with Coach Player guy and Coach Player guy goes down, ball goes out of play. CB reaches out a hand to help him up. Coach Player response, "Get the f*** away from me, I don't need no f****ing help from this sh*tty ass team! This is the luckiest piece of sh*t team ever!"
These are distinct instances that I can recall. There were a few more but they were inconsequential. I am all for physical play, almost all of the other players were playing physical, but not aggressively dirty. In fact, I would love to play that team all the time because of their type of play, but because that one individual plays for them, I have refused to play that team any more. It's not worth risking injury over something so trivial as a friendly match. Maybe I'm just being a bit ridiculous, but I could never imagine cursing at my players, or someone else's players on a field. My players don't even curse that way and they're 17 years old.
At the end of the night I was happy with how we played and certainly happy with the result. But I was very upset with the quality from one specific individual from the other side. Well two individuals. As Coach's in this program it is imperative that set certain standards for ourselves and our team.
After typing all of this I just realized, I have had an issue with CSC for a while now, this is just me searching I'm sure. Ah well, another lesson learned.
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