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Quinnipiac coach Dave Clarke. (Source: QuinnipiacBobcats.com) |
Most college coaches I know work with teams at the youth level, be it a premier team or as part of the Olympic Development Program in their respective states. Some do it for financial reasons, others for recruitment, but most do it because they enjoy coaching.
The frustrating part of the college game is only having a short season in the fall. The two-and-a-half month slate is great while it lasts, but for competitive coaches like myself the lack of a spring and summer season means coaching a club team fills a competitive void.
I like working with my club team(s) because it gives me time to work on my development as a coach, try out new formations and tactics and coach in a competitive environment beyond the limitations the NCAA impose. If all I had as a coach was the fall college season I think I would return to teaching in high school. I am always envious of basketball coaches who get to coach almost 40 games from October to March and baseball coaches who play even more games through June in some cases. Why does soccer have to be so different? That is a topic for another day and one I am sure most college coaches would doubtless have deep and divided opinions.
So on May 6 I started coaching my club teams on a regular basis in preparation for state cup play. The Connecticut Football Club U17s had cup games, league games and 2-3 practices per week to plan. On alternate days I coached the CFC Passion W-League team in its inaugural year. In the Atlantic Division, we had road games in New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland. My three months of free time was suddenly down to the odd free Friday. I say odd because I committed to working with the Newington Soccer Club to help develop their coaches.
My 17s played in and won the US Club Regional over Memorial Day weekend. It earned us a trip to Virginia Beach for the US Club National event in late July -- another free weekend gone. The following week we outplayed FSA Soccer Plus in the Connecticut State Cup Final to advance to the USYSA Region I Tournament in Maine over the July 4 weekend. The following Tuesday I traveled to New Jersey with the Passion to play Jersey Sky Blue, but the game was called off due to lightning. It meant a return trip on one of our free weekends. Did I even have any left at this point?
In mid-June Kati Hope of US Soccer called me and asked if I could attend a coaching school in Massachusetts in July. I said yes because I love being a National Staff Instructor. I feel it represents me as a coach or more to the point me as a teacher. It meant nine days of camp, coaching, teaching and grading.
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Clarke feels the college soccer season is too short. (Source: QuinnipiacBobcats.com) |
The end of the camp ran into the start of the Quinnipiac soccer camps which was another busy week on my calendar. Noel King from the Football Associate of Ireland got in contact and asked me to do some scouting reports for him about some U.S. based players. A couple of coaches from the new women�s professional league asked for the same help. It is hard to say no, so I compile my notes and commit everything to paper.
I had intended do some professional development throughout the summer, but with little free time my plans went out the window. I did manage to read some coaching books and slowly ploughed through them making notes as I went. Clive Woodward�s book, �Winning,� offered tremendous insight into the planning of England�s World Cup winning campaign of 2003. I definitely picked up some good ideas to introduce with Quinnipiac this fall.
I had hoped to go to Switzerland for a couple of games in Euro 2008, but coaching in the W-League put paid to those plans. Like everyone else I settled for watching the game on television and I managed to see part of every game from Switzerland and Austria. Thank God for DVR and ESPN 360. It was a great tournament and even better for England�s absence. I would have like Ireland to be there, but I have long since given up on us returning to the heady days of June 12, 1988 in Stuttgart in the old West Germany. Google or YouTube that and you will understand what I mean.
I drove to Virginia Beach, 562 miles from Connecticut in a minivan with four young kids in the back playing High School Musical again, and again, and again. If they did not make the trip they might have forgotten what I looked like. They are used to spending time at a soccer field although most of the time they prefer to hang out at the pool in the hotel. Most college coaches can relate. On Monday, July 28 a last minute penalty for PDA in the US National Final finally ends my club season. We take three days (our family vacation) to drive back to Connecticut just in time for a recruiting weekend at Quinnipiac. In the end, 114 players registered to attend. It took time to finalize, but it went by without a hitch.
I put a red line through the box on my calendar for August 10. My Quinnipiac players return for preseason training in a few days. Summer is officially over.
Dave Clarke is entering his 10th season at the helm of the Quinnipiac Division I women�s soccer program. Check for Dave�s insights in the �Coach�s Corner� periodically at Soccer-New-England.com
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