Coach Hunter: Coaching Philosophy

As a new coach for Orange High school, I thought that it might be important for you to get to know me and my opinions in regards to coaching soccer.  I have been coaching soccer for 6 years, 2 of those during college at a local YMCA and 4 of them at the high school where I was also an Earth Science teacher in New York City.  I have also worked multiple soccer camps and tried throughout my time coaching to pick up the best practices of different coaches in order to fuse them with my own and be the best coach that I can be.  I love coaching.  During the season, I spend a huge amount of time thinking about soccer, how to make the team better, how to improve our game, how to boost individual skill level, build confidence, develop mental toughness, and encourage teamwork.  Obviously the skills that are obtained in any athletic arena can be beneficial to one’s life beyond athletics, and that, above winning and losing, is the underlying goal of being on a team.  You hone your ability to handle all types of situations through athletics, and soccer is no exception to that.

First and foremost, I believe that academics are the most important part of your high school and college experience.  While you may love soccer and maybe even plan on playing in college or beyond, you must prepare yourself for other aspects of life.  You should start to take notice of which classes are interesting to you now—do you prefer Math or English?—start to pay attention.  The academic focus that you choose in your future should be aligned with your classroom passions, not just with soccer.  If you notice that you particularly like Biology, seriously consider that.  Might you want to be a science major in college?  And if so, do you like Marine Science or do you prefer Astronomy?  Be self-critical, and be capable of recognizing what you like and what you don’t.  Academic success is one of my top priorities and goals for this team, and I hope that you will come to recognize its importance to our overall success.  Being a student-athlete means that you are capable of prioritizing, managing your time, and being dedicated not only to soccer but to your academic progress as well.  I am more than willing to provide my student-athletes with as much academic help as they need.  We will have study practices during the season and I will track your grades throughout the season.  If I notice that you are falling behind in a course, I may ask you to miss a practice or a game to attend tutoring or to catch up on missing work.  I believe that if you make academics a priority, then you are more likely to be successful in soccer as well as in your future career paths.

In terms of soccer, what I most appreciate about the sport is how creative it can be.  There are no time-outs.  There are very few set plays.  Aside from a few mid-play instructions from the sidelines (something that after the first few games, I strongly prefer not to do), the decisions made on the field are not dictated by your coach.  You, as the players, make all of the decisions.  I can teach you the basic skills and show you some of the strategies frequently utilized by successful teams, but the majority of what happens on the field will come from your ability to make smart decisions… and more importantly, your ability to make smart decisions quickly.  The speed at which you think on the field during soccer is essential to your success.  If you’ve ever watched Lionel Messi slalom-dribble through 4 defenders as if he already mapped out his entire route, you know exactly what I mean.  He moves through other players seemingly two- and three-plays ahead of them.  He is always thinking and reading the game before it even happens.  I believe that a player should be provided the opportunity to make their own decisions, both good and bad.  If I try to control all of your decision-making, there certainly would be less risk in the game: you would play safe and you would play just as I instructed you.  But this is not the point of the game of soccer.  The beautiful thing about soccer is the spectacular plays that you didn’t even know that you were capable of making, the brilliant, split-second decisions that are entirely and completely your own, and the realization that you can read the game without anyone telling you what you’re looking for.  Therefore, I try to provide you, as players, with situational recommendations during practices and maybe even in games, but I absolutely insist that you make your own decisions.   Take chances.  Mess up.  Try to take on a defender and get stuffed.  Hopefully the next time you take on that same defender, you’ll know exactly how to correct your move to get around them.  I will provide feedback (both positive and negative) in an attempt to hone this decision-making skill throughout the season, but I expect that you will also challenge yourself to get better at it own your own.  In life, you will be responsible for all of your own decisions, good and bad, and there is no better place to start learning that than on the field.

Another principle that I greatly value is your desire to win.  This is reflected throughout the entire season, not just in games.  You must practice harder than you play in your games.  You must train on your mental and physical edge so as to re-create game-like situations during practice.  When we do coervers in practice, you should be on the brink of falling over with every cut that you make simply because you are moving almost too fast to balance yourself.  Be competitive.  Know that when you are tested, that you have trained hard, you have worked through challenges, you have experienced pain and hardship, and that you deserve to win.  Obtaining this mental strength is no small feat in athletics.  Mental toughness is a trained habit that is gained through years of experience.  Start now.  If you train at your best every day, with a desire to win and to consistently perform at your peak level, over time, you will arrive where you want to be.

As you know by now, your individual and team progress will be charted throughout the season with weekly and monthly Player Evaluations.  These evaluations determine your playing time and your positions on the field.  Competition should drive your performance in these assessments.  You are competing to outscore everyone else on the team, and therefore guarantee your starting position on the team.  Although during games we are a team that is working together, during practice we are a team that is furiously competing with each other.  How hard you play in practice will make both you and your teammates better soccer players and more competitive athletes.  Practice harder than you play in games—push yourself to score higher on every single assessment as the season progresses.  Practices will be demanding, and your competitive focus will be essential to your development.  It is essential to recognize that individual and team skill can be maximized only through competition.

While a major focus is on individual development at the JV level, this is not to say that I am only focused on the individual.  As a team, we are not just the sum of our parts—I hope that we will be a cohesive unit of dedicated, committed, hard-working individuals that together comprise a successful team.  If one player is slacking off or skipping practice, the whole team will suffer.  Understand your effect on others and act accordingly to that responsibility.  Always put the team first.

I want our ultimate goal this season to be that we perform at our highest level, both as individuals and as a team.  This will take great efforts and extreme focus on both my and your parts every day.  I will make that commitment to you.  I hope that you will do the same.  In doing so, I anticipate great successes both on and off of the field.

I am always open to suggestions and would love your input.  Feel free to speak with me about your opinions regarding the season, and I have no doubts that both our academic and athletic success is just around the corner.