Real Football – A Love Affair

The beautiful game, I can buy that, but there are other
beautiful games, determined by the eye of the beholder. Futbol is much more
than a beautiful game it is a big improvisational dance. It is modern art,
Picasso on grass. It is a unique combination of the riffs of jazz and the
rhythm and beat of world music, the cool of Miles Daves plus Ali Farka Toure
and some Gypsy Kings thrown in. Enough of the artistic analogies I would like
to share the details of my love affair with the game. I am Swiss and Italian.
Every four years I think my Italian blood runs a bit thicker. Not particularly
a fan of the Azzurri, but a fan of the game, I think it is in the blood. I
never played soccer growing up, I played American football, but
I have fond memories from my childhood going on Sundays to Dwight Murphy field
in Santa Barbara and watching the matches between the various clubs. They were
all ethnic, the Italians, Spanish, Mexicans, Yugoslavs and so forth. Many
languages and many cultures, it was neat, all there for futbol. You could see
and feel the passion.

My flirtation began when my son started playing and grew as
my daughter began to play and move to higher levels in the sport. The NSCAA
Convention in 1994, and obviously the 94 World Cup in the US got me even more
interested. The love affair began when I resigned my job as Direcrtor of
Conditioning for the Chicago White 
and started with the Tampa Bay Mutiny of the MLS. I was the first
conditioning coach in the league. That first year working with the team was like a fantasy camp. A great coach, Thomas Rongen, great players, mostly
veteran players who had played all over the world, the star was Carlos
Valdarrama, past his prime, but magic with the ball his feet. We won the
eastern division regular season but lost in the playoffs to DC United. It was a great
introduction to the game, a real learning experience especially working with
Thomas Rongen who is Dutch, a product of the Ajax system. He was patient with me and
helped make me a better coach and learn the game. The players were great with
me, giving me constructive comments and very open to the new ideas on
conditioning I brought to them. This experience intensified my love affair. In
1998 I got to work with the US men’s World Cup in preparation for France. It
was an interesting experience. I found our preparation to be very naïve. In the
following years I continued work with several MLS teams, consulting with UNC
women’s and UVA women's soccer. I got to work with my daughter’s team when she played at
Rice University. In 2005 I got to work briefly with Chivas in the Mexican
league. My love affair continues today, Athletics is my passion, soccer is my
mistress. Looking forward to watching as many matches as possible.

Working to prepare a soccer player and team is unique. It
is so multidimensional. You need the fitness of an 800 meter runner, you to be
as strong as possible and as light as you can be, balance power, and unreal
skill. I love this challenge.

Here are some of my thoughts as the 2010 World Cups begins.

Physicality & Stature
of Players – The trend is toward bigger and faster players.

 

Athleticism – Very athletic
if you accept that athleticism is the ability to perform athletic movements,
run, jump, throw and kick with precision style and grace in the context of the
sport.

 

Intensity – The time
the ball is in actually in play for me is a prime measure of the intensity of
the game. Over the past five world cups the percentage of time has gone up.

 

Speed of Play – Not sprinting
speed, but game speed. Speed of actions and decision making is incredibly high

 

Distance Run – I don’t
really understand why everyone is so amazed by this. It is not the kilometers
run, it is what occurs during those kilometers that counts.

 

Altitude and Environmental
Conditions – Will be interesting to see if altitude has an effect. Usually it
is heat that s a factor because of the time of year the World Cup is played,
but this southern hemisphere winter so heat will not be a factor.

 

Cumulative Fatigue –
This is a huge factor. The number of matches that the top players have played
leading into World Cup is amazing. It has to take a toll.

 

Injuries – Related to
the last point. Look at the number of top players already out.