Schlagwort: Germany

Teil III. Unglaublich: „629 Spiele hintereinander haben wir entweder gewonnen, unentschieden gespielt oder mit nur einem Tor Unterschied verloren“

Published on von Quergedacht by Lisa SchatzKommentar hinterlassen

Lassen Sie uns zu einem anderen Thema kommen. Sie haben so viele Erfahrungen gesammelt. Die Weltmeisterschaft 1991 und so weiter… Was war für Sie das schönste Erlebnis weltweit? Es ist ziemlich schwer, nur eines herauszugreifen, aber vielleicht können Sie es versuchen… Auf welches Erreichte sind sie am meisten stolz?

Ehrlich gesagt ist die Weltmeisterschaft 1991 einer der Höhepunkte, denn das gefällt mir natürlich am besten: Wir haben die Welt in ihrem eigenen Spiel geschlagen. Das ist wunderbar. Und wir haben es früh geschafft: Wir haben es bei der ersten Weltmeisterschaft geschafft. Für mich war das also ein wunderbar befriedigender Moment. Aber es gibt noch andere Dinge, über die ich mich freue. Wir haben vorhin über den Competitive Cauldron gesprochen. Ich bin sehr stolz darauf, und ich denke, das ist eine wahre Aussage. Ich glaube, in 629 aufeinander folgenden Spielen mit meiner College-Mannschaft haben wir entweder gewonnen, unentschieden gespielt oder mit nur einem Tor Unterschied verloren. Also 629 Spiele hintereinander…

Das ist unglaublich…

Anson Dorrance beobachtet seine Mannschaft. Der Trainer hat viele Ideen, wie man das Fußballspiel an sich positiv verändern kann.
Foto: Athletic Department, University of North Carolina

Das heißt, wir haben in jedem Spiel bis zur letzten Sekunde gekämpft. Was ich an dieser Statistik liebe, ist: Sie zeigt, dass man Wettkampfhärte trainieren kann. Immer wenn ich mit meinen Spielerinnen über neun verschiedene Qualitäten spreche, spreche ich über Selbstdisziplin, über Kampfgeist, über Selbstvertrauen, über die Liebe zum Ball, über die Liebe zum Spiel, zum Zuschauen, über Einsatzbereitschaft, über Trainierbarkeit und über Verbundenheit. Und Verbundenheit ist – wie beantwortest du das – ob du deine Mitspieler liebst und ob sie dich lieben. Und das Wichtigste ist bei all diesen Diskussionen in diesen neun verschiedenen Kategorien: Der Ring, der sie alle beherrscht, ist das Feuer des Wettbewerbs. Und das, worauf ich am meisten stolz bin, ist die Tatsache, dass wir 629 Spiele in Folge entweder gewonnen, unentschieden gespielt oder nur mit einem Tor Unterschied verloren haben. Das zeigt, dass wir mithalten können, denn natürlich gibt es Tage, an denen wir nicht gut gespielt haben, aber trotzdem haben wir durchgehalten. Es gab Tage, da spielten wir gegen Teams, die besser sind. Aber sie konnten nicht gegen uns in Führung gehen, und das ist für mich eine außergewöhnliche Statistik. Ich würde also sagen, die Weltmeisterschaft und diese Serie.

Im Jahr 2012 hatte meine Frau ein Autoimmunproblem und lag sozusagen im Sterben. Das Team hat sich zusammengetan, um für sie zu spielen. In den Vereinigten Staaten bekommt man natürlich einen Ring, wenn man eine nationale Meisterschaft auf Collegeniveau, aber auch auf Profiebene, gewinnt. Ich habe also 22 nationale Meisterschaften gewonnen, aber ich trage nur einen Ring: Der Ring, den ich trage, ist der Ring, den das Team für erspielt hat. (strahlt über das ganze Gesicht und zeigt mir den Ring) Auf der Innenseite des Rings steht: „Dieser Ring ist für dich, M’Liss“, denn auf dem Band, das jede Spielerin um das Handgelenk trug, stand M’Liss‘ Name drauf. Die Mannschaft kam vor dem Halbfinalspiel zu mir und sagte mir, dass sie ihr die diesjährige Meisterschaft widmen würden. Dann haben wir das Halbfinale und schließlich das Finale gewonnen. Das bedeutete für mich einfach die Welt. Ich trage also einen Meisterschaftsring. Es war der Ring, den das Team für meine kranke Frau erspielt hat. Sie hat sich erholt. Sie hatte eine Nierentransplantation und es geht ihr jetzt viel besser. Aber im Grunde würde ich sagen, die Weltmeisterschaft, die nationale Meisterschaft 2012 und dann diese Reihe von Spielen, die wir entweder gewonnen, unentschieden gespielt oder nur mit einem Tor Unterschied verloren haben.

Wow, tolle Geschichte und tolle Geste von Ihrem Team.

Internationale Eindrücke

Sie haben mir erzählt, dass Sie von Land zu Land gezogen sind. Wenn Sie über Fußball nachdenken: Gab es einen Eindruck von den Unterschieden zwischen den Kulturen, der Sie sehr stark gesprägt hat?

Ja, ich denke, was mich beeindruckt hat, ist: Ich liebe die Menschen in jedem Land, in dem wir gelebt haben. Es ist irgendwie interessant, weil ich als Katholik geboren und aufgewachsen bin. Also war ich überall, wo ich gelebt habe, auf katholischen Schulen. Die Schule, die ich in Fribourg in der Schweiz besuchte, war eine Marienschule. Die Brüder und Schwestern von Maria. Meine Erzieher, meine Professoren waren also wunderbar. Sie waren im Grunde Brüder und Priester der Gesellschaft Marias. Ich habe in meinem Leben nur zwei akademische Preise gewonnen. Der eine Preis war der Englischpreis an der St. Joseph’s Schule in Addis Abeba in Äthiopien. Das lag daran, dass ich das einzige Kind in der Klasse war, das zu Hause Englisch sprach. Es war eine katholische Schule, aber eine afrikanische Schule, und es wurde auf Englisch unterrichtet. Ich habe also den Englischpreis gewonnen. Und warum? Weil ich natürlich Englisch gesprochen habe. (wir lachen) Das Beste an diesem Preis war, dass der Mann, der mir den Preis überreichte, Haile Selassie war, der „Lion of Judah“. Für mich war es also eine außergewöhnliche Auszeichnung, die ich gewonnen hatte.

Immer, wenn mein Vater die Geschichte erzählte, wurde sie als Scherz erzählt. (lacht) Ich habe den Preis nicht gewonnen, weil ich ein besonders guter Schüler war. Sondern nur, weil ich zu Hause Englisch gesprochen habe. Also, ja, ich sprach ziemlich fließend Englisch. Der einzige andere akademische Preis, den ich gewonnen habe, war der Religionspreis der Villa St. Jean [Privatschule; Anm. von LS] in Fribourg, Schweiz. Und das war wirklich interessant: Als ich an dieser Schule war, wurde ich für das Priesteramt rekrutiert. Und was dazu gehörte: Ich führte heftige Debatten mit meinen Religionslehrern und all diesen Religionsklassen. Dabei ging es immer darum, wie man in der katholischen Kirche gerettet werden kann. Denke daran, das war in den späten 60er Jahren. Man musste irgendwie zum Katholizismus konvertieren oder – du weißt schon – seine Liebe zu Jesus Christus bekennen. Für mich war das absolut schwer zu begreifen. Denn wie sollte ein Mensch in Äquatorialafrika jemals einem Missionar begegnen, der ihn bekehren würde? Was sie mir also sagen wollten, war: Jeder, der nicht mit unserer Kirche in Berührung kommt, ist dann verdammt. Ich hatte also diese wütenden Debatten. Und es war nicht nur Äquatorialafrika. Ich meine, der Äquator trifft fast die Insel Singapur. Und die Bevölkerung von Singapur besteht im Wesentlichen aus Chinesen, Malaien und Indern.

Ich habe dort ein paar Monate gelebt und kenne Singapur sehr gut. 

Du weißt also, wovon ich spreche. Sie alle verurteilten die Person, und ich konnte es einfach nicht glauben. Und ganz plötzlich: Dieser Missionar aus der Gegend von Chapel Hill besuchte mich und meine Frau. Ich hörte mir ihre Lektionen an. Plötzlich fingen sie an, mit mir über die Taufe für den Tod zu sprechen. Und was mir am mormonischen Glauben gefiel: Sie verurteilen niemanden. Denn sie nehmen die Tatsache an. Es kann sein, dass man mit Jesus Christus oder irgendetwas anderem nicht in Berührung gekommen ist. Deshalb gibt es in unserer Kirche die Zeremonie, in der wir den Tod taufen. Man hat die Möglichkeit, sich für Christus zu entscheiden. Damit war dieses Problem für mich gelöst, über das ich früher heftige Debatten geführt hatte.

Ich habe den Religionspreis in La Villa de St. Jean gewonnen. Wie auch den Englischpreis an der St. Joseph’s School in Addis Abeba in Äthiopien. Den Religionspreis habe ich als bester Verfechter gewonnen. Was ich an meinen Religionslehrern wirklich schätzte, war folgendes: Ich weiß, dass ich in ihrem Unterricht eine absolute Nervensäge war. Sie wussten, dass ich diese Debatten und Diskussionen mit ihnen voller Leidenschaft führte. Dementsprechend war ich im Religionsunterricht stets engagiert und diskutierte die meiste Zeit mit ihnen. Und ich war gewiss nicht schüchtern und widersprach bei allem, was sie sagten und womit ich nicht einverstanden war. Dadurch lernte ich sehr viel über alle Strömungen unseres Glaubens. Aber dann konvertierte ich zur „Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”, weil es hier einen kleinen Grundsatz gibt, nämlich dass niemand verdammt wird. Das ist der Standpunkt, den wir meiner Meinung nach in jeder aktuellen Religion einnehmen müssen. Denn du kannst sicher nachvollziehen, dass eine andere Religion, die dich verurteilt, wenn du ihr nicht angehörst, außerordentlich unzusammenhängend oder unaufrichtig ist. Kann es noch lächerlicher werden als das? 

Deshalb bin ich an die UNC [University of North Carolina; Anm. von LS] gekommen, um Philosophie zu studieren, denn für mich sind diese Debatten entscheidend. Und anders als in meinem Grundstudium in Englisch und Philosophie. Diese Elemente waren für mich also sehr wichtig, als ich aufgewachsen bin. Wie du sehen kannst, respektiere ich die Grundwerte und lehre junge Männer und Frauen, ein Leben zu führen, das von Prinzipien geprägt ist. Für mich ist das unsere Mission. Das ist unsere Aufgabe als menschliche Wesen: Einander dabei zu helfen, dass wir alle ein Leben führen, das von Prinzipien geprägt ist.

Ich bin nur beeindruckt, weil die Einflüsse aus so vielen verschiedenen Ländern wie Äthiopien und Singapur so breit gefächert sind. Wenn ich das nur vergleiche, ist es verrückt.

Gibt es auch eine lustige Geschichte, die Sie durch den Fußball erlebt haben? Vielleicht während einer Ihrer Auslandsreisen?

Normalerweise ist es eine lustige Geschichte auf Kosten eines Spielers. Ich glaube, meine Lieblingsgeschichte, als ich die Männer trainierte, ist: Natürlich ist das ein Kontaktsport. Was ich an der EPL [Premier League; Anm. von LS] im Moment hasse, ist: Jedes Mal, wenn jemand im Strafraum angeschossen wird, fällt er um, als hätte ihn ein Scharfschütze getroffen, und ich hasse die Leistung in diesen Spielen. Denn um Fußball zu spielen, muss man sehr zäh sein, und man muss ständig treffen und trainieren, und diese Leute, die im Training getroffen werden, rollen nicht sechs oder sieben Mal weiter. Um sechs oder sieben Mal eine Rolle zu machen, braucht man übrigens unglaublich viel Kraft. Glaub‘ mir also, wenn man wirklich schwer verletzt ist, macht man nicht sechs oder sieben Umdrehungen. Man rollt nur einmal und dann hört man auf. Und das ist das Problem. Was ich also nicht mag, ist, all diesen Spielern dabei zuzusehen, wie sie über den Platz rollen. Das macht mich verrückt.

Anson Dorrance’ Ideen, wie das Spiel positiv verändert werden könnte

Das kommt viel öfter bei Fußballspielen der Männer vor, oder? Das ist mein Eindruck. Frauen stehen sofort wieder auf, auch teilweise, wenn sie im Zweikampf direkt mit den Köpfen zusammengestoßen sind. Und die Männer bleiben oft am Boden liegen, obwohl nichts passiert ist. Unglaublich!

Es ist unglaublich und du hast Recht. Aber das Spiel der Frauen ist – naja, wir spielen nicht so viel wie die Männer. Das Spiel der Frauen ist ein ehrenhafteres Spiel. Ich stimme dir wirklich zu, denn ich bin angewidert von der Entwicklung des Fußballs der Männer. Ich denke, wir sollten anfangen, die Regeln zu ändern. Ich meine, wir sollten die Sündenbank einführen. Die Sündenbank ist das, was im Eishockey passiert, wenn ein gewalttätiger Spieler für zwei Minuten vom Eis genommen wird, weil er zu aggressiv war. Ich denke, wir müssen unseren Schiedsrichtern mehr Möglichkeiten geben, und wir müssen auch die Regeln für die Strafbank ändern. Denn wenn ein Spieler, der vom Tor wegdribbelt, von jemandem am Fuß erwischt wird und in der hinteren Ecke des Strafraums zusammenbricht, während er vom Tor wegdribbelt, dann gibt es einen Strafstoß. Das ist ein Elfmeter. Wollt ihr mich verarschen? Da war keine Gerechtigkeit im Spiel! Ich bin der Meinung: Damit es zu einem Elfmeter kommt, muss es eine Torchance gegeben haben. Und es muss eine Absicht des Verteidigers vorliegen!

Wie lautet Ihre Meinung zum VAR (Video Assistant Referee) in der Bundesliga?

Ich denke, er kommt der Wahrheit auf die Spur. Also, ich habe kein Problem mit dem VAR. Aber was mich stört ist die Anzahl der Elfmeter, die gegeben werden. Das sind richtige Strafstöße, die werden gewertet. Es gibt keine echte Torchance. Ich denke, das ist ein Problem für mich. Aber wir geben den Schiedsrichtern auch nicht genügend Instrumente an die Hand. Der Schiedsrichter muss in der Lage sein, einen Spieler vom Platz zu verweisen. Und er kann den Spieler aus allen möglichen Gründen vom Feld verweisen. Meiner Meinung nach ist das ein wichtiger Punkt: Der Trainer muss darüber nachdenken, was zu tun ist, und die Spieler müssen das auch tun. Jetzt sind sie also ein Mann weniger. Wie kann man das ausnutzen? Ich liebe das alles. Ich hasse Elfmeterschießen, die das Spiel entscheiden. Ich denke, wenn man in die Verlängerung gehen will, gefällt mir vor allem die amerikanische Lösung: Golden Goal. Sobald man ein Tor schießt, ist das Spiel vorbei. Man muss also nicht 30 Minuten nachspielen, um zu sehen, wer der Sieger ist. Und wenn es dann immer noch unentschieden steht, gibt es ein Elfmeterschießen – nein! Jemand schießt ein Tor, BANG, das Spiel ist vorbei. Aber ich denke auch, dass man alle fünf Minuten einen Spieler vom Feld nehmen sollte. Bei beiden Mannschaften. Und sobald die Nachspielzeit beginnt, sollte das Abseits abgeschafft werden. Nach fünf Minuten steht es dann 10 gegen 10. Nach zehn Minuten heißt es 9 gegen 9. Nach fünfzehn Minuten heißt es 8 gegen 8. Und weil das so interessant ist, würde mir Folgendes gefallen: Als Trainer würde ich gerne entscheiden, wen ich aus dem Spiel nehme und wen ich im Spiel lasse und wie meine Formationen aussehen werden, denn denk daran… Kein Abseits mehr!

Das wäre sehr interessant, ganz anders.

Das wäre ein unglaubliches Spiel, denn es geht um die Räume!

Und auch für die Zuschauenden interessant, die Trainer zu beobachten, wie sie dann entscheiden. Denn man hat den Druck. Man hat nicht viel Zeit, sich zu entscheiden!

Ja! (begeistert) Die Zuschauenden werden es lieben und sie alle werden anderer Meinung sein als der Coach. Die Kommentierenden werden sich nach dem Spiel über die Entscheidungen, die die Trainer*innen getroffen haben, auslassen. Aber auch das Spiel endet mit dem Ergebnis. Man sollte das Abseits abschaffen und es würde ein frühes Tor geben. Man sollte Spieler*innen herausnehmen, denn ich hasse Elfmeter. Ich habe so viel Zeit damit verbracht, eine arme, liebe junge Frau zu schützen, die dafür gesorgt hat, dass wir eine nationale Meisterschaft verloren haben, weil sie das Tor verfehlt hat. Es ist nicht ihre Schuld. Lasst uns einen anderen Weg finden, bei dem das Team verliert, nicht eine Spielerin. Ich hasse es einfach. Aber ich mag auch die Anzahl der Strafen nicht, die derzeit verhängt werden. Das ist lächerlich! Keine Torchance. Ich mag den Schiedsrichter, weil er der Wahrheit auf den Grund geht. Und wenn der Schiedsrichter sagt, dass der Spieler eine Schwalbe gemacht hat, möchte ich, dass er vom Platz gestellt wird, weil ich das System der gelben Karten nicht mag.

Man muss die Karten immer nachzählen. Hat der Spieler jetzt fünf Karten?

Stimmt. Denn im Grunde ist die erste gelbe Karte keine Strafe. Oder ein anderer Spieler muss aufpassen. Wenn der Spieler ein grobes Foul begeht, muss man ihn bestrafen: Schmeißt ihn vom Feld! Also ja, eine gelbe Karte bedeutet, ihn für 20 Minuten vom Feld zu nehmen.

Haben Sie schon mit dem Fußballverband gesprochen und Ihre Ideen vorgeschlagen?

Die ganze Zeit. Ich habe mit allen gesprochen, auch mit den Journalisten, und sie sind einfach anderer Meinung als ich. Sie sind altmodisch. Ich hasse das. Wir sollten die Strafbank einführen! Den Schiedsrichtern mehr Möglichkeiten geben!

Oder einfach ein Pilotprojekt machen, um es auszuprobieren und ihnen die Vorteile zu zeigen?

Nun, ich leite jeden Sommer ein Fußballcamp. Dort waren Kinder, die alle zu uns gekommen sind, und wir haben natürlich Camp-Turniere veranstaltet. Im letzten Spiel des Camps spielen sie um den 1. Platz, den 3. Platz, den 5. Platz usw. usw. Wenn es am Ende eines Spiels unentschieden stand, spielten wir in der Verlängerung ohne Abseits und mussten sofort alle fünf Minuten eine*n Spieler*in vom Platz stellen. Und wenn es dann 5 gegen 5 stand, gab es in der Regel schon ein Ergebnis.

Was haben die Spieler*innen gesagt?

Sie lieben es! Und die Eltern lieben es, denn die Spannung ist unglaublich! Kein Abseits! Keiner schreit wegen Abseits oder wegen irgendetwas anderem. Und wen lässt man auf dem Spielfeld zurück? Dann ist es wie bei den Gladiatoren. Wer sind deine Gladiatoren? Ich liebe es. Schließlich bleiben zwei Spieler*innen übrig, eine*r von jedem Team. Wer ist der Gladiator? Das sind Dinge, über die wir alle reden können. Und für mich ist es eine so einfache Lösung. Und sie beendet alles. Es ist wie beim Drei-Punkte-Wurf im amerikanischen Basketball. Der war eine großartige Ergänzung zum Basketball. Und so, ja, lasst uns den Fußball immer spannender machen. Hören wir also mit dem Elfmeterschießen auf, reden wir über den langweiligsten und schrecklichsten Moment im Spiel. Das ist furchtbar. Es macht keinen Spaß, zuzusehen. Es ist peinlich anzuschauen. Und die einzigen, die zufrieden aus dem Elfmeterschießen herausgehen, sind die, die gewinnen. Niemand freut sich über den Zweiten.

Nein, es ist furchtbar für sie.

Es ist schrecklich für sie, aber auch für die/den arme*n Spieler*in, der verschossen hat.

Ich denke da nur an Bastian Schweinsteiger im Champions-League-Finale, als sie 2012 in München verloren haben. Er sagte, dass er sehr lange darüber nachgedacht hätte.

Ich hasse das. Denn ich mag meine Spielerinnen und ich möchte nicht, dass sie dadurch eingeschüchtert werden.

Ich verstehe das. In meinen Augen ist es eine gute Idee, es auszuprobieren.

Es gibt so viel über Fußball zu reden, die ganze Zeit.

Ich stimme voll und ganz zu, dass dieses Spiel ein wunderbares Spiel ist, an dem man teilhaben kann.

Wissen Sie schon, an wen Sie das Buch weiterreichen möchten?

Ich habe das Buch bereits Madi Pry gegeben. Der Grund, warum ich es Madi gegeben habe, ist, dass Madi wegen ständiger Verletzungen nicht mehr für uns gespielt hat. Also habe ich es ihr gegeben, weil sie so schön schreibt und ich sie wirklich respektiere, und sie wird es innerhalb unseres Teams weitergeben.

Das ist großartig. Vielen Dank für Ihre Zeit.

Ich danke dir, Lisa. Ich bin begeistert von diesem Gespräch. Viel Glück für dich.

Part II: Anson Dorrance about sports psychology and the revolution in women’s soccer

Published on von Quergedacht by Lisa SchatzKommentar hinterlassen

How important would you say is mental health or sports psychology for your work? Cause in my eyes, the US are much better than Germany and it has been like Jürgen Klinsmann has brought it from the US to Germany in 2005 and everybody in Germany was like ‘Oh, what is he doing?’. He installed a sports psychologist, fitness coaches and so on. In my eyes, it was like: ‘Oh, let him just try’ and then Germany reached the 3rd place – which was such a great achievement – at the World Cup 2006. So, how important is it for your work and how did it develop from the time you started as a coach until today?

Well, I generally think all the great coaches are sport psychologists. Even if they haven’t studied it and even if they don’t profess to exhibit it. Because, obviously one of the most critical elements on the highest level is man or women management, the way you teach your players.

And that’s a form of sports psychology. Because what we have to understand is that everyone is different and everyone has to be treated differently which is why the cliché is a very accurate one. Yeah, most players that are average do want to be left alone. And there are good players who do want to be coached. But you have to be careful HOW you coach them. So your ability to assess how you are going to relate to each player because each player is different is a critical measure of your capacity to understand each player’s circumstance. Which is sports psychology.

We have a wonderful sport psychologist here at UNC. When I was hired in 1976 to coach the men, we did not have a sports psychologist here. We didn’t talk about it much. So, who was the sports psychologist? Well, I guess I was. With no training. I had an English and philosophy degree.

But some of the guys on the men’s team I actually played with. Because I was hired so young. I was actually coaching guys that I have played with two or three years before-hand. So for me, initially, in our profession, I think we all start as a form of sports psychologist.

But clearly there are those that are so good. Because they studied it. And we have those people now. And we have one wonderful sports psychologist by the name of Jeni Shannon that meets with my team once every couple weeks and the whole team loves her. She is very good with everything. She is good with the elements that we are playing with in our game. But she is also very good with other struggles that our kids would have during this pandemic. This is a different strength for kids to come to college with. Because in the old days, college was about freedom for the first time. They get to leave home, their parents aren’t there to wake them up and send them to class. Or tell them what to eat or when to go to bed. So now, for the first time in their lives, they are the captains of their own ships. And of course, when you are young, what you end up doing with that ship half the time, well, you end up having it run into the ground because you are an idiot.

Anson Dorrance thinks UNC’s sports psychologists do a super job.
Photo: Athletic Department, University of North Carolina

What you are doing is learning to manage yourself slowly but surely through trial and error often times. But also, if you do have a good value system and even raised properly, you can slowly adjust governing yourself. But this is where the sports psychologist comes in. Because they came in here with this pandemic going on. The mental health thing is a serious issue. And these professionals are so much better at handling it than I am. And I give Jenni Shannon and the sports psychologists here at UNC and my assumption is, across the country, and across your country as well, I am sure they are doing a fantastic job trying to take these young women and young men to the promised land. And not just a promised land of the player performance, it’s the promised land of adjusting to the real world, maturing into adulthood and all these different things that are obviously our challenge for all of us growing up.

Is Jenni Shannon a part of the training sessions or does she have an office and every young woman or man who has some struggles or problems can go to her and talk to her? How does it work?

Yes, that’s one way it happens. They can schedule appointments with her and she can meet with them privately. But the way it also happens here is every couple weeks at the end of practice we come together. We have a gazebo which is an open shelter, and she would meet with them there. So if it is raining she can still speak to the entire team. We don’t have practice on campus. They don’t have to jump into their cars, drive somewhere and meet with her because she is willing to come right to them. So she comes to the team.

Obviously during those moments, what she is telling them is about general issues. But everyone knows that – and she tells them this: ‘Please, if you have a personal issue you can’t bring up into this meeting, and you want to speak with me about it personally and privately, please know that my door is always open. Please email me and we’ll find a time that is mutually agreeable for both of us and then you can meet with me privately in my office.’ So, for us, it is both things. She meets with the team and she meets with the kids who want to meet with her privately.

Wow, that’s great. Cause in my impression, in Germany, it goes very slowly that they really all accept this topic. Especially in men’s soccer or youth men’s soccer – in the best leagues, they also partly tell like ‘Oh, they are crazy. Sports psychologists – I am not crazy’. Lots do not understand the real sense behind in my eyes. Well, let’s talk about another topic.

‘Basically, at my school here, the University of North Carolina, they treat the men and the women the same.’

How did women’s soccer develop in the last decades, when you have started until now? Do you think you have got the best training facilities – I looked it up on the Internet. So, you have a great training ground, you have a great stadium… Is there still something missing or is it like perfect work and have got all what you need for the training sessions and all facilities?

Basically, at my school here, the University of North Carolina, they treat the men and the women the same. So everything the men get we get and vice versa we play in the same stadium that we also share with the Lacrosse teams, by the way. So we have a men’s and women’s lacrosse team here. They play in the winter and spring. We play in the fall.

That’s a dream for Germans. Does not work the same way here. Maybe you know about Germany, now, more and more women’s teams come to the men’s Bundesliga Clubs. They start women’s teams. But very, very slowly… It’s 2022.

Obviously, we have a different economic platform. The economic platform is totally supported by two teams. It’s supported by the American football team and by men’s basketball. And those two teams make all the money for all the rest of us. So, there is no reason to discriminate, to have the men’s football team, soccer team, get more money than we do. No. So, we all basically sort of divide up the revenue from football and men’s basketball and it is shared equally.

In Germany, your model is different. You have the club model. This one is a model where the more money that is spent, the better you have to be. So, the top teams in Germany, obviously, if they want to buy a player, they want to spent a maximum out of money. And so these clubs that are making lots of money don’t want to share it. And it’s understandable because there is a direct correlation between the amount of money each club spent in Germany and their success. So, one of the things which threaten hierarchy in Germany for the men’s teams is if they decide to splurge on the women’s teams. Because then obviously, the amount of money they are spending on the women is money they are not spending on the men. And the women are not making money.

That’s the problem.

Yeah, that is the problem. So, basically, I appreciate that you are bringing this up. Because what I tell my girls all the time, because there was a lawsuit here (Cindy Parlow the US Soccer President helped settle it), where the US women’s national team sued US Soccer for equal pay. And of course, what they want – because our women’s national team is much more successful than our men’s team – they want to be paid like the men.

I read about Megan Rapinoe, I really like her so much! She is great.

Yes, she is in on the fight for equal pay. The element that Rapinoe doesn’t understand yet is that for equal pay you gotta have equal revenue. And right now, at a professional level, and at a World Cup level, there is not equal revenue. So, it’s gonna be impossible to structure equal pay everywhere without closing the gap with attendance.

So I told my girls this all the time: We have a professional team within 25 minutes of us. They are called ‘The North Carolina Courage’. And what’s really interesting is this is unlike the men: The men’s players here, and these are all college kids, they are all amateurs – what they do all the time is nothing but watch football. They are watching the EPL, they are watching the Bundesliga, Bayern is a great team to watch. They watch the Champions League, but also, Borussia Dortmund because they have success for the American players. So, these are teams that the men watch all the time.

Do my girls watch anything? Absolutely not. They don’t watch anything. So I tell my girls all the time: ‘If I hear you, basically, bloviating, about equal pay, I’ll call you a hypocrite. Because while you are here at UNC, you never turned on a football game. And you never went over and paid money to watch the North Carolina Courage play. And now that you are even playing on the Carolina Courage, don’t want you to have that hypocrisy to now pretend that everyone should come watch you play, when you never went over to watch them play?’

So, part of what I am trying to change is that culture of women’s football. And I am trying to get our culture close to the men’s game. So what does the men’s game have that we don’t have? Men’s game has people that are supporting. So, all these people that want equal pay on the women’s side, well, what you have to do, is to figure out ways to get people to watch your game.

So, that’s what you have to do. So though I have huge admiration for Rapinoe, she doesn’t embrace the business aspect of this. She doesn’t embrace that fact that Bayern Munich would lose their position in the Bundesliga. So, they don’t understand that 15 million dollars a year on a women’s team would be 15 million dollars lost for the men. They could steal another left-back from Borussia Dortmund etc etc etc. So, this has to be somehow reconciled.

In my eyes, it’s a pity but it can’t be changed cause it’s too hard. It’s much more developed.

No, no, no, I mean you can develop. The best thing to do is not to whine about it but to do something about it. And the way to do something about it is to have people watch more games and build our gate like Barcelona with over 91,000 in attendance for two games in a row recently.

I like it so much, watching the women of Bayern Munich. It’s so crazy in the stadium, I really like it. It’s so familiar, you can come together, also the players with injuries who can’t play, they’re sitting on the tribune, they write autographs, take pictures with the young fans and you could never expect something like this at a men’s game in the Allianz Arena. Wouldn’t be possible. Never.

That’s because the men don’t have to do that. Women have to. And, by the way, that`s going to be a revolution. A revolution has to be the way to embrace our communities, we are going to do it here with our stadium. And I’ve spent a lot of money to promote women’s football in my stadium. And we actually outdraw the men. So we get more attendance than the men and there is a reason for that because I kill myself to pack the stadium. I used to use a lot of my personal income to pay for marketing for our team. I understand that there is another step that has to be taken. And what’s that step? We got to have equal attendance.

Football Book – Update No. 11: From Brianna Pinto to Anson Dorrance

Published on von Quergedacht by Lisa SchatzKommentar hinterlassen

Die deutsche Version des Interviews findet ihr hier.

Dear soccer fans,

…and again there is news: Brianna Pinto has decided to give the book to Anson Dorrance. The coach had no choice. He had to go along with it. Why? Read it for yourself in the interview…

Since Anson Dorrance has experienced a lot in soccer, our conversation got longer and longer. His statements gave me reasons for more and more questions. That’s why we’re celebrating a premiere today: the first three-part interview on my blog will follow… Part 1 today, part 2 on July 8, 2022, and part 3 on July 10, 2022.

Enjoy collecting impressions!

Yours

Lisa Blue

UNC Women’s Soccer Head Coach Anson Dorrance at work. Photo: Athletic Department, University of North Carolina

Mr. Dorrance, at first, I would like to know why you decided to take part in the football book project? What was your immediate reaction when you got the book?

Actually, I did not have that much of a choice. Brianna Pinto just left it on my desk with a note. So, there was no possession about it. So I was not in a position to reject it. I really like Brianna. So the book was there and it looked very interesting so I jumped in.

Honestly, I thought, Oh my god what a pain in a rear end? It takes me three to four hours a day to clear my emails. So for me, my days are just very, very busy. I am talking to many people all the time, like with you. I talk with my players all the time. Right now, I get my professional players to the team. They want to play during this transfer window.

So, for me, it was just one thing after another. So, my first instinct when I saw the book, was: ‘Oh my god, more work, what an absolute drag”. But then I opened the book up and I saw and I was thinking: ‘What an interesting project’. So I thought that it was really interesting and then, honestly when I started writing, I sort of got into it. And what I got into was, you know, Rainer Maria Rilke. Because I was thinking about the game so much differently than most people because I am a philosopher. For me, there is a different perspective. I think that perspective of looking onto the game through that extraordinary Rilke poem ‘The man watching’ is a really interesting way to look at.

Rilke is a famous German poet. I put that poem in at the end because I really think that our game has all kinds of valuable things to teach us. What’s really interesting is: We don’t learn in our game through success. We learn in our game through failure. Because then, we do become more resilient. We appreciate the fact that we grow through failure. So, don’t be afraid of failure. Don’t be afraid of challenge. And right now, what I am starting to see which isn’t good, is: We are all becoming so fragile. So this is where I still see sport has value. And even value in a university setting. Because we are all what is called the ivory tower. The ivory tower are all those professors who think that this an absolute waste of our association. To have an athletic team associated with university. This takes away from the mission. And the mission is a normal one. And I completely agree with the mission of the academy in the ivory tower. It’s to educate our young people to extend their minds. To make them more productive. I guess, I have a more practical view of the value of athletics. Because I really think that I am in full support of ‘The great man theory’ of education. That you can learn how to be a great man by studying the great man, and woman obviously, of our cultures to sort of how we want to live our own lives. And so for me, sports has value, because it teaches you very practical things about how you can conduct our own lives and will have huge value. And even huge value for the academy because then you have a resilience. It’s going to have you equipped.

Also the respect and the social aspects, friendships, helping together.

Yeah. And these are issues that aren’t really addressed in the academy or the ivory tower in the academic environments directly. Are they addressing it directly? Of course. When you read Shakespeare, you are learning about relationships. And you are getting an education in so many different positive ways. But I think sport has value as well. So, for me, all these different things have value. And what I really enjoy about the book was for me to give my tiny slice of perspective on the value of athletics. And I certainly did my tiny intro into what the academy would appreciate which is the study of brilliant writers like Rilke that have an extraordinary and powerful invaluable inside and how we can grow up in the most extraordinary way in the world.

So what I love about ‘The Man Watching’ poem, the Rilke poem, is: He talks about the way you grow. And the way you grow is being defeated by greater and greater beings. And so I thought there was, since in my opinion, so much correlation between the struggle of learning how to play the game and the challenges of winning the game. And basically, real life. So I shared a poem that I just absolutely love, that in my opinion captures our game and our game I think has value because it teaches us about life and I think our game has so much similarity to the life experience itself. That’s why I selected that poem.

Perfect. I am just a bit surprised that you know Rainer Maria Rilke cause he is quite famous in Germany, but I did not know that he is also famous in the US.

You should read that poem because that poem is very powerful. You will see why I have picked that poem as the metaphor for football, for soccer. So I think once you read it, you’ll be impressed why I picked it.

I’ll do this, thank you very much. That leads me to the next question. So, what do you like most about soccer? Is it the match itself or is it coming together with the people, to communicate with them? To have teamwork, or is it international tournaments? Or is it to get to know other cultures?

My love for the game has evolved with time. So when I was young, obviously, what you love about it, is the ball itself. So I think that you begin with this love of the ball and love of playing the game. Apart of playing the game is playing with your friends. So, there is certainly a social aspect about it that makes the game unique. But also it’s, you know, the feel of the ball on your foot, the satisfaction of achieving something which is very difficult because doing something with your feet is a wonderful challenge.

So I think, at first it is love of the ball, love for the game, love of playing with your friends. And I am a citizen of the world. I was born and raised overseas. What you learn to appreciate, certainly I learn to appreciate as an American is: This is the world’s game. Of course, where I was brought up – I was born in Bombay, India – at the age of three, we moved to Calcutta. From there to Kenia, from Nairobi, Kenia, to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, then to Singapore, Malaysia and to Brussels, Belgium. And while I was in Brussels, I was sent to a Swiss boarding school in Fribourg, Switzerland. So, for me, this is my life. I am a Citizen of this world. And of course, what’s the world’s game? Football is the world’s game. When I started getting involved in soccer, it was the game I could play at the college level because of the University of North Carolina.

I love all the sports. The one I was best at to play at the college level, was soccer. So I jumped into soccer and just loved it. Loved the competition of it. I loved the challenge of it. And then slowly but surely, my love of the game spun me into organizing the game, so I became a leader in the state of North Carolina trying to get US soccer affiliated with the leagues in North Carolina, in the teams. Then, when I ended up the US women’s national coach, I became a national leader, and actually a national leader promoting the Women’s game. Because while I was in UNC when I was hired I was hired to coach guys that I played with. So I was very young. But my ambition was not to be a football coach. I wanted to be an attorney, a lawyer because my father was starting his own oil company and he wanted me to be his corporate attorney. I loved my father, I was a dutiful son. And so I went to law school basically because my father wanted me to. And the family joke at that time was: If I became his corporate attorney at least I would not have audacity to steal from my own estates. That was the family humor. That I would serve the family and the company and not, you know, stealing money from the company and putting it into my own pocket.

Then I went to law school and I absolutely hated it. While I was in law school I was coaching the men here at UNC part-time because the guy before retired and recommended me to the athletic director. While I was finishing the law degree – and most people finish the law degree in three years – it was taking me into my forth year to finish it because I was taking the semester to coach the men here. And the part-time men’s position was then changed to a full-time position, because they gave me a women’s team.

So, I was coaching the men and the women AND I was going to law school. I was overwhelmed. I was getting 4 to 6 hours sleep every night. That’s not enough for me. And so I came home one day and my poor wife who thought she was going to retire on a yard in the Mediterranean married to a guy who was running an oil company now was married to a football coach. You can imagine the incredible tragedy that I was bringing home when I told her I was quitting law school. But honestly, she knew I loved football and she wanted me to be happy. So she had no issue. The only one who had an issue with it was actually my father who was obviously disappointed because he wanted me to work with him and constructing the oil empire for the Dorrance family. But the football and the coaching was too much fun, and then, for ten years, I coached the men and the women. And a part of that was in 1986 when I was appointed the women’s national coach. And when I was hired, we were a new nation in international football. When I was hired we have never won a game in international competition, and five years later, we were World Champions. So, obviously, I am pretty proud of that, because we beat the world in its own game. It’s not our game. It’s your game, it’s the world’s game. And we were World Champions in fact.

The beginning of pressing in soccer…

My favorite moment in 1991 World Championship was beating Germany. Because the Germans had an outstanding team, and the coach of the team was the coach that trained the coaches in the Bundesliga. And so this guy obviously was not famous for coaching women. He was famous for coaching men that coach on the highest level in German football. His name was Gero Bisanz. We beat him 4:2 and he was so embarrassed. And sitting on his right shoulder was sitting Tina Theune-Meyer, his assistant. Basically, he told the world and the press that we cheated. And how do we cheat? Well, we pressed. And back then, no one pressed. Everyone played a very classic and formal 4-4-2. There would be a low line of confrontation where you would let the other team do a staging area in the defensive third by passing the ball around the back and then they would probe by sending a ball in the midfield and send a defender in the midfield to create numbers up around the ball and then they would probe another ball forward. And of course, we run into them. We would grab the other team by the throat and squeeze the air out of them. So when the Germans won the ball, we didn’t give them a platform to play make from. We high pressed.

So in the press conference he claimed that this was a form of cheating. And of course, now everyone presses. But back then, we were unique. Because no one pressed. We were the only team in the world that pressed. Then, what was really nice, was that after being chastised by Gero for cheating – and of course we didn’t – Tina Theune-Meyer who was a very graceful and wonderful woman came up to me and apologized for Geros remarks in the press conference. And basically said that our team was magnificent and we deserved that victory. And it was just another measure of my respect for her, who eventually of course, coached Germany and did an outstanding job. So I have huge respect for Tina. She tought me a lot about the game. She had called me up to a clinic in Canada and I was invited to it. I listened to her speech and a lot of the ideas she had I stole from her and injected into my college program, and also injected in the US national team.

When I was being brought into Canada to listen to Tina speak, Germany had hired a field-hockey coach to transform German field hockey. And what this coach had done which was revolutionary at that time is the old traditional idea for player development was maximum repetition.

So, you have these exhausting 3 to 3,5 hours practices. Of course, the idea was: The more often you touch the ball, or in field-hockey the more often you hit the ball, the better you are going to get; touching and hitting the ball is everything. And this German field-hockey coach took German field-hockey from basically nowhere to the top of the world with these revolutionary ideas. And what were these revolutionary ideas? They were the maximum length of the training session should be an hour and a half, and even though you don’t get the amount of repetitions you would get in a three, three and a half to four hour practice, what you gain in is an incredible excitement about playing and you come to practice basically rested, invigorated, excited to play and you fall in love with the game. And with the enthusiasm that comes back the next day with similar passion to again, you know, play the game with the sprint etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. And of course my practice is back then were about two or two and a half hours and I was thinking this is crazy while listening to Tina speak about this German field hockey coach that revolutionized not just German field hockey. But then the German Football Association also adopted this as a coaching principle. I stole that idea from Tina, came back to the United States to my college team and all of a sudden I went from these two and a half practices to an hour and a half very nervously, thinking I was going to ruin my players but I had faith in what Tina was telling me and all of a sudden she was absolutely right.

We came to practice with more energy, we were more aggressive in our training and all these things as any coach will tell you, are critical for player development. So I learned a lot from her. And I appreciate this form to share that in because I have huge admiration for her for what she told me. But also how gracious she was in the 91 World Championship by the way these lessons she taught me. She didn’t teach me post ‘91. She taught me pre ‘91, so maybe in ‘87, ’88, ‘89 and so I just owe her a wonderful deed for her willingness to share how much they have learned from field hockey.

The Competitive Cauldron and the critical pillars

That’s a great story. So you had influences from Germany for example, you told. What would you recommend young people who read our interview and want to become coaches? What can they do to become a good coach?

Well, if you look at my program… I talk about three pillars that make the difference in my program but also in the United States. The first pillar, we establish very early is called the Competitive Cauldron. And this is very much along the nature of pressing. This is a very aggressive practice where everything is recorded. Where every single aspect of the training environment has a winner or a loser. If we have, let’s say, a 30 player training raster and four are goalkeepers, we have a competition among the 26 field players to be the best in 28 different competitive categories. And some of these competitive categories are categories everyone would understand. Like speed. So with laser timers, we line the team up and they sprint to these things so we know who our fastest player is and who our slowest player is. We also have laser timers at 10 meters and 30 meters away from the start. So measuring two aspects when you sprint for 30 yards. One is your acceleration which is the amount of time that it takes you to hit the 10 meter lasers. So we measure your acceleration, we measure your speed. We measure your vertical jump, we measure your agility. They are all ranked from 1 to 26 as field players. The goalkeepers are doing the same thing but obviously their platforms are different to the field players. So they’re having this battle for goalkeepers on a raster from 1 to 4: Maybe a distance of drop kick, distance of punt or distance of goal kick or distance of how far they can throw it. So they‘re competing in similar sorts of things. And the field players are also having technical measures: The distance they can serve the ball, how far they can head a ball. So we have all those different technical things. Then in the United States, because baseball is such a popular game, all of us understand radar guns. A radar gun is when a coach stands behind the catcher in baseball. And the pitcher is trying to throw the ball as fast as possible to the catcher. The radar gun measures how fast the ball is moving. The best pitchers in America throw the ball 95 to 100 miles an hour. Most of the pitchers make millions of dollars in Major League Baseball and the pitchers that throw only 70 to 80 miles an hour, of course, they end up as youth baseball coaches. They never made it.

So what we do is to measure the power of a strike. So we have our manager sitting behind the goal and the players have four opportunities to hit the ball as hard as they can. They get a measure of how hard they hit it. We get a measure of their average strike. One thing I have learned in the women’s game: Without even assessing who the leader in the women’s team is, I could have this women’s team line up and shoot the ball into the goal with me standing behind it with the radar gun. And I will tell you, almost in order who the leading scores are. Because in women’s football, the power, and obviously the accuracy that you can strike the ball with will determine whether you are a leading goal scorer or not. In the men’s game power is certainly an element. And what’s even more important in the men’s game is accuracy. But in the women’s game, power tops accuracy. So with the radar gun, you can determine who your leading scores are.

We also have tournaments. And your win-loss-percentage in tournaments is a factor and all these different elements measure into the Cauldron. So, what we create is an incredibly training environment. We also have five different one on one ladders where you play each player on the team to see who – what we call – the alpha is. Who is the best one-on-one player?

And now we are seeing everyone playing. The defenders along with the attackers. Because a defender can often times win because even though they are not as good at beating the player off the dribble as the attacker is, they are very consistent in stopping the attackers. Sometimes a good attacker loses against great defenders. Because the great attackers – and no better example from ‘The Man Watching’ – the German coach trying to coach Cristiano Ronaldo to defend at Manchester United. Because the last thing that Cristiano Ronaldo ever wants to do is to ever defend. He wants to save all of his energy to attack and now this German coach has come in and he is asking Cristiano to defend which of course is ridiculous. Because that man is made millions on his ability to score goals and beat players off of the dribble. Because now pressing is such an important factor in success in higher levels, poor Cristiano is asked to defend. So it’s no longer just enough for him to just look good with perfect hair and a perfect physique but now he actually has to defend as well.

So we have all these different elements that are required to basically compete. So you know where you are staying. We have 28 different categories. We have an algorithm because we have x factors attached to the 28 competitive elements of the cauldron. There is an algorithm that will project the best player in practice at the end of the season. And sure, that top player almost perfectly reflects the best player on the team. Because the girls who work hardest in practice are the ones that are the best players. And so the ones who win the most compete the hardest etcetera etcetera etcetera. So, that’s one very critical pillar.

Another critical pillar, and a lot of coaches talk about this now, and it’s becoming more and more a part of the dialogue even more on a professional level, is the character of the players. Obviously, a lot of times when they are talking about the character of a player, that you know, without complaint, supports the team and its mission. There is nothing worse and by the way, television is so excited about this drama. One of the favorite moments for television showing a football game is certainly when a goal is scored or when a red card is produced. Or when there is a severe foul or if there is an opportunity to see if this goal is an offside goal or not or whether or not it’s a penalty kick or not. The other favorite moments for television is when a player is substituted. And why is this a favorite moment for television? Because the camera follows the player off the field when the player has been substituted out of the game. Why is the television camera doing that? Because everyone in the world is curious to see how pissed the player is at the coach for pulling the player out of the game.

When coaches talk about character, they talk about the compacity of the player, they gracefully leave the field for a substitute. And I watch it like all the rest of us do because it’s human, it’s dramatic. But the coach obviously approaches the player to thank him for the minutes. And you can see the players that are absolutely pissed. They avoid the coach, avoid the coach’s hand, avoid the coach’s touch. And then the camera continues to follow that player to the bench. As the player is, you know, talking to his teammates “I can’t believe, I was subbed out”. We are looking at the human drama of the unbelievably selfish player that has no personal character that he cares less about the team in the mission, that it’s all about him and it’s all about how he was disrespected and poorly treated by the coach and blablablablabla…Which is a disgusting and childish way to react.

And so the second critical pillar for us is: Are you core valued? These are a principle set we expect to live by. And these aren’t just behaviors on the soccer field. This is who you are. But who you are also determines the way you react to adversity. The way you can gracefully embrace or reject the coach whose only job is to try to win. And your only job, honestly, as a human being, is to be able to handle all of these challenging circumstances and situations. So, in my opinion, the most important thing is this character piece. All of our girls memorize each quotation in the thirteen Core Values. They have to be able to recite them publicly. Whenever I meet with them, and I meet with them formally three times a year. They have to recite them for me because they have agreed on their Core Value recitation. But also every player evaluates each other on a five-point scale on how effectively they live these core values.

Every teammate lives these core values. The top award is not the MVP. It is the Kelly Muldoon award for character.

So for me, this is very, very important. And if a girl doesn’t support the core value system and doesn’t live them, if they are on a scholarship, we try to get them to transfer. If they’re not on a scholarship, we try to get them to quit. Because clearly they do not belong in our team. Because this is the way. So, that’s the second critical pillar.

The third thing is one of my main jobs. One of my main jobs is to get everyone’s personal narrative to the truth. When that player comes off the field in a professional game that is disrespecting the coach. That player’s personal narrative is not at the truth. Because there is a reason why he was subbed out.

Either they are losing energy – so not fit enough – or they’re shaking responsibilities.  Or there is a tactical change because the team is behind and so they’ve taken out a defender and they added an attacking player and this player, you know, has a personal narrative that says “No, it’s not about the team. It’s about me.” And so the third critical pillar is for me to get every player’s personal narrative to the truth as fast as possible. Because every player comes into our environment with their personal narrative. And very few players have the narrative that’s the truth.

And here is a cliché I stole from Nick Saban who is a famous American football coach at University of Alabama. And not a soccer coach. This is the American football version. His statement is: Average players want to be left alone. Good players want to be coached. Great players want the truth. And so my job is to – first of all – assume everyone is a great player or at least wants to be. And then I try to give them to the truth. And while you try to give these players the truth, you can see whether or not, even in the way they act, whether or not they are average players or good players. Because the average player doesn’t want to hear any criticism. They just want to be left alone. The good players, yah, they want to be coached but they don’t really want the truth. They want you to sort of surround it, you know, with the old psychology, methodology of good comment, criticism, good comment. So basically, the criticism is surrounded by positives. So this poor fragile human being can leave the coaching player conference with their esteems intact. But the truly great players don’t care about all that. They want to become brave. They want to know what they have to work on immediately. And one of the greatest players that I have ever coached is a woman by the name of Michelle Akers who was such an extraordinary player for the United States. And the opinion of most people is that she is the greatest player of all time across the world, all cultures. She was a player without a weakness. She was one of the greatest headers in the world. She could score with her left foot. She could score with her right foot. She could run past you. She was strong enough to post-up. She was brilliant on the ball and she could play any position: You could play her in the nine, you could play her in the ten, you could play her in the five, you could play her anywhere.

And she was just as good in that position. She`d be the best in the world in that position. And what was interesting when I coached her is: Every single time I met with her all she wanted was criticism. She would brush off my compliments very fast to get what she was there for. She was there for me to tell her what she needed to do to become the greatest player in the world. And so, it was so wonderful coaching her. She and I are still very, very close and I love that. I didn’t have to worry about what I was going to say to her. And so many players are so fragile. You can’t really say anything to them. They are so fragile about this and you mention this and all of a sudden their confidence is shattered. And we had players that would tell their mum she was playing so badly because of my criticisms of her. And that destroyed her confidence. So I used to get these text messages from her mum about how I destroyed her daughter. How did I destroy her daughter? I destroyed her daughter by coaching her. So, what’s the job of the coach? Our job, our main function is to sit there and kiss her rear end all day? Our main function is to hold each player accountable.

And yet, there are some that come from such fragile environments of parents that have done nothing but, you know, lavished praises upon them. The criticism shatters them. It’s pretty difficult. You find out that you’re not God’s gift to the game. And yet you’re going to have the strength to survive this.

And to reflect and handle that.

Yes, exactly. Most of the three main pillars, the competitive cauldron, the core values, trying to get everyone’s personal narrative to the truth. Probably, the three most important aspects of what we do here at the University of North Carolina. Of course, if you look at the US team, that’s what we instilled into them, way back in the day and this day, that’s the quality that separates the United States: Our compacity to compete. Because right now the Germans are tactically probably more advanced as are the Dutch, as are the French, as are probably the English. The French and the Japanese are better tactically. The French are certainly as good athletically as the United States. So why does the United States still compete at the highest level?

Well, it’s our compacity to compete. That’s the area that still separates the United States. Because we don’t have a football culture like you do. We don’t turn the television on and all everyone talks about is football, no. We talk about basketball, we talk about baseball,…

Ice-hockey…

Yeah, I mean, there are so many sport distractions. And so this is the quality that still separates the United States. Our compacity to win, to compete. And when I was the National Coach for eight years, we instilled that in the US National team. They still live it to this day.

The second part of the interview will be published on July 8, 2022, and the third part on July 10, 2022.