On Coaching

So I totally slacked off on posting at the end of last week. On more than one occasion, I thought to myself "I should really jump on the computer write a new blog post". But you know what I did instead in most instances? Took a nap.

Why? Well, it turns out coaching is more time-consuming than I expected. Last week we ran two-a-days for tryouts, so I knew that I was going to have four hours of practice each day. Not so bad. But, as the coaching staff, we needed to get the field set for practice, fill the water, and other small tasks, which usually meant we were at practice at least 45 minutes before start time. Plus, after practice, we had to clean everything up, get ice for the girls, and make sure all the girls had left, so we were at the fields for at least 30 more minutes. So our time "on the field" for practice was not just the two hours that were scheduled, but more like three and a half hours per training session. Additionally, we needed to have training plans for the practices, so that required additional meeting time. And as the goalkeeper "expert" on the coaching staff, I needed to put together some drills and exercises for the keepers, which kept me busy out of practice as well. And did I mention that our first training session started at 8 AM, which meant I was up by 6:30 so I could be on the field by 7:15? I definitely have not been getting up that early this summer.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am not complaining in the least. I thoroughly enjoyed my first week of coaching and am really looking forward to the rest of the season. The girls are great and I get along really well with the other coaches. But man, that first week was just exhausting--and I didn't even do any of the conditioning we put the girls through! I have no idea how my collegiate coach ran both the men's and women's programs, which required a minimum of two practices a day during the season (sometimes more if we had separate conditioning sessions or keeper practices) and five training sessions a day during preseason (two training sessions per team per day, plus a joint early morning conditioning session). The training sessions in college exhausted me as a player, but in retrospect thinking about all the work that went into planning those sessions is exhausting me as a coach!