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Notes from Peru

Take Advantage of What Soccer Has to Offer

Cant tell you how nervous and yet how excited I was to go to Columbia. having has three players play for me in Dallas from the Columbian national team I always had a fondness for the people of Columbia. I found the players extremely hard working and honest in their efforts. While that may be a result of the people I had like Oscar Pareja, Leonel Alvarez and Juan Hiro Traez, I found it indicative of their families. When Vancouver gave me the opportunity to travel to Medillin to scout players for their upcoming run in MLS I jumped at the chance to see a country in which I found the soccer and the history so intriguing.

I arrived in Medillin with two views of what I was about to encounter. One was the beauty described by Oscar Pareja and Leonel Alvarez of the country they grew up in. A beautiful landscape of winding roads and mountains with vegetation. Second to none. The other was from the news and the documentary "The Two Escobars "which featured players Iike Leonel and gave a description of Columbia as a place of kidnappings , fear, killings and drug lords prevalent throughout a society and especially prevalent in their professional soccer. While I had friends who would take excellent care of me your vision from the media leaves you wondering what might be in store for you.

I arrived in Medillin on a Thursday late and the rain was coming down pretty steady. My friend was waiting for me as I excited customs. I was greeted with (surprisingly happy to welcome me ) customs people and that experience while still the standard customs was much more friendly than my U.S. experiences which is not what I expected. It was almost like the Columbians were anxious to change the perception of outsiders about the country. The airport is placed almost on top of a mountain set far away from the city. My friend had brought his brother who was also very excited to welcome me and we set off done the mountain to see who would be the next quality Columbian player we might convince to apply his trade in MLS.

The trip to the hotel was an exciting one. This was not the rainy season but like a lot of the planet it was explained to me global warming has an effect. They were seeing much more rain at this time of the year now and this caused many problems with transportation coming down from the airport. Steep roads similar to when I lived in Colorado and they were not well lit. In a driving rain it was hard to see the road and after a short drive we had to pull over as the road was blocked.

It appeared that a portion of the road was not covered by a portion of the mountain and we would need to go another way if we were going to make it down. I was told by my friends that this was common due to the excessive rain and that they were even limiting the building in the mountains as the slides had become more dangerous. We turned around and a 45 minute drive turned into an hour and a half which would become a common theme fro my experience of driving in Columbia.

I arrived at the hotel exhausted as I had come from the ACC Championships and I would realize very quickly that my spanish needed to improve. While extremely friendly english was not a second language as in so many of the Latin countries I have visited. Common tasks like learning to use the safe in the room or get an outside line were difficult to translate. I was very proud of how much my Spanish has improved but this spanish was a little different and was not close to the soccer terms or Spanglish i had gotten accustomed to in Texas.

Luckily for the important things my friends spoke very good english and were my translators but I am officially making this my goal for the new year. Become fluent in Spanish . The whole reason I got so addicted to soccer was my love of the experience of other cultures which led to my appreciation for the game i love. I have always been a student of the game and more of a student of the way different cultures approached it.

While i am always learning about the on the field approach, the longer I am involved the more I learn that off the field perception often leads to the way that people think about the game. If i ever had a suggestion for any parent it could be to expose your kids to the game not only in Dallas but internationally. Allow your kids to experience the cultures. It is truly what makes soccer great.

I woke up the next morning at 5am Dallas time as we had an 8 am practice to attend. There I was to see two players who were recommended who had great experience. This might be the first cultural difference i noticed on in the game from when I first got involved in coaching in the 80s. The understanding and respect of experience is different in our country than in any other leading soccer culture.

If you go to the best countries in the world in soccer they have a great deal of respect for experience and much more faith that the person that has that experience is worth listening too. In the U.S. it is much more about the image the expert is exuding rather than the information and expertise they are providing. Often the person who barks the loudest makes people believe he or she is an expert. Have you done the research into that persons background? Do they say they played somewhere and really only attended some training at the top level? Do they get the best kids by promising the world to get the best kids but teams with players who don't quite have their abilities seem to find a way to make the games close? Are the same players always the starters and the players at the bottom of the roster just changed out or do you see consistent improvement of players not starting pushing the players above them? Often it is about what people are able to tell their friends like their playing with the best kids or on the top team than have their kids learn how to overcome challenges and obstacles for the good of the whole team which i find frustrating.

The general perception seems to be if my kid plays with the best players or starts every game and is told he is always the best he will get better , noticed by more colleges and develop which is generally the opposite of the truth. Playing with the best players often leads to a lesser role or the inability to take a leadership role. Colleges look for the top players on a team. Not the ninth and tenth player because the team wins. They do not stand out when being scouted and do not show their leadership abilities at the next level.

Colleges in my experience as an ex college coach, also look for kids who have learned the game and can translate what they learned to the next level when they have more obstacles like, not starting or increased competition. They don't look for people who play with other good players and who often survive on superior athletic ability over technical or tactical knowledge. The first thing I notice at practices when i travel overseas is the respect for the competition and the authority of the coaches decisions. Not everyone has to like the decisions or agree with them or even like the people they play with. They don't always win, or start or even get off the bench even when they are often the better player or think they are. They know to improve like in life sometimes they must find a way to do things you don't want to do for the good of the group.

Not starting or playing for a game or even a season will not be the most confidence crushing experience they have ever had ruining them for life. They take their opportunities in practIce as their learning experience and the chance to show improvement until the opportunity in the game presents itself. This will lead to individual success but not often does individual focus lead to the desired result. In this case one of the players I came to see was sent to the bench. I am sure he knew we were there to see him and was very upset that he didn't play but practiced even harder than any player and started dominating the session. This made me think this is a player we should consider.

Later in the day I witnessed two teams fighting for advancement into the Top division. The pressure of such a situation effects even the best players. These are true professionals, where making the first division can mean millions of dollars. Yet the focus wasn't if we don't make it up, we'll quit and go to a first division team. It was how can we help the group achieve the next level and if we don't get there, we have had a successful season and we need to do certain things to improve our game to help the team to make it to the next level.

They know that with this attitude they might get more opportunities to play at the highest level. If they just quit and go to the next program, they might always be the 18th player who people can't count on when things are tough. The losing team left disappointed but concentrating on how they might improve. What a concept.

On day three I was off early to another training with a top division game to follow. The teams I was going to see were fighting relegation, another term we are all familiar with. These teams approached the game with different mentalities. One team played not to lose and one played to play their best and let the chips fall where they might. The team that played not to lose was reminded constantly by friend , family and the media how important the game was and how if they lost, all was lost.

In the end the other team had the same pressures but a better support system and a belief that if they don't achieve it now they will achieve it at the next opportunity. A learning experience for them and for me.

Later that evening I met a young player on trial. He was just 20 and came from a very difficult background where he was the sole supporter of his family. He had been working on his craft as a soccer player for a couple of years and had had many people reject him or tell him he wasn't good enough. His determination was inspiration as he continued to work at improving so he could have the chance to help his family get out of their situation.

I couldn't help feeling after talking to him that we might see him in MLS one day. Not angry that someone didn't see his ability but determined to prove them wrong.

And so ended my trip to Columbia. I found the people fascinating, the soccer fantastic and almost every player I talked too saw the MLS as a place they would like to play.

Columbian soccer has changed. They have financial issues since the drug cartels are long gone. Players see the MLS as a way up and are willing to sacrifice anything they have to to support the good of the team because they know that is the only way to achieve their way to better days and their attitude is my last lesson in the trip. That is a lesson I hope all ASG players figure out for themselves.

Previous Articles from Coach

Note from Ireland

Notes from Peru