Improvise, Adapt, Overcome.
- Oct 25, 2019
- 2 min read
One of my favorite films is "Heartbreak Ridge." Gunny Highway, played by Clint Eastwood, tells and teaches his marines to "improvise, adapt, and overcome."
In the film, there is one commander who is all about absolutes, all about following the rules, all about protocol, and thinking in black in white. Rarely is life like this.
The question that is often asked in discussions with other coaches is: "What are college teams doing at practices?" They ask this because they watch the inability of teams to connect passes together. The thought behind this comment is: if players can't make a pass to their teammate before play gets disrupted and there is no improvement game after game, then what is the coach doing? Because surely we can not and should not blame the players. The second comment they make is because they watch the all too common direct style of play in US soccer. In a recent conversation with a college coach, they said that this is for one of two reasons. First, players lack the technical ability to keep possession, and second, the coach is unwilling to do anything different because they've experienced success with the direct play.
I recognize that it takes time to teach and develop players year after year and that our current system isn't the best model to do so. But, it is a disservice to our athletes to not try. One area that I find is lacking in US soccer is the ability to problem solve. No, this is not for everyone, but for a lot of the environments I have been in. In my opinion, this is because we do not create the environment for players to be exposed to multiple solutions and taught to identify optimal solutions. I understand there may not always be an optimal solution in every situation, but it is important for athletes to at the very least have the ability to think critically about the context and the options in front of them and then make a decision.
The skills that we teach players on the field are not only applicable for their playing career, but for life beyond the sport. Can we use higher level thinking while developing our athletes? Can we emphasize and teach concepts like problem solving and spatial recognition? Can athletes be encouraged to improvise, adapt, and overcome?
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