Three Moves Ahead.

A few weeks ago I met a coach who had recently relocated to Brisbane from Sydney. We were going to co-author an article, but life got in the way for me and I had to tell him to write it without me. However, soon after our initial meeting, he began to train me on the field and in the gym. He is a young coach as well, and was eager to practice writing a program and continue coaching since there was not much else to do during COVID.

Part of our post training ritual would be to go to the coffee shop across the street from our field. From time to time when we would have a group of players come out to train, I would be reminded of home when I'd hear, "losing team buys coffee." At the coffee shop, we'd sit and talk about the game. One of my favorite topics of conversation is about philosophy and tactics. Since he is a coach in Australia, I also enjoy learning about what the football experience is like here for young players.

This week we added one more ritual to our post training sessions: chess. He has played for a number of years and I have been eager to learn. I read Art of Learning a few years ago and ever since then, I have been waiting for someone to play with and truly become a student of the game. What I like about chess is that it teaches you to look beyond what you see directly in front of you. After playing a game this morning, I saw how easy it was to compare chess to football. He told me how the opening moves and the approach to the game says a lot about me. I tend to play very defensive and like to work around the perimeter, rather than his approach which is control the middle of the board and then attack. I enjoy games that have a strategy to them. A part of me wonders what will happen if we were to dedicate time to one game every day. I wonder how that forward thinking vision will transcend into my everyday life.

I'm grateful to the new friends I have made and for those who are willing to share what they have learned with me. I absorb all of these lessons with the hope that they make me a better person, and a better coach.