Update

Well as always, it's been awhile, but since I am sitting up listening to a duet with Willie Nelson and Paul Simon singing "Homeward Bound" it only seem natural that I take a little time and update the old blog...
Back in the middle of Feburary we had planned a FUNdamental camp. The planning was great but the weather wasn't so cooperative. At the first practice it was -12 celsius which translates to COLD...we got through the first practice and then the snow came down. We didn't feel like we could do what we had planned, so the the evening practice we divided the guys up into 4 different teams and went out and played the first annual Snow Bowl. The main point was that the guys had a good time and played some ball and got to bond a little. We used the sunday for some team building workshops and called it good....
Breaking the rule of teaching progression:
We started with Theory meetings back in January. Installing the very basics of our offense and defense. Mostly all chalk-talk type settings. We hadn't really planned on doing much more than that until we start with pre-season camp after easter. Then a good friend and coach Leo Billgren, called me and wanted to scrimmage. We set up two times in March. One indoor scrimmage at Bosön in Stockholm and then this last Thursday at our place. Now, that is two scrimmages without any practice. Not sure what I was thinking, but we did it anyway...Now alot of people back home ask me what coaching in Sweden is like and I say that there is never, ever a dull moment---and you can never have too much imagination. These two scrimmages were just that. We ran 2 run plays---3 different pass plays and that was it...we drew a couple up in the dirt, but these guys went out to scrimmage and could actually execute a few things. Now, not much was really pretty, but the fact that we could see that there was a level of understanding to what we want to do was a positive sign.
Give--Keep--Pitch:
We are going to the Option game this year. 100%. In my playbook we have 4 different ways to run a triple option concept. We have the "normal veer", we have veer with counter motion, we have veer where the motion man becomes the dive and the FB is the pitch and we have the "inverted" veer where the QB becomes the "Dive" runner. We will most likely add the Mid-line to the the series also. We have a basic quick passing game, 3 step (from shot-gun, so it's 5 step routes) & sprint-out. Of course we will have a nice Play-action game and also a screen package. It will be fun to see what happens when we start practice....
No Easter Camp:
I've mentioned it before, but I have decided not to have a pre-season Easter Camp. Now for those of you at home that may not understand how it works in Sweden, Easter, in the football world is reserved for a weekend long camp. Alot of clubs will go somewhere and pracitce at an indoor facility. Dedicate the time from Thursday night through Monday of the easter weekend for football practice. There are two and sometimes 3 practices each day and then always a good party at the end. It is without a doubt a good time. The only problem I have seen is that it usually costs the guys extra money, because you have to pay for everything here, and secondly, the week after that camp is usually not the best practices of they year. Another reason this year is our late start of the Season. We kick off in the middle of May. What I am trying this year is an official pre-season camp. We will start the week after easter and go 4 days a week for 3 weeks and get all our installation and preparation done. I have had this idea for a few years now. We will see how it works...So for the first time in 21 years of existance our Sr team will not practice over easter weekend and for the first time in 7 years I will spend easter with my family. We will head out to Vänersborg to visit my wife's parents for the easter holidays...
5 Things that might give us a chance this year:
1. We have purchased a video editing subscription from http://www.hudl.com/ this should give us a unique opportunity to watch film and get film to our players. Should be a big plus as long as I can figure out how to work it.
2. Combining practice with our U-19 team. We do not have a big staff, so combining practice with our U-19 will give us a better practice staff and ensure that each group is getting some good individual coaching.
3. Finding the right position for all the players. This is key in football and extremely key in my experience in Sweden. It is easy to get into the situation that guys just play the position they have been playing. We are going to try to do a good job in evaluating where each guy should play to give us the best chance to be succesfull.
4. FUN...you gotta find a way to have fun. Of course winning is an easy way to have fun, but when you are coming off a dissappointing season, you have to really make an effort to keep energy levels high and focus on what will help you get back on the winning track...
5. Pride...the fact that we have decided to be "all Swedish" will hopefully fuel the enthusiasm and pride of my swedish players and they will rise to the challenge...

Well that is it for this update...as I always promise..I'll try to update sooner each time...hopefully that will go well....