Hard Times:
Anybody that follows football here in Sweden knows that we are having what can politely be described as a "crappy year". We have lost all games, with the exception of the one we tied and after a 7 week break in the season, we opened up with a loss to the Carlstad Crusaders and dressed only about 16 guys and finished with 13 by the final whistle. If you are on the outside looking in, you will come to your own conclusions or be one of the experts in the game here and be able to predict the demise of the Arlanda Jets. This is however not the case. What we are doing is taking the guys that want to play and trying to do our best. We are quite simply short on numbers. Now, we as a club must address this, because if you are short on numbers it means that not enough of your U-19 players are making the move up to the senior team after their time in the junior program. This has been a problem at Arlanda since I started coaching here. It is a problem for all sports in Sweden and a problem in our sport of American Football. We have two rather large (physically and numbers) generations that will be eligible to move up the next two years and we will be working hard to keep those guys in the club. So hard times now, yeah-forever, no way. There are a lot of things that we are doing right that will get and keep us competitive in the future and I mean very near future.....
Warriors:
That is how Rik and I feel about the guys that gutted it out on Saturday and the guys that keep coming to practice and trying to win games. These guys are laying it all on the line each week. The reporter asked me if we are really this bad. I told him basically that we are not a bad football team, we just are not winning right now. We have some good football players, but we have way too many that are forced to play both ways. Also, when you play with too few, you end up putting some guys in the game who have not practiced much if any at the positions that they have to go in and play. But they go in and do the best they can. Now, if we were to win a game in that situation, we would be called tough, hard nosed, gutsy or maybe even great. But winning in that situation is not the norm. You have a chance with "iron man" football, if everybody you are playing is also playing "iron man" football. But when your opponent switches 11 new guys in to play offense and you have one guy jog off the field and one guy jog on to put your D on the field....well you get the point. You're going to get worn down. The point I am trying to make is that at least these guys are trying. They are fighting to the very end, they are not feeling sorry for themselves and they are trying to make some good things happen on the football field. For that, I am proud of them. They are warriors in my eyes for taking their situation and trying to make the best of it....
Learning from mistakes:
I so wish that I was one of those people with great for-sight. A person who could always now when everything was going to turn out good or when something shouldn't be done, but unfortunately I learn most of my lessons from mistakes. This past year we talked a lot about starting a B-team in our club. The proposal was made and their seemed to be a lot of guys interested in a B-team that would be "less serious" than the A-team and also serve as a place for older rookies to try a little American Football and see what they thought. I was one of the guys that thought that it was a good idea. I truly believe that there is a place for a B-team in a large club and it can serve a very good purpose, but when I look back and see how our situation is now, I can see some things that need to be fixed.
Here is my suggestions for anyone that wants to have a B-team:
- DO NOT make it two seperate teams. Make it one team and some of the guys play on gameday with the A-team and others play on game day with the B-team. I say this because in most cases you are not going to have "too many" players in your A-team to begin with. Nobody in Sweden has too many A-team players.
- If you are a club that has a B-team, remember you will be playing in a league where many of the teams have the goal and ambition to move up to the Super-Series and will not be out there to be "less serious" or "to have a little fun." They will be playing hard and they will be playing to win.
When you look at it this way:
I have lived and coached football in Sweden for 9 years now. I have done everything from discuss to argue the idea of this split season. I understand that the sport is American Football and we are living in Sweden so there could be some differences and of course there is. But the difference should not be in how the game is designed to fit into the calender. I will never understand the idea of playing a season like this: One game in April, 3 games in May, 2 games in June, 2 games in August, 2 games in September. That is this years Arlanda schedule broken down by games per month. The sport is designed to play a straight through 10-12 game scheduled followed by some form of play-off system. That's it. I do hope that someday we can have it that way in Sweden. I hope that someday, we can have a season that is played straight through and ends in early July. Then I hope that the best players will then play in whatever National Team game or tournament is in late July. Then I would wish that all the clubs would start an organized strength and conditioning program in Mid-August through September. Then have some form of "fall ball" in October to introduce the game to any rookies and also have some fun with the old guys then continue with their strength and conditioning programs in November-March. Then in Mid-march start organizing pre-season practices. You could have what the old NFL used to call OTA's scattered throughout the year to work individually by position or as a unit or even team to introduce and work on the fundamentals. That's my dream scenerio here in Sweden. I may never live to see that, and I hope to live a long time, but that is the way I would paint the picture if I could. In the mean time, I'll keep doing the best I have with what I got and try to make it a good experience for all those involved. Anyways, we just played last Saturday so now we have two Saturdays in a row off......(yawn)....
Defining Fun:
This post's last rambling thought is to try and define the term I have heard talked about a lot in my time here in Sweden. "They guys need to have fun" or "let's make this fun." The problem I have with this is what is fun? I thought that coming to practice was fun. To meet up with my buddies and go through take-offs and block progression was fun. To block, tackle, run, catch and throw was fun. To try and be good or even great at something...That is fun. Also, fun is how what you are doing is presented to you. If the Coach (leader) is up beat, serious, gives you attention, uses energy and enthusiasm...you are probably going to have a good time. For me, those things are fun. So, if anybody ask me if my practices are fun, I am going to say "hell, yeah" because I have a blast. And I am having a blast whether I have a smile on my face or not, whether I am telling you good job or encouraging you to give more effort. All that is because the two funnest things I know is winning and trying to be the best you can be at something. That is my defintion of fun.
Well that's this post. Until next time remember, when protecting the quick passing game, don't move forward, don't move back, don't chase, stay firm.......
