Was it really a Decade ago?!

I was included in a tweet that went out earlier today by from a former player and current official that said that it was 10 years ago that we (the Carlstad Crusaders) won the EFAF tournament. My first thought was "holy crap, 10 years have gone by and I am still in Sweden and not back in the U.S.A!" That thought was quickly followed by a flood of memories from coaching that team, making that trip, winning that game on the road and the bus ride home from the game. I was as proud of that group of Swedish guys has I every have been of any group. They remain today, the only Swedish club team to ever win a European Tournament! Some of them still play today. Some of them could still play today but all of them are quality people and were apart of a great experience. So I thought I would take a quick minute while at The Kennedy Compound for a weekend and fill you in on some stories from that great adventure.

The End Result:
I thought I would start at the end and go backwards, but reality is I will bounce around...here is an excerpt from the web about the EFAF Cup. Which, by the way, may become an official part of history as I believe the IFAF is running everything now and the EFAF will not really exist soon. I apologize for not understanding everything, but the politics of sports has never been my thing...this story will be about the Crusaders 10 years ago...anyway it's recorded here:

A new visitor record in 2003: 4000 people followed the EFAF-Cup Final 2003 between Papa Joe`s Tyrolean Raiders (Austria) und Carlstad Crusaders (Sweden). The Scandinaviens did win the thunderstorm game and became EFAF-Cup Champion 2003. 

So the end result of that journey to the EFAF-Cup Championship game, would be a big win for the Crusaders, an unbelievable road trip to and from a game and finally, 10 years later, it would bring a smile on an old ex-coaches face in the middle of a great summer.

"Thunderstorm Game":
The HC of the Raiders (at that time) told me that it would rain before kick-off because it always does about that time of the day but usually stops by kick-off. Well, rain I could handle. The fact that, while warming up it started to "drop water from the sky" and there was a dude with a long gray beard building a big boat in the end zone and animals were lining up in pairs to get in that boat was not something I had mentally prepared myself for!! We were on the field and started warm-ups. I was doing my HC/OC/OL/RB/WR coach thing and walking around to all the groups, trying to say the right thing, make sure they were focused and ready to play. Then the ocean began to drop from the sky. I mean a steady rain like when somebody pours a bucket of water over your head. I told myself, "OK, B.D., just walk around and act like it's just a little rain, no big deal." I didn't want anybody to think, "we run the option...the ball is wet...oh shit...we'll fumble...oh rain...noooooo." So I was clapping and walking around trying to act like it was no big deal. That was of course until I begin to wonder if a person has every drowned while walking around in a rain that was coming down so hard that water went up his nose and he actually choked on it!! Yep, that is what happened to yours truly right there on about the 25 yard line in the middle of a beautiful soccer stadium. I chocked on rain, while walking around on the field....It did quit at some point, but instead of disappearing, it stayed around. We had a few turnovers, but at the end of the day, the boys played great and did what they needed to do to win! In the meantime, my cell phone died because it had gotten too wet while in my pant pocket at the game!

The Alps:
We road the bus from Karlstad, Sweden all the way to Innsbruck, Austria. That in itself was an adventure. I am not sure how long it took, or exactly how many other countries we went through, but we were on a bus, parked the bus on a boat and road the boat, got back on the bus from the boat and continued to drive. There were a few stops along the way. Quite a road trip for an old dude from Oklahoma that used to think that traveling abroad was going to Arkansas to see his uncle. So the trip continued and we arrived in what somebody told me was Innsbruck. I was relieved and excited. We got checked into our hotel. I had a room to myself on the top floor, maybe 3 floors up. It was a small but nice room with a window in the ceiling that you could open up and actually look out and see the mountains that surrounded the city. I remember one of my assistant coaches and I, having a conversation while he was looking out of his window in the roof from the next room over. We were talking about what a beautiful sight this was and also talking about how we could win the game tomorrow and then actually talking about how it would look to strangers if someone actually saw us having this conversation with our heads sticking out of the roofs. So we decided to head of to the team meal.

10 years ago, I was looking at the Alps. Today
I am looking at a cow outside my summer stuga
in Sweden. I don't own a cow...at least I didn't own
a cow until today. (that was a joke Internet police).

How it all came to be:
Here is a brief story about how we actually got into the tournament. We had lost to the Stockholm Mean Machine in the Swedish final in 2002. I had never heard of the EFAF Cup tournament, but Robert Sundberg told me that since we finished second, we could qualify for a tournament in Europe. From the minute I heard about it I thought it was a great idea. The thought of taking a team outside of the country and playing other club teams from around Europe in a tournament was a no brainer. What I didn't understand was how it all worked economically. It was a risk. We had a meeting before a practice with Robert, myself and a couple of board members. I remember that there was a discussion about the cost to play the tournament, some discussion that we would have to travel at some point and money was a concern. I remember saying, "hey, let's do this, if we don't win it and lose money then you can fire me." Now that is how I remember it, we then stuck our hands in the middle and broke it down in some version. The club was going to play in this tournament and we were going to give it all we had! I also remember walking over to practice thinking to myself..."what the hell did I just say!"

"I am in Italy, I'll meet you at the game.":
Not sure how many people know this, but our starting QB, Johan Larsson, one of the most winning Swedish QB's in the history of American Football in Sweden (yes I wrote it that way, because trust me if I am wrong there will be about 20 people come up with a list of names of Swedish QB's that have a better winning percentage, but that list I would like to see) had a work assignment in Italy. AND of course that came the week we would play for the EFAF-Cup championship.  The team makes the trip down to Innsbruck and arrive the night before the game. On Saturday morning we are up and have a walk through in the stadium to get a feel for where we would play. Of course, our QB is in Italy and on the way up to Austria in a rental car in order to make it to the game in time. He arrives, has two hot dogs and some soda to wash it down. Then he goes out and leads the team to the win. After the game, he headed back to Italy to finish his work obligations. Only in Europe, baby!!

Because, that is what the game is about:
I also remember the Semi-final game.  We hosted a team from Denmark. The Tyrolean Raiders where already qualified for the final so their HC called me and said he was going to come and watch the game. I do apologize, but I cannot remember his name. So I told Coach, that after the game, he should come by the house and we could grill up some food and talk football. After the game, he met me outside of the locker room. I took him to my house where we continued with a few drinks and some nice grilled food. He was a true gentlemen and took time to speak with my wife. Tracey Gere and his wife, Åsa joined us and it was a great evening of football stories about coaching in Europe. There was no doubt that when we played each other, both he and I expected our teams to win. But in the time outside of the game clock, it was a great experience sharing the brotherhood of being apart of the greatest game on earth.

A Decade ago:
There maybe a nice mini-series that could be made out of that entire experience. It would make for some great entertainment. The bus ride home edition would only be available on the Director's cut version of the DVD. The after game celebration at Pappa Joes Sports Bar in Innsbruck was be one for the ages. I had a good seat and it was a great joy to sit and watch the guys celebrate a big win on the road. Many great memories and big smiles come up as I sit here and type this. So, 10 years later, still one of the greatest memories I have in football is taking a group of grown (and some growing) men to Innsbruck, Austria and winning a football game. Something I am not sure anybody else thought we could do, but we did. Nobody in Sweden has done it since. Damn, you guys did a great job!! I could write a ton more short stories about that game and trip, but maybe I'll save it for later so that I can update the old blog more than once every 6 months!! In the meantime, I'll leave the players, organization and fans with one more "Thank You" for providing me with a great memory and thank you for believing your were great and proving it! One thing about winning the last game of a tournament, is the fact that it proves, you were the best on that day and nobody can say you weren't!

Until next update. Enjoy life...it's not like you're gonna get a second chance!!
PS:
Todays version of the Tyrolean Raiders is coached by Shuan Fatah. He has done a tremendous job with that program and is one of the top teams in Europe. Google them. Follow them. Watch the high-lights the club makes...it's top notch stuff.
The Crusaders of today continue to claim the top sport of football here in Sweden. They are 3 time defending National Champions and are lead by Coach Doug Adkins. They are going into the break with one loss for this season, but looking like the trophy is still theirs until somebody comes and takes it. And, I would guess, the Crusaders aren't planning on giving it away.
As for me...I have one more month until school starts up again. Football goes on without me, but life sure as hell, keeps me rolling! I still follow the game here in Sweden and abroad and am always willing to give a current coach my opinion...that is of course if they answer when I call...damn that caller ID!!!

Player Evaluation

One topic I have been thinking about for a long time is the topic of player evaluation. In my opinion, this is one of the most important topics that a coach must do. It is more important than research for new ideas and crucial for a coach if he wants to measure his ability to communicate, educate and motivate his team.

Definition of Player Evaluation:
For me, player evaluation is two phases. First is to measure the player to find out at what level of athlete he is. This is done more often than any other evaluation. This is measuring his size, speed, strength, speed and explosive abilities. We do this in the Bench Press, Squat, Power Clean, L-cone, Broad Jump, Vertical Jump, Pro-Agility, 40 and/or 20 yard dash among many other tests. This gives us an idea of where each player is as simply an athlete. When we accumulate this information, it will help us determine whether or not a player has the desired physical abilities he needs to play football. This information can be compared by position and by "standards" that have shown up in other research. Here in Sweden, we have all this information filled in on a portal the player reports to and are able to rate a football player's results. Each player can be compared to the team standard for international competition or the world standard. The portal allows a National Team coach to go in and review the results of a player over a period of time and also to compare those results to other international averages. It is a great way to identify athletic ability. It is also clear as to where an individual is in regards to his physical abilities. I mean a 5.0 forty-yard dash is exactly that. If a player can rep 100kg (225lbs) 15 times then that is what he can do. Club teams can use the same evaluation process and put together a battery of tests to measure the athletic ability of their players in Speed, Strength and Explosiveness. Compare to the other players on the team or the same standards at the national team. One super important key is to then monitor these results to see a steady rise, a platue or a dip in results, then  manage that situation correctly.

The second phase of the evaluation is all football. Now, I will interject this here. I learned this grading system from Tony DeMeo when I worked for him as his OL coach at Washburn University. So I give all credit to this idea to Coach D. Of all the different football grading systems I have used or seen, this was the one that I truly believe is one of the best I have every used. You can read more about Coach Demeo at his website and also more about the "Gun Option" along with thoughts on leadership and coaching http://tonydemeo.com/ That is simply giving credit where credit is due...
What we did basically is Coach wanted us to define "Effort." When you think about each position on the field, we wanted to give the players examples of things they could do that would show extra effort. It is so much better for a player to understand what the definition of effort was than to just hear a coach say "come on, you just gotta give me more effort" or "Try harder." By having a definition of what extra effort was, the player would have a clear picture of what it was we were looking for. Now, when a player was in on a play he would be graded simply with a + or a - based on whether or not he did his job on that play. We will say that on the play we are talking about, the player executed his assignment correctly and used good technique. So he did his job. He would get a "+" on that play. Now in order to get a "E" or effort point on the play, he had to do one of the things that were defined as extra effort on that play. Here is a sample of what an offensive lineman could do on a play, that if he earned a +, he could have the opportunity to earn an extra effort point:

• Pancake: Blocking a defender and planting that defender directly on his back.
• Heel Shot: A second level of the defense block where he cut blocked a defender and the defender went down to the ground, usually head first with his heels flying high into the air.
• Road Kill: What we called Lineman's block on a DB where he runs over him like a Mack Truck hits a deer.
• Wired: A pass block where we pass set and stick the guy right on the line of scrimmage and he gets no rush at all.
• Knock Down: I used this one for anytime an offensive lineman knocked a defensive lineman to the ground on a pass play.
• 2 Blocks on a play: Any time an OL blocked more than one defender on a play.
• Blitz Pick-up: Picking up a blitz by the defense.

There were few other things, but this will serve as a good example of what we defined as "Extra Effort". If we look at the examples you can see that if a lineman is doing these things, they require more than just blocking your assignment. We were looking for guys that "can play the game with passion" or guys that "had a fast motor." I will interject this...my own opinion based on my work on many different levels of National Teams here in Sweden along with 11 years worth of club coaching, is we need this type of performance evaluation in our clubs and national teams. Here in Sweden we have this "krav" (standard) we want players to be at physically in order to play at the National Team level. Niclas Carlsson is the mastermind behind this and I do mean mastermind in a good sense!! He has information based on the physical testing where we can  evaluate if a player SHOULD be able to physically compete on an international level. Those physical tests are compared with other national teams that take the same tests and the World Team. The first thing we as coaches usually say, is "old Sven is a hell of a player but he doesn't meet the standard so we can't look at him." This is where we need to be open and have a system where we can evaluate old Sven as a football player. Then if we see that he his an "effort" player, then maybe we can work with him on the physical part, which in turn will make him a better athlete and raise his level of play even further. At the same time, this gives us a chance to evaluate Björn, Sven's brother, who is one of the best "testers" but can't seem to block a pee-wee player. If we evaluate Björn we can work with him to develop his football playing technique and then he will become better at playing football, because he already has all the other tools...So back to the "Extra Efforts" you can see that a player who grades out at 95% with 3 EE's in 10 plays is a solid performer. He is doing his job good and he his giving extra effort about 30% of the time.  Now, if the other guy is grading out at 80% and getting 6 EE's in 10 plays, I would tell you to evaluate that boys mistakes and get him to do his job correctly at a higher percentage, but get him on the field. He is giving you a 60% Extra Effort quotient...he is out there knocking people off the ground, picking up blitzes, getting two blocks on a play...he is performing the game at a level that is great.

Now let's take a step back and evaluate the minus. If a player made a mistake on a play, meaning he did not do his job. Then we would not just write - on his grade sheet. We would identify the minus. Coach DeMeo had a system we used where the minuses were broken down into 4 areas:

• "A" was assignment. The player simply did the wrong thing on the given play.
• "C" was concentration which was technique. The player was not able to do his job on the play because he did not use the proper technique. Coach used to say that in order to use the right technique you had to "focus on the task at hand."
• "E" was a lack of effort. The player did not get his job done because he loafed. He didn't give effort. If this accord, it would most likely occur on the backside of a play. Isn't the backside of the play important to cut off the defensive pursuit? I will add here that the first two mistakes, are easily corrected by coaching. This mistake was simply not tolerated. This player needs to be set down an talked to as to what the problem is.
• "S" was a synergy mistake. In other words the player did not do anything to help the team on that play. Most usually was a penalty on a play.

So we would take all the minuses and see where the mistakes were being made. This is an extremely useful tool for a coach, because it is your report card on how you are coaching. Here is an easy example. You look at a game and you see that the majority of your minus A's (assignments) are happening on a certain play. Well that tells you as a coach that you need to get those guys together and work out what they don't understand in order to run that play. If you see that the majority of minus C's (concentration = technique) is on your pass sets on your 5 step game, then you need to spend some more practice time teaching the players exactly how you want the pass set executed. This allows you to really keep tabs on how to improve your players and get the most out of them and also allows you as a coach to evaluate the job you are doing.

Wrap up and Confession:

I know this has been a long one and I have had this on my mind for a very long time. I am a true believer that we are headed the right direction here in Sweden in most clubs and at the national team level. I also believe that if we are going to have a physical standard, we should also have a football performance standard. A system where live scrimmages, insides runs and 7-on-7 drills are graded at a camp, then you as a coach will really find who is the best player right then and there. I mean if you have a new guy that shows up at a camp and he is grading out higher than an old favorite. He is getting more effort points, then you have to get that player on the field. Now, time for the confession part...I was never able to totally use this grading system when I coached here in Sweden at the club level. It is a little bit time consuming. Back in the day when I was at the WU, I could come in on a Sunday morning after a Saturday night game and sit in my office and grade out every lineman that played in the game on his own individual sheet. It would take from about 8:00am to noon to get done.(Then me and the DL coach would go get a bucket a KFC and start getting ready for the next week). I had planned on using this grading system in preparation for the World Championships in 2007. I went as far as go through with the entire staff how it should work. I was not available to be at that camp because my new born son was in the hospital and the grading didn't get done like I wanted. But I think in a situation nowadays where you have film systems like Hudl and film after a practice is readily available, something like this would be extremely important and effective to develop players to their max and help coaches find the best players for the given game or tournament. At the club level, to be one or two coaches grading all the players, well it's tough, but it is do able. Some clubs do have bigger staffs and I think it would be able to develop those players to reach their potential faster. And don't forget that the players grades are also a report card to you as a coach on how well you are communicating your expectations.

Oh yeah, one more thing:

This system is built on the "Reward the behaviour that you want" philosophy. We would keep a chart of EE's throughout the regular season on a big board so every player could see how many EE's everybody else had. It increased the competition to be the "Effort Leader." We also had a standard set for each positon that if they graded out at or above a certain percentage and at or above a certain number of EE's they were awarded a certificate on Monday's practice following the game. We used unit EE's. Example, anytime the offense had a penalty on a drive, but over came that penalty and got a first down to keep the chains moving, everybody on the field received and extra effort point. It rewarded the behaviour we wanted. I could go on all night here, but this has been the most I have every written since I did my Senior English paper back in 1982. I hope that you find it useful, I hope that it is something that you can use and I hope it gets you thinking about how you can develop players both physically and in the area of football performance.

Good luck to all the Junior teams who have kicked off their season here in Sweden and good luck to the Senior teams that will kick-off soon. Also, to you Junior players that want to and will be apart of the adventure to the European Championship tournament...keep working, keep believing take it one step at a time. To you Senior players who are working to make the team for the World Championships 2015 which will be played here in Sweden...seize the opportunity...work hard, be physically prepared and be an EFFORT player!!

Good night...

And...I'm back

We have moved with a little help from our friends.

Well, since it has been over year since I have updated this blog, I thought it would be a good time for a post. So much has happened since my last update. January of 2012...seems like it has been awhile...anyways, We are now living in Karlstad, Sweden. This will be the first year of my life, since the fall of 1987, where coaching football is not my career. As of August 2012, I have started working at a school called Internationella Engelska Skolan in Karlstad. My job is Activities Director for the 7-9 grade. I also serve on the student care team and assist with the jr club one day a week. It is a good job and I work with great people and great students. My role allows me keep that "coach" feeling. 

But as I said, coaching has been my job and passion for the greater part of my life, so I have decided to use this old blog as my "team" and continue to post my thoughts, ideas, opinions about what is going on in football here in Sweden.

Finding Some Inspiration in Perspiration:

I have been following a lot of what has been going on in football here in Sweden over the past several months. I have had some good opportunities to be somewhat involved. I am currently coaching Sweden's Junior National Team (U-19) offensive line. There is a camp coming up this weekend with a game against Holland on Sunday April 28th in Helsingborg, Sweden. Another thing I was able to do was spend a Saturday in Örebro working a one day camp with their OL. We had a practice followed by a film session. It was a very fun and rewarding day (for me anyways...I am assuming the players enjoyed it too :-). I have had a couple of other opportunities working with individual players here in Karlstad and also a few opportunities that I could not fit into my schedule, but all in all, it sure has been fun to keep the whistle a little wet anyways.

     The other inspiration to re-activate this blog is actually because of the perspiration of others. If you want to really follow American Football in Sweden you need to follow SFN (Swedish Football Network) http://www.swedishfootballnetwork.se/ the guys that work the site are doing a really great job with articles, videos and news about what is going on in Sweden. You may have to use some google translate if you are not fluent in Swedish, but you will find the site very professional and it seems to be going strong and is here to stay. Another thing that has really inspired me lately is the formation of a coaching group on Facebook called SAFCO (Sweden American Football Coaches Organization). I have been around Sweden for just over 10 years. I have been involved a few times (sometimes with more effort than other times) with trying to get this organization up and running. It seems with the formation of this group on Facebook, it has stirred up a higher level of information sharing among the coaches here in Sweden than what I have ever noticed before. 

So that's it. After spending a very long time thinking some updates to "the old blog" it seems I have found a little inspiration out there to start it up again. No club team to coach this year. Going to finish up with the JLL soon, but no matter what, I guess I am and always will be a coach. So I'll use the time when I find it to update and share some thoughts around the game and also a few good stories. You may have heard the stories before, but I have a special talent to change them just ever so slightly each time...keeps them exciting every time.

Fundamentals, do you really have the patience for these?

How much time do you spend teaching a lineman (or any position) the proper stance? As an offensive lineman, your stance is THE "fundamental" that puts you in a position to execute your assignment. It's that simple. Without a good stance, a lineman will reduce his chances of taking off on the correct angle. If the stance is too wide, he will not be able to take a proper step, if there is too much weight forward he can't pass set quick enough, if he has his weight back on his heels, then he can't fire off the ball. It is extremely important to be in the right stance. So, the question is: do you really have the patience to teach the proper stance? I had this thought the other day after I had worked with some young linemen (and linewomen) here in Karlstad. I was watching the film of the drills I took these young players through and one of my repetitive notes was "need to correct stance."  That got me thinking, let's say I had these same players in the weight room and we were squatting. Let's say that one of them was putting their chin down and looking at the floor during the squat, what would I do? Well, I sure as heck wouldn't add any weight to the bar and just tell them to keep their eyes up. I would go back, review proper squat technique. Lower the weight if necessary and have them squat using the best possible form. Why would I take these same players and keep doing different blocking drills, without getting them in the best possible stance? That is the challenge for coaches today out here in Europe where you may be coaching alone. You may have a young player who is trying out this thing called American Football. Do we take the time to teach him the proper stance and see that he can repeatedly get in that stance before going to block somebody? Now don't panic here, I am not saying that you should have a two week camp where all you do is get in a stance. What I am saying is that as a coach, you have to have a high level of "attention to detail" and continually coach it to the players. Use a stance and start drill or block progression drill and write yourself a note on the practice schedule "check stances." Go into the huddle before the first play of team and tell the linemen, "gentlemen, make sure your stance is perfect every play." Follow that up by checking out the stances, praising the good stances and correcting the ones that need to be corrected. Stay on those little things. Those little things make big things possible!

If you broke down why a block failed. Why a lineman was not able to make that gap block or reach that guy. You will get back to one of two break downs in technique. One: it will be a bad step or footwork. Two: the stance the lineman was in did not put him in a position to take off properly to use the footwork he needed. Pay attention to detail. Start out with the fundamentals of a good stance, get in it often and fire out of it often.

Final words after a long break from the blog world:

So looks like my next update might just be how to get in a good stance...have done that earlier but that was a long time ago. In the meantime, it will be fun to keep up with the football scene in Sweden as just a fan. There are a lot of great things coming up. This year the Swedish Championship will be played at the new big arena in Stockholm. In 2014 the first ever University World Championships will be played in Uppsala, Sweden and in 2015 the Senior World Championships will be played at the same arena back in Stockholm. So it looks like American Football will have a chance to make a big move here in Sweden. Let's get the game out there and see how big it can be.

And lastly, a little look back at "the winter that just won't let go"

Straight Season for the Seniors 2012

Probably one of the coolest emails I ever received was the one that said that here in Sweden, we would play the 2012 in a straight (no breaks outside of a bye week) season. This has been a topic of discussion for the 9 full years I have been in Sweden. In my years here, I have never gotten accustomed to playing half the season in two months, then taking 4-6 weeks off, then finsihing the season over the next two months. I personally don't think football is supposed to be played that way. It is a consecutive week type sport. One game each week until the season is over. Usually followed by play-offs unless you are a member in the BCS...then you can take a month off, comeback and play in a bowl game, then move on to the next season.
I will be the first to admit, that as time went on, I did enjoy my summer more and more. In the beginning of my time here in Sweden most weeks "off" in July meant that I would be doing something with either the Senior or Junior National teams, or both. I travelled with those teams to see some wonderful places. As of late, I actually enjoyed a real Swedish vacation and hung out with my family for the entire break time. The problem with last season was the fact that  Djurgården dropped out last year and when you add that to an odd number of teams in a league, you were given an extra by week. That created gaps in schedules. For example, in 2011 we (Arlanda Jets) played a game on June 11th, August 7th and then again on Aug 27th.  I Just don't think that is the way you are supposed to play football.
There is a group of guys called the Super Series Råd that began meeting after the season and discussing what can be done to make things better and one of the many things they discussed was whether we should play a straight season or continue the one with the break. So, long story short, between the work of the SSR and discussions with the Board of Directors here in Sweden, a decision has been made and it appears that kick-off will be in Mid-April with the finals scheduled in Mid-July. A classic American football schedule.
Now...we finally got what we wanted...and that will be the challenge.

WHAT A STRAIGHT SEASON MEANS TO THE PLAYERS & COACHES:
The straight season will mean that you will have less times to recover from game to game. This is something that we must take into consideration in physically preparing for a straight season. In the past few years, injuries could be a little easier dealt with in that you might have two weeks off or a long summer break to recover from that nagging injury. This year you will play each week so you must prepare yourself physically to perform each week. An unfortunate injury can cause a player to miss a large part of the season as opposed to missing 6 weeks, but maybe two games. I am a big fan of a straight season, but that is something we must be prepared for as coaches and players. 
Physical preparation and depth will play a key role in the 2012 season in my opinion.
One area the shorter, straight season should help is the ability to bring over import players and/or coaches. Not having to pay a coach or player for a full month to 6 weeks where there is no football, should save some money. The difference in one to two months of salary, might make a difference in affording an import player.
The most important thing we can do as teams is to make each week an exciting week of football. Play hard and entertaining football. Create an exciting atmoshpere around the games and leave the public talking about what a great time they had at the game they attended.

Needless to say, 2012 will be an exciting year of challenges and opportunities for those of us in the football world here in Sweden. I have high expectations for a very competitive Super Series. The bulk of the responsibility lays on us teams who have been at the bottom of the pack in recent years, to raise our standard and compete not only with each other, but go against the two leaders of the league (Carlstad Crusaders & Tyresö Royal Crowns) and give them games that are exciting and unpredictable.

THE CHALLENGE OF WATCHING LIVE FOOTBALL IN SWEDEN:
I have to admit that the older I get the harder it is to watch live football. I have spent more time watching a kick-off then waking up on the couch and watching the last two drives of a game than ever before. As a family man with an active 5 year old in the house it's not easy to see the "early" kick-off game which usually is at  7:00pm here. So it comes down to if I am up to catch the 10:15pm game or want to stay up and catch the "big game" that kicks-off at 2:30am. Not a totally bad schedule, but as a huge college football fan, I try to watch as much college football as possible. This leads to a crazy sleep schedule. Not to mention trying to follow the Sooners, who seemed to have more night games than I can ever remember, which in turn saw me putting coffee on at 4:00am and watching the Insight.com bowl. Just glad the Sooners won. Just thank goodness for NFL gamepass and ESPN 360...I know I'm old school to actually use those, but I really like the quality...so know I can go back and watch all the games I slept through on demand...that is, when I am not playing "Star Wars" or other activities with my son...he get's the cool light saber and I am forced to use the extra long shoe horn...I mean it is an IKEA produt, but not as good as an actual light saber...

FIREWORKS IN SWEDEN:
Just a quick note to let everyone now that these Swedes are crazy about their fireworks. I grew up in Oklahoma and the 4th of July was always special. I have shot bottle rocket out of bottles, out of the ends of BB guns, I have even held them, lit them and thrown them both up in air and towards other people. But after experiencing a few New Years here in Sweden I can tell you these folks get after it over here. I am not talking about the organized fireworks show put on by the local community. I am talking about the old "hold my beer and watch this" type of fireworks show that goes on from about 11:00pm to 12:30am. I have never seen anything like it. All credit to my Swedish friends...I like it...I'll watch it very year...from behind my window, locked in my apartment...

OK...5 SENTENCES THAT MEAN YOUR NEW YEARS EVE PARTY MIGHT GET HAIRY:

1. The above mentioned, "hold my beer and watch this"
2. "I wonder if I could...."
3. "No, really, just try it..."
4. "just light it with a cigarette..."
5. "hey, get this on video..it'll go viral"

And there you have it. The years first update. A little about football in Sweden and a little about  life in Sweden through the eyes of an old boy from Blanchard, Oklahoma...until next time remember, pass set, attack near hand to near pec..be strong inside and move your feet...and have a great 2012...

The Year in Review--The Year Ahead

Well, with a cool title like that, you would have to expect a really professional account of what has happened this last year and what to expect this coming year, but instead you will have to settle with what I have written...if you continue to read.....OK, thank you for continuing to read...here we go.

FOOTBALL 2011
Since part of the purpose of this blog is to update on my football experience here in Sweden, we will begin there. This season was one that can be described best as a launching pad for the future. Here at Arlanda we have made a serious effort to focus on building a football team and club and make it as good as we can. Notice I didn't say "better than everyone else" because that is not the focus. Our goal is not to build a team/club that prides itself on saying "we are better than you" it is as truly simple as building an organization that provides a positive experience for all its members. That is what we took the first steps in doing this year. Keep in mind, that this blog is mine and these opinions are mine, but I am comfortable that what I type here reflects the general attitude of your club...if not, there is a comments section and it cost nothing to start a blog :-)
Now this in itself can be an enormous topic, but I will relate it like this:  What I learned (or was reminded of) from football this year:

1. Working with Rik Parker is fun. Rik is a guy that I knew pretty well before he came to Arlanda, but after spending this past season coaching with him, I have to give him a lot of credit for really getting me recharged in regards coaching. I had reached a spot in my life that being here (Sweden) year around and just about run it's course. But working with Rik has been refreshing and I truly believe we are on the right course.
2. Concentrate and focus on what is important to your club, your team and start with your practice. This is a great start. What we have tried to do is make each practice moment the best it can be. I will not lie to you and say that at every practice, everybody was there. I cannot speak for other teams, but in all honesty, I would be surprised if any team averages more than 75 to 80% attendance at EVERY practice. So, what we did is make every practice special and routine. Sometimes people had to work "out of position", but the thought process was each practice is a game day, so if today was a game, who would play where. This may seem  strange, but this did a lot for building team unity. I mean, if I had to say, "we have three lineman...who will fill in. We can't run a play until somebody is in there." Somebody would jump in. Maybe it wasn't the guy that I would want in there on the Saturday, but it was a guy that was saying through his action "OK Coach, I'll do it because it has to be done." "I'll do what helps the team." "I am tough enough to do this." With that type of thinking and mentality, we have taken a huge step in the right direction. Any activity we run with the Sr team is guaranteed to be a good experience, an opportunity to work hard and a chance to get better along with having fun doing it.
3. Don't mess with things that take time and energy and provide little satisfaction. Since I have been in Sweden, I have found myself always trying to do as much as I could for football. There is apart of me that still would love to be out there doing everything I can for everybody, but it just is not possible. So, what I did this year was to focus on those things that I deemed worthy of my time. Sound a little egotistical...maybe, but it's the way you have to be sometimes.
4. Stop worrying about the other guy. I came to the realization that it is not my job to decide what is right and wrong in coaching or running a club. I grew up under the guise that your job was to win the game and do it with class. Part of class was having a lead and running the clock out, not trying to run the score up. Now this hasn't happened a lot, but there have been three times that I have personally felt that guys went out of their way to get one more touchdown in a game that was out of reach...it happened in the infamous SM-Final in 2008 when SMM went for two up 68-32 late in the 4th qtr. This year it was CC staying in no-huddle trying to get a young kid some carries and scoring on a run (that yes, we should have stopped) as time ran out in a game they were up several points...TRC took their opportunity to get one more TD in a game that they had under total control with around 2 minutes left...Now I will admit that I wasted no time in letting the coaches (all who I considered friends and still do) know exactly what I thought about what happened....BUT...that complaining I did was all wasted time. I told them all how I felt about what happened with no hidden words....well, upon further review...why waist my time and energy...nobody "did it on purpose"....so maybe those are just things that happen. I realized this summer while spitting some wood, worry about my guys, my team, my club...that's it. With that attitude, the second half of the season, was truly enjoyable and I have wasted very little time with concentrating on things that, at the end of the day, really don't matter.....except the occasional bad call by a referee....
5. Defining simplicity. Keep it simple stupid. I have been working on defining simplicity. I have not finished, but I am getting close. It really doesn't mean that you line up in the "I" formation with one TE and 2 Wr's. What it means is that everything you do revolves on executing the play with the best fundamentals of blocking, tackling, throwing, catching, running or even kicking that are possible. Many of us coaches will stand in front of the a whiteboard and say "Well, we will do this and this..." Have you ever heard a player describe what went right on a play..."I pulled and he never saw me and I trapped the crap out of him!!" or "I filled my gap and plugged the entire play up."  A player's descriptions of what happened usually start with the word "I..." remember that coaches, the players are the ones doing what we draw, make sure they are equipped to perform.

That is my 2011 year in review...now what about 2012?? Well we have started back in October, meeting twice a week and doing a program where we train on running fundamentals, change of direction, plyometrics and lifting where we focus on movements that will make us better football players. The guys have been coming in, sometimes more than others, but every Tuesday and Thursday night somebody is getting better.
As many people have heard, we are bringing back Aki Jones for the entire season. I think Aki will be a serious force to reckon with on the field. I think to most teams his presence was felt on the fieldlast year. But what people don't know is how good he works off the field too. He does a great job working with the kid in the National Idrotts Utbildinging program and helping coach the other youth teams in our clubs. He is also fantastic at school visits. Last years offensive import Nick Danielsson will be missed. He did a great job for us. He is currently back in the U.S. looking to get into coaching. I hope that happens for him because I know he'll do a great job. We plan on adding an American QB this year and are in the process of getting that done. But as of this update it has not been finished.

NEW YEARS RESOLUTION FOR 2012:
Go back and read the resolutions for 2011...I think I'll just shoot for them in 2012...I didn't accomplish them in 2011...or 10..or 09...so we'll stick with the same for 2012...

WHAT WAS GREAT ABOUT GOING HOME TO OKLAHOMA IN OCTOBER:
Seeing the family is always the best. Seeing my oldest boy, Jonathan and hanging out with him and being in awe of the man he has become is always a blast. Seeing my two younger brothers (and thinking they are starting to look old) laughing with my Dad and hearing stories about the good old days and nothing is better than a hug from Mom...
Then there is going back to see a college football game. Nothing like the environment of a college football game and especially going to see The University of Oklahoma play. I didn't go to school there, but I grew up a fan. Of course I would have gone their and played football it I had just been...bigger, faster, stronger and a better athlete...so damn close...anyway..one game in Norman and then we made the trek down to Dallas for the OU vs Texas game. That should have been a blog post or two on it's own..but here is a few pics from the trip:

Here is the pregame tailgate snack: The shiskabob(that's how I spell it) a big thick piece of toast...a twice baked potato...a jalapeno wrapped in bacon and stuffed with creme cheese...water chestnuts wrapped in bacon and soaked in a spicy sauce...and a cold beer...of course that was only round one on all aspects....courtesy of Uncle Mike Arbuckle...

This put a tear in my eye...O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A

another band shot...don't know why the Texass fans booed here...

Here is my brother Mike and son Jonathan...throwin' down the horns at the cotton bowl!!

and we'll finish with a pic of my son Samuel at the OKC zoo..yes..he's the one on the left....don't even...

Well...thats it for a quick update on a little bit of what was 2011 and what will become 2012...a little bit of a rambling update..but as you know..my new years resolution is (insert Lee Corso's blooper here)...if you don't know what that is...look it up on you tube...

And Now we have another bye week

Been busy, but having a good time. Came back from vacation and we are getting ready to crank up the school year. Spent a great day in Skvöde, Sweden watching some youth football. Mostly U-15 & U-17. It was a great feeling to walk around and see those young kids and their coaches getting after it on the football field. Fun stuff. The Dukes Tournament is a really special time and I hope that even more teams will begin to make it a must do on their yearly calendars.

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.

Those two ideas are a must if you are a club that has a team that competes in the Super-Series and also wants to have a B-team. They are my opinion only--but after all, this is my blog so I can print my ideas.

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.......

Cup of Coffee and birds chirping

Gotta say that it is a great way to start the day by sitting on the old front porch with a cup of coffee and the sounds of nature all around. Off in the distance, toward town, I can hear the bells to the old church ringing at 07.00. Sounds pretty cool. Most likely, unless you live right next to the church and wanted to sleep in..plus it's Monday morning...anyways here are some thoughts for the blog today.

Breaking it down to the simplest thought:
I have the goal of developing some really good offensive lineman from within our club. I have had this goal for a long time, being usually the only coach on offense it makes it challenging to put a ton of time into every position. I am an avid studier of "The Annual Offensive Line Clinic" videos and I really like Jim McNally and how he teaches OL play. But, truth is, you cannot dump too many things on to young players or "new" older players. I have come up with this simple...and I do mean simple teaching progression for OL play.

1. Rule number one is this. Put yourself between the defender and the ball carrier or QB passing the ball.  Yes it sounds simple, but you have to make sure each lineman understands exactly where the ball is suppossed to be run or where the QB will set up to throw the ball. He has to know where to "put himself." If he can do that, then I tell them to get between the defender and the ball and make it take as long as possible to get beaten....step one...
2. Make sure your stance allows you to move the easiest and quickest way to where you want to go. I used to be one of the guys that taught the "universal stance" but I have changed somewhat into teaching how a lineman can adjust his stance to get the job done. Now this will be a little harder to write, but I will give it a try. Let's say it's 3rd & 8 and everybody in the stadium knows you are going to throw the ball. The DE aligns up in a very wide, rush the QB position. As the OT, why should I set up in my "normal" stance? Go to a two point, narrow my feet a little, sit back and put myself into a better position to cut-off DE's rush angle...and yes...it could still be a draw. Another old trick to eliminate the false step in your footwork is to curl the toes on the foot you want to push off of. In doing this, you actually shift a little weight and take a quick step with the opposite foot. There are a ton of little changes you can make, and they do not appear obvious to the defense.

These two concepts are what I start with in introducing OL play. How does it get more advanced? Once a young lineman or the classic "new" old lineman begins to understand these two concepts, they will begin to get better. The hard thing that I have noticed is that a player that is not sure what he is doing, wants to be told what to do. I want the player to figure out that by understanding, for example, "we are running outisde there, and if I am supposed to put my body between the ball carrier and defender, the defender is going to run out there to where the ball is going...I might have to pull around here and cut-off his pursuit angle to the ball." When I see the light start to come on, confidence comes with that also.

So that's this mornings thoughts. Two basic ideas for the OL to master. Putting yourself between the defender and where the ball is going...adjusting my stance to get there the fastest and smartest way....and by the way, when you get there...be aggressive...

Until next time...see if you can get two blocks on one play....

Early Morning Thoughts

Up early this morning, sitting on my front porch, thinking about football...and having some coffee...

A Good Read:
Just finsihed reading Pete Carroll's book "Win Forever." I would suggest this book to all young (and old) coaches for that matter. I would not say that there is earth shattering revelations in it or even things that you might have not heard before, but the book takes the reader on a journey of self discovery that is very interesting. Of things that stood out in the book, the idea "to do things better than they have been done before" stood out the most. That statement hit home the most in our little football community here in Sweden. I can assure you that you will here about "how good it was back then" or "things were better then" or "we should do like we did back then" in just about any conversation. I would say why don't we say "Let's do this BETTER than it has every been done before." That is not to say it wasn't good "back in the day" or put any disrespect on the pioneers of the past that have built the sport up here from scratch. It is putting our chin out there and saying, "OK, now is the time for us to build this sport and do it better than it has ever been done before." It would sure lead to some exciting times. How do we do that? In my world it is simple. We start as individuals doing our jobs in our clubs and trying to do them better than they have ever been done before. The more people (clubs) that do that, the stronger the "team" of American Football will be. Sound simple..it is..will there be set backs and bumps in the road..there will be...will it be worth it in the long run...yes it will.
So, read the book for a little inspiration. I get no kick back from Coach Carroll. I don't know him and the chances of him coming over to Sweden to say hi are slim to none..but it is a good read. By the way, it is NOT an X's and O's book. The X's and O's are the easy part of coaching. The book is about developing a philosophy and building relationships. Check it out...

A Quick Apology to Mrs. Ritchey and Mrs. Lewis:
Here is a thought that has been on my mind since I started to try and write a blog. I must apologize to the two English teachers I had growing up in Blanchard. Mrs. Lewis and Mrs. Ritchey were my english teachers from grad 7-12 at good old Andrew J. Terrell High School in Blanchard. I am openly apologize to them for my sentence structure and potential spelling mishaps. Sentence structure is just something we are going to have to live with.. The spelling will get bettter when I figure out how to get the setting on my spell check off of Swedish and on to English....anyways, ladies...my apologies..but it if fun to right stugg....I mean write stuff....

What's happening in Football:
SAFF just relased the names of the players called to the Juniour European Championships. This is an exiting time for those young men and it shows in their facebook status when they post about how excited they are that they saw there name on the list!! Great to see young people fired up about the upcoming tournament. You can read the names on the roster here: http://www.amerikanskfotboll.com/110729jem_slutlager.pdf
The Jets have 4 young men that have made that roster and I am quite proud of them and happy for them. I know they are serious and will have a great tournamnet. Two from my Elite program in American football have been picked. Markus Grip and Mark Rosenqvist. They are very hard workers and have done quite well in developing in the weight room and on the field this last year. Mark is one of only two young athletes that was born in '94 that made the roster. Best of luck to Team Sweden at the Junior European Championships. Work hard Coaches and players and build a great memory!!
The other big tournament that will actually kick off in a few days is the Senior World Championships. I had the honor of being the Head Coach for Team Sweden in Kawasiki, Japan at the World Championships of 2007. We finsished in 4th losing to Germany 7-0 in the Bronze medal match. USA beat Japan in overtime to win the gold. This year the tournament is in Austria and you can follow along at the following website:
http://www.americanfootball2011.com/en/ I can assure you that it is an ubelievable event to be at. Football players, coaches and fans from all over the world there to cheer their country on...maybe even NFL Network will cover it since there isn't too much happening right now with the lock-out. My predictions...USA vs Japan for the gold USA wins...surprise team for the tournament Austria takes on Mexico for the bronze......can Austria upset Mexico?? Wait, where's the Germans....will be fun to follow the tournament...some day I hope to get the opportunity to coach in it again....

Other good blogs:
Here are some blogs to keep in touch with about football in Sweden..some are in Swedish, but there is googl translate now..
http://coachingforpizza.blogspot.com/
http://leobillgren.wordpress.com/
http://bogorans.blogspot.com/2011/07/juniorsatsning.html?spref=fb
http://lirresblog.wordpress.com/
http://thecatch.se/sebastian/
http://thecatch.se/om this is a page that is the main communication in the our little world (besides the main SAFF sight)

Until next time...when you pull right...hit with your right shoulder...when you pull left hit with your left shoulder.....

Halfway through the year

Well, since we are at July 1 and 2011 is on the "way out", I thought it would be a good time to update the old blog again. We'll start with the official report on 2011 New years resolution:

• Update blog every two weeks--Result--there's always next year...
• Learn to play the guitar--Result--there's always next year...
• Have a date night with my wife each week--Result--need a better definition of date night...
• lose weight--Result--am down 13kg's but seemed to have hit a plataue--maybe I have found my ideal weight???

Here's is what's happening so far this year:

FOOTBALL WITH THE JETS:
To say that we are struggling would be an understatement. We have tied one game and lost 5. The guys are  playing, but we just can't seem to put it all together. On offense we have some serious struggles. The biggest challenge we have is that we have about 25 guys playing so a lot of players have to play both ways. That is ok if your opponents are having guys go both ways, but when they are not, the advantage goes to the opponent later in the game.
The thing that I can promise is that we will keep having good practices, we will keep working on the fundamentals and we will get better.
I am totally convinced that if we could combine our "B" team and our "A" team we would be more competitive. The "B" team is a good idea, but, in hindsight, I have to say it all happened a little early. We'll see what we can put together for the second half of the Season...You know, the season where we have played our last game on June 11 then we will play our next game on August 6th...then we play again on August 27th...Anyways, Coach Parker has a BBQ party scheduled on Monday the 25th of July. So we'll kick things off for the second half of the season....

Youth Football:
We are on summer break for our U-11 & U-13 age groups also. We had an end of school camp on June 20-22. It was not as well attended as we had hoped, but the kids that came had a good time. We will keep doing this camp at the end of the school year and again before schoo starts. The next camp will be scheduled to be the 17-19 of August. It should be a fun time.

I might finally get it:
In my 9 years I have been involved in American Football here in Sweden, I have been in a million conversations, emails, committee meetings, disucssions over a beer, phone calls and forum posting meetings regarding how to make football better here in Sweden. There are as many ideas and opinions as there are days in eternity. That is somewhat normal, when people are passionate about something. Finally, I have come to the realization that the best use of my time and energy is to concentrate on where I am at and try to do what I do better than it has been done before. This is the secret to making football great. Sure, we need those people with the ideas and vision to push the sport forward here in Sweden. That, of course, is essential to growth, but if more time was spent by us trying to make our clubs as professional and good at producing football players as we could be, then the game would improve. Committ to getting out to the local schools and recruiting kids to come and try some football. Committ to going to the local hockey, soccer, handball and basketball clubs and see if there are some players that want to play two sports. More importantly, find those that have been cut or stopped playing and get them to try something completely new and fun, like American Football. Committ to not just saying we can "play some kids up" when you don't have enough U-13 guys to make a team and you want to move up some U-11 kids so you have a team. Go out and find enough players in that age group. It is not easy and it is not easy for us at the Jets. It takes a lot of work and not by just one person to make it go and keep it going when the numbers are low. I can't say it enough...If you want football in this country (Sweden) to grow, then make it the best it can be where you are at: That, my friends, is the secret...In my opinion anyway...if you don't think I am correct, then just keep watching...but don't invite me to one of those meetings where we all sit around and have coffee and brainstorm about what needs to be done...because that is the slowest way to get something done...wait..if you have good pastry & coffee....yeah...then invite me...lunch included..could get me there also....

Senior National Team:
Things are starting to get rolling for the Senior national team. They are having a "combine" type camp at the end of July. This is a great idea, in my opinion and it gives the coaching staff an opportunity to take a look at what is out there and an opportunity to set standards (which has been done in the past via Niclas Carlsson) to show the players where they should be physically. I hope that all the guys that are serious about football take the time to go to the camp and show what they have. I have met and spoke with John Konecki and he seems like a really good coach and he is excited about leading Team Sweden to the next European Championships. I would also encourage any coach that wants to be apart of this camp to show what they can do and help work the camp and meet with the coaches currently on staff to contact Patrick Lundqvist and see if more help is needed.
A few people have asked me about me roll. As of this moment, my roll is to be a fan. I cannot committ my free time right now to the national team. I am full up with the Elite gymnasium program, school visits, u-11 and Senior team football...and when you are employed by a club, there is an "other duties as assigned" clause. But someday, somehow, I hope that I can be involved to some degree. I truly enjoy the idea of international play, The European Chamionships & The World Championships.
Here is a link with information regarding the Senior National Team camp: http://www.amerikanskfotboll.com/110728senior1.pdf

Vacation in Sweden:
I have four (4) straight weeks of vacation. As an American, I can say that I think this is really cool. But now as the owner of  a summer stuga I can say that it means that for 4 weeks, I do a different kind of work than what I do on a regular basis. But all in all, I love being at "The Kennedy Compound". Lots of projects going on and a few visitors coming by, before we head back to the big city....

Well until next time, and you know I can't promise when next time will be, I hope all your blocks are pancakes....also keep in mind that all the things I write here on the blog are my thoughts on how things are and are not intended to represent Arlanda Jets or SAFF ect...

Life over here

First post for 2011, puts me a little behind my New Years resolution of updating every two weeks, but as we say in Sweden "sante livet" (Such is life)...if I spelled that correctly...
Here is an update of what is going on.

Football:
Rik Parker has settled in here and taken over as Head Coach for the Senior Team. Rik and I work together with the High School guys in what is called National Idrotts Utbildning in American Football. So we start each morning with a quick cup of coffee then walk over to the gym and work with the players that are in the school program. After the work-out we head back to the office and plan out that next practice. It has added a little skip in my step so to speak, because it has been along time since I had time to spend with another coach during the "normal" work day hours. We have started our "pre-season" practice and are practicing outside Tuesday and Thursday nights while having theory meetings every Wednesday. So far I can say that every practice has been good. The guys are working hard. We are not many so that will force us to be creative, but last time I checked it is still only 11 on the field at a time.
What we are trying to do is be good at what football is about. As Coaches we are often amazed with ourselves at our "new" ideas or our special schemes we like to run. It is a very solid feeling to see a QB step back and hit the seam quick, when the flat defender breaks to the flat. Looks good on paper and even better when it happens on the field. The thing we have to remember is that the ability to throw the ball, run the route and read the defender have to be able to be executed by the players. So, in this example, the better the QB is at throwing mechanics, footwork, decision making abilities...the better that play will be. Also it will be tied into the receivers base fundamentals of understanding route running, take-off, reading the defenders movement and actually to get it all done, he has to know how to catch the ball. In a nut shell that is what we are trying to work on those five basic things that every football player has to do--blocking, tackling, catching, throwing & running. It's that simple. It will not be a system that wins, it will be a group of athletes that can do the things that each offensive, defensive or special team system requires to be done. The thing to remember is that everything can be traced back to one or more of the five fundamentals of football. Don't get me wrong. Coaching your system and the keys things that are involved are very important. Matching what your system is to what the talents of your players are is the key to developing any system in football...again, simply in my opinion. I have coached in Pro-style, Wing-T, Flex-Bone, Wish-Bone, Spread and Single Wing systems...they are all good systems but to win in the system, you need the athletes that can perform the special athletic skills required by each system.
What we are going to trying do is play a fundamentally sound style of football that matches the strengths our athletes possess. It is that simple. What will happen? We will see....

Youth Football:
On the youth football front I am running full speed ahead. I know have over 34 school visits booked between now and the end of the school year. Our U-11 & U-13 teams have started outdoor training so we are expecting more and more to start showing up. I have some tremendous leaders in our youth programs and I expect an increase in those numbers.
On Sunday April 3rd, 13.00-15.00 at our field, Midgårdsvallen, we are conducting a big "prova på" (try-out) day for our U-15, U-17 & U-19 teams. This is a project to have our active players bring a friend to try out some football and see if they like it. We will also get some advertisement out in the schools and also in the community by handing out flyers. If every active player brings one friend then we have a chance to double in size right away. If nothing else, we expose the game and club to more people.

5 Things to do from each formation:
1. Run inside
2. Run off-tackle
3. Run outside
4. Pass (including PAP)
5. Screen

5 Things for a lineman to do every practice:
1. Stance and first 2 steps
2. Pass set and punch versus various alignments
3. Working on putting hands, feet & head together with every block. (by head I mean where it should be aimed)
4. Recognize alignements of defenses and understand who (most likely) has what gap.
5. Keep your body between your assigned defender and the ball for the entire length of the play. (If you are not good at any of the first 4, adhere to this principle at all times. If you are good at the first 4, this will be easier to do)

Until next update...just keep coming off the ball low and hard...Keep a postitive attitude between you and the challenges you face everyday...

Good-bye 2010 Hello 2011

Well, as the year starts to end here, I am sitting in the kitchen at the "Kennedy Compound". We have about a foot and a half of snow everywhere. It is absolutely beautiful here in our section of the woods. We have a fire going in the fire place and the two wood burning stoves. Katarina and I each have a nice glass of wine and Samuel is dancing to Hank Williams Jr--"Almost Pursuaded" across the kitchen floor. He is exhibiting excellent coordination in a mixture of dance moves that I can only guess have been passed on through genetics...he can do the "rodeo man"---the "robot"--"running man" combined with "stumbling man"...He is a one man mosh pit....look out let's dance 2020!!!
Seems fitting to be here as the year goes out. This little place in the woods is most likely where they will scatter my ashes someday. We have alot of work to do here, but that is part of the joy and challenge of having a place like this. My New Years Resolution will be to get as much family time as possible here...maybe even a few "boys weekends" down here and get some extra work done along with a few evenings of poker...we'll see what happens...there will be 12 months to try and get stuff done, that's what is exciting about a new year...
Football in 2011:
This still is yet to be determined. I mean as far as my job goes working at the High School program it is business as usual. The Jets will have a few announcements coming soon. We are 100% committed to building a winning program and we will start actually with the building of a solid committed staff. We will add to that players that are committed to a high level of play, then we will try to put that all together in an effort that makes us a serious contender year in an year out here in Sweden. How exactly will we do that? Stay tuned, but the thing for sure is that it will get done. We are in the unique position of getting our Senior team to be as competitive as our Junior teams. I don't mean that at all as an insult, it is just a fact that our U-15, U17 and U-19 teams have all been winning for quite sometime. The thing we have to do to finish the project is simply to retain our home grown players and have them continue as they turn 20 years old.
As far as football here in Sweden, there are some interesting things. It seems that we will have a "National Series" of football here for U-15, U-17 & U-19 (Keep in mind that this is all ass-u-me (ing) I understand what is going on). It appears that those teams that are playing in the national series are from sound programs and there should be no "dropping out" of the league from the teams mentioned.
In regards to the Super Series--it appears that Örebro will be moving up, making us a 7 league team. I personally think that they are a solid team and with an import or two could keep things interesting in the SS. All in all it is hard to know what to expect. The reality is that the teams that can move up and retain quality juniors and the team that can recruit enough serious senior player will be the teams that do the best in the highest league. I am convinced that those two things (or combination there-in) is what makes a team competitive.
Lessons I learned in 2010 from people I admire:
1. Tiger Woods: I would give about anything I could to play 18 holes of golf with possibly the greatest to have every played the game....but I would not take personal relationship advice from him.
2. Brett Farve: I have been a Farve fan for a long time...I mean I would have loved to block for him. A good old boy at heart, winner, tough, give it all for the team kind of guy...Oh yeah....how many of us would find it hard to give up and stop if we would have been in his shoes...the majority of people would have played for that "one more magical year"....but I would not take any advice on how to SMS pictures from Brett Farve.
3. Rex Ryan: another of the good old boys. He has probably forgotten more football than most of us will ever know. He can get players to play and play hard. He has a swagger and honesty I truly admire..I would give about anything to get 3 hours with Rex Ryan, just to listen to him talk defense and coaching philosophy...but I would keep my shoes on!!!
New Years Revelation:
I want to move to this little house in the woods and grow old here!!
New Years Resolution:
Lose weight...again....and keep it off...this time for good...
1. Turn my cell phone off at 18.00 every night when I come home.
2. Take my wife on a date once a month.
3. Learn to play the Guitar...
4. Buy a guitar...(maybe that should have been #3)
5. Do things that would make my family proud of me....
6. Up date my blog at least every two weeks....

Until 2011, I hope that nothing is too easy, but everything feels worthwhile!!
Never underestimate leverage, hand placement and foot drive!! Finish!!

Rambling update

Well it has been a long time since I updated the old blog I figure it's time to start to get it rolling again. Here is what is happening:
1. Recruiting for the National Idrotts Utbildning---This is the program at Arlanda gymnasiet. It allows students to have 1.5 hours each school day to devote to their sport. In my case, I am the instructor for the American Football program. It is a real chance for students to develop not just physically but also their basic knowledge of the game. If you are interested in choosing the program or transfering into the program you can see more information at www.igunet.se/niu.
2. I have been running around doing some school visits and worked two weeks (this fall) with the Swedish Sports Acadamy...that was fun...I had 15-20 kids between 5-7 years of age playing American Football...two one hour sessions for 4 nights in a row...was great exposure for our club and sport. It could lead to a new project of actually starting a U-8 group that will play some flag football and meet once a week this spring...we'll see what happens...
3. This past week I started working in the weight room with our clubs U-15 & U-17 teams. This is a fun and important project. The one thing that is extremely important is that our young kids can learn to develop movement in order to develop strength that will enable them to develop speed/skills...The basic philosophy from Niclas Carlsson, Strength Coach for the Swedish National Teams and the World Team...
4. Going to a big meeting this coming Wednesday with some leaders in the club to make some decisions in regards to the plans with our senior team....
5. Emersing myself in the Jim Mcnally teaching series...I have never met Coach McNally, but someday I hope to...would be great to get him to Sweden for a camp/clinic....
6. Continuing to work with our U-11 program, although other coaches have taken the winter work-outs on Sundays...these guys, Lennart and Mike, are doing a great job!! We have kept a core group active...our goal is 50 U-11 players this spring/summer...
That's a quick catch up...could post more...but if I save a little...it might give me a reason to update a little more often...
Until next time: On, Playside Seam, Backside Seam, Linebacker....

Greetings from the woods

Here and now I find myself just a few hours from finishing up my first weekend with the family in what will be known as our "summerstuga"...or our Summer house...kind of cool because it implies a certain sentiment of..well..."yep...we bought an extra place to live in.." kind of mentality...when the the reality of the situation is..."what the hell did we just do?!?"....This place is old!! I would not trade this first weekend in what will---for now be known as..."The OTHER Kennedy Compound"...not sure how long that will last..but I have always felt like we (my family from Blanchard, Oklahoma) were the OTHER Kennedys..sure there might be some Irish blood flowing around here...but suffice it to say that maybe it's just not the same as those boys up in Mass...yep, I write M-a-s-s...because I can't spell the rest of it!!
On Probation from the "Mans Club":
Ok...the first thing I buy myself after the purchase of this sommerstuga...is a 4 cycle (better for the environment) handle bar, 3 different kinds of heads, shoulder harness attatched, will cut down anything not protected under the United Nations declaration of weeds not to cut down...Weed Eater...here in Sweden..it's called a "Trimmer"...I call it a "Man Machine"...my first purchase (after creating more debt than I ever had with just the singing of my name)...Now I can cut stuff to pieces just by starting this thing, putting on the shoulder harness and pulling the trigger...I was pumped...now I will give you a shortned version of exactly how everything went down..
First: Read and re-read the owners manuel...associate myself (somewhat) with what is what...Second: begin to put the device together...realize there is already something hooked up...come into the reality that "Hey, it can't be that hard!"..Flash 10 minutes later...I have put oil into the machine..I have put gas into the machine...I have attached the two pieces of machine and made it one enormous, weed shredding machine.....all the way until the head simply flies off...that's right...the head to my super duper, gas powered, good for the environment machine just flies about 4 feet from where I was working and sits peacefully on the ground. So, me being the machine nerd that I am, thinks, "Now would be a good time to try that metal, super trimmer blade!" Well let me just fast forward through the eurphoria of actually figuring out how to put the blade on..to the actual start using it phase...well my first thought was "well, this is some serious vibrations going on here...something doesn't feel..." at this time the lower half of my machine twists in half and falls to the ground...I have no idea what happened...I kind of stand there in this beautiful place in Västra Götaland and stare out into the woods with a kind of satisfaction that nobody saw what happened, but the realization that now would be a good time for a nice glass of wine...so I do what can only be my ticket to keep my Man license, at least for an extended probation period..I have a glass of wine and continue to work on the machine...to make a long story short, I get a different cutting device attatched to the machine and a go crazy for about 20 minutes...I mean nothing is too big or too small to meet it's destiny with my super duper trimmer latched on to my right hip (because the instruction said I MUST run the machine from my right side...)
Well..I get done and as I put the machine up for the evening...I see, one half of my high powered, show no mercy, string is wrapped (several times) around the part of the machine that is not supposed to have string wrapped around it...oh well...maybe I am on probation for a period of time until I figure out how to run the Super Weed Eater..until then..block...block like there is no tomorrow..block like you can make a difference..and I promise you, you will....

A Real Swedish Vacation

Well, this month of vacation is coming to an end..that's correct...one month. I have never had a vacation like this and it has been great to spend some extra time with my wife and 4 year old. I have peeked at some film and made some plans for the re-start of the football season in Sweden (practice starts August 3rd for us, with our first game Sunday the 8th).  Hard to say what things will look like, but it does look like we will have a lot of guys that missed some time in June back so all we can do is plan to make a run...so that's the plan.

European Championships:
We'll the first game for Team Sweden didn't go as expected. I can't really comment on why..I didn't get to see it. I tried to follow via "live stats" on the internet, but that is not the most exciting way to follow a game. The interesting thing in a tournament like this is that fact that you will play two games in your group. Usually a game then two-3 days rest then another game. What has happened for Sweden is, that in their pool, they lost to France, then France beat England...now Sweden is playing England for a trip to the bronze medal match. I wish the guys, coaches and staff the best. Your reward in this is the game. Nobody get's paid, so I hope that Team Sweden can "cash" their checks and make some great memories vs England and then the eventual Bronze medal match. Heja Sverige...

Contest time:
As is said earlier, Katarina and I bought a summer house...ok, actually it is a place that we will use on a year around basis, but it's cool to call it a summer house..and I think it needs a good name. It has a Swedish name, but I need an American name for it also...so I thought I would make it a contest. I will list the names that I have thought of and you can either pick one of those names or suggest another...
Below are the current suggestions:
     A. "Kennedyrosa"---who have to know who Hoss, Little Joe, Adam, Ben and Hop Sing were to understand that one...
     B. Chateau Lanhnz--Named after my wife..
     C. Camp Kennedy
     D. The Kennedy Compound
     E. Kennedy's Redneck Paradise--I would shorten it to "KRP"..."hey hon, how bout we go on down to KRP for the weekend"...has a nice ring to it....
OK...vote for your name in the comments section...suggest anyother name...vote as many times as you want to...

OK...not so much football in this one, but more to come later. Hope all of you enjoy what is left of the summer...
So until next time...Step...Strike...Drive...