Coaching a Year One Team In College

By Seyi Matthew

After 4 games, 17 goals conceded and 3 goals scored, I am beginning to feel the pressure that comes with coaching a team. Not that there are high expectations of a team that was just newly formed about a month ago, but the feeling that you are not pulling in the right direction as a coach. It's an issue of personal scrutiny.

I decided to go into football coaching after playing as a right back in my second year in college and then, I was introduced to a football lover who had gathered year one college students to form a football team. All that was left was a coach who would mould the team into a formidable one and of course, I landed the job.

This is how the league works in my college. There are six teams in the league - Panthers, Stars, Wolves, Spurs, Hale End and the team that I am in charge of, Young Boys FC. Panthers and Stars are year four teams and mostly have players who have been playing together for about four years now. Wolves are a year three team, Spurs and Hale End are year two teams while my club has players that have just known each other for barely three months. This is not to make light of the zero points accumulated after four games but it is the reality of the club's situation.

Being novel to the coaching set up, I started to learn about training drills as all I knew about beforehand was football tactics. In coaching, you have to make your team fit. You begin to introduce different forms of drills that would ensure that your players are physically ready for every game. There is the mental aspect as well. You have to make sure your 23-man squad is in an ideal mental state. I constantly remind my players that there is no pressure as they are in their first year and that too much isn't expected from them. Whether that is an encouraging reminder or not, I cannot tell. Not yet. 

There are times in training that fights break out among the players and as a coach, you just have to make sure it is resolved as soon as possible. You don't want your squad harmony disrupted.

I started our first match against Stars in a defensive 4-3-2-1 formation. The aim was not to win, but to showcase the talents and skills of my players and yes, my tactical acumen. We were trashed 7-2, the players didn't follow my tactical instructions, they kept falling out of positions, they created another formation on the pitch and the only excuse I could make for them was that they had relatively little football intelligence. 

The next training session was about passing triangles and the importance of creating triangles while passing. While training, I constantly shout when I'm speaking so that everyone hears me clearly and understand the importance of what I'm talking about. Sometimes, you are irritated by the sluggishness and indifferent behaviors your players portray in training and other times, you are impressed by their output and you believe you are doing a great job. It's an issue of back and forth.

Our next match was against Wolves, a very highly coordinated team. Safe to say, the most coordinated team in the college's league off and on the pitch. I once played for Wolves in my second year but they were formerly called Vallse and now, they have fresh blood and are under new management. The formation for this match was a 4-2-3-1. The aim was to attack and to show no signs of respect for the opponents. It was 0-0 at half time and everyone was impressed. I was impressed. The team owners were impressed. The players showed that they were up to the task but after two major goalkeeping errors, we lost 2-0. It was a very interesting game with frequent attacking threats from both sides and the high tempo made it a game to remember. We signed a player from year three after that game because he thought this was a team he could enjoy playing in. 

Our next match was against Hale End who had been playing really poor and we were favourites to win that game 4-0 or 5-1 but we lost. We lost 0-1 and it was a sorry case. We still had 0 points after we could have picked up a point from the year-two team. It was like the world came crashing down. People beginning to say things all around you. "Why did you start him"?, "Why didn't you stick to the previous formation"? and so on. I wonder how the pressure is for coaches when their world class teams lose. 

Oh, I forgot to mention that a player on my bench walked out on the team after I substituted in a particular player in the match against Stars FC. He claimed the player wasn't good enough to be playing in the league games. There are times when you are faced with issues of man management. You want to satisfy this player, that player, every player. I had a tète à tète with  the player that walked out because he is a very skilled player. I still wanted him to be a part of the team despite the awful attitude he pulled off. After a talk that seemed productive due to the fact that he said he would stay, he still left the team for Panthers. I don't blame him. Who wouldn't want to play for the year four team? It's an issue of choice.

Pardon me as I also forgot to mention how Stars FC wanted to buy two of my key players on the transfer deadline day. One of the players involved is the captain of the team. The last hour of the deadline, I had a meeting with the management of Stars and they tried to persuade me to sell the two players they wanted. They mentioned that they like the way they play on the pitch. I refused. It was a straight no. Besides, the offer they put down wasn't inviting at all. They spoke to the players to try to force their way out of the team, but neither of my players wanted to leave. I was scared for a moment though.

Our last match was against Panthers. It ended 7-1. The player that left us to join them played the whole 90 minutes. The team looked unmotivated. They played slowly. I could sense tension building up between some of my players and now, I have to find a way to restore squad harmony to its ideal state.

With some players complaining about playing time, some complaining about the league's officiating, some feeling left out, some becoming relaxed and uninterested and possibly some feeling too important, it is important that I step in to set all of these in order if the team is going to progress at all.

Our next match is against Spurs and its a very special one for me as I face a fellow coach who happens to be a close acquaintance. This is his second year of coaching Spurs and so I guess it's an issue of no pressure.