I am posting a short youtube video from a running coach to help get started. I think his explanations are simple and precise. Too often coaches overcomplicate concepts to seem important. Keep it Simple!

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As a college coach it is difficult to connect when I have experienced immersion in the world of full contact with my teams. A friend of a current player is thinking of joining friend request on facebook and add them to the team group so they can see the latest info about the team. Follow up with a quick text to make sure I found the correct profile and ask if they have questions… This is how teens respond. Literally have tracked a player down in person and asked about an e-mail that needed a response and been told they only check e-mail once a month. For teens e-mail is done.

Finally, the NCAA is going to look at the texting (for sure) and social media (maybe) use of coaches in the recruiting process. It’s about time.

“At Saturday’s Division III Business Session at the JW Marriott, delegates will vote on as many as 10 proposals, including the recommendation from the Division III Management Council to allow electronically transmitted correspondence between prospects and coaches (excluding social media) to be regulated according to the same standard as telephone, email and fax correspondence.

A more expansive text-messaging proposal that would have included social media is expected to be withdrawn by the sponsoring conferences (the Little East Conference and the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference). Both proposals have been in the legislative cycle since July, but the Division III governance structure, including the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, has consistently backed the version that doesn’t include social media. ”

Now if we could get those companies to stop asking about faxes. That went out in the 80′s.

A succinct wrap of the latest star news from Ben Lyttleton.

Nicolas Anelka turned down offers from three MLS teams — reported to be the Philadelphia Union, the New York Red Bulls and the Montreal Impact — before joining Shanghai Shenhua on a lucrative two-year deal. The Chinese side also wants to sign Didier Drogba from Chelsea, while David Trezeguet, available after a short stint in the UAE, was another target before he signed with River Plate. These players have all been touted for MLS Designated Player slots, but the Chinese market is now competing with teams in Russia, the Gulf States and the MLS to sign them.

Samuel Eto’o currently earns £330,000 per week ($511,000) at Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala, while Asamoah Gyan is on £125,000 per week ($193,000)at UAE club Al-Ain.Diego Maradona is a coach in the same league, at Al-Wasl, while Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour also bankrolls Al Jazira.

Next summer, Alessandro Del Piero and Michael Ballack will be on the market. Both players have been linked with MLS sides, but given the new options available to them now, their arrivals may not be as certain as previously thought.

That being said I have been a big fan of the book Soccernomics, as well as, various other sport statistical book. I recently came across an article about a club in Italy that is following many moneyball principles. Udinese.

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From Gabriele Marcotti. In South Africa, there was one Italian club with rather split loyalties. It had sent no fewer than eight players to the World Cup, representing six different nations. Had this been a perennial Champions’ League powerhouse, you might not be surprised. But it was little Udinese, hailing from a town of around 100,000, tucked away in the foggy (half the year anyway), northeast of the country.

How did a club this size (its average attendance this season is just over 15.000) manage to assemble a team that included notable talents such as Samir Handanovic (Slovenia), Mauricio Isla (Chile), Aleksandar Luckovic (Serbia). Gokhan Inler (Switzerland), Simone Pepe (Italy), Kwadwo Asamoah (Ghana), Alexis Sanchez (Chile) and Antonio Di Natale (Italy)?

Same way it always has. Buy low, sell high. It’s the oldest rule of business. And few clubs understand it as well as Udinese. Those eight guys named above cost Udinese a combined $16 million. Lukovic was sold for $10M, Pepe is on loan at Juventus this year, but the bianconeri will likely exercise their buy-back clause in the summer and make his move permanent for $13M. Di Natale is 33 and Juventus offered $9M for him last summer. He refused the move, much to the joy of the local supporters, who have seen him score 117 goals since his arrival in 2004. The other five guys are worth, at a conservative estimate, in excess of $90M.

We make heroes of managers and players, but often overlook the people who actually make it happen: the scouts who identify talent and the directors who negotiate to secure it at the right price. And, in that regard, Udinese has been one of the benchmarks in Europe. And it’s not a recent phenomenon either. Martin Jorgensen, Marek Jankulovski, David Pizarro, Per Kroldrup, Asamoah Gyan, Stefano Mauri, Morgan De Sanctis, Vincenzo Iaquinta, Sulley Muntari, Tomas Sivok, Andrea Dossena, Fabio Quagliarella, Roman Eremenko and, most recently, Gaetano D’Agostino, Felipe, Luckovic and Pepe: the list of notable alumni, most of them bought for peanuts, is staggering.

There is no great secret to it. Just a lot of hard work and a dedicated network of scouts, loyal to the club. Unlike many, who have preferred areas of the world they like to operate in and tend to go back there for their scouting, Udinese operates just about everywhere, logging everything and trying to stay one step ahead of the competition

Udinese can’t offer huge salaries or the prestige of playing for a massive club. What it does guarantee is a shop window, an honest, professional setup and a well run club in a part of Italy largely free from stress and distraction. It knows it’s a stepping stone and players see it as that: they are under no illusion when they join. (Not that coming to Udinese means losing all ambition: the club finished in Serie A’s top seven in six of the past nine years and, in 2004/05 reached the Champions’ league.)

This season is no different. Udinese is up to sixth in the table, it even enjoyed the luxury of turning down a $25M bid for Sanchez, mainly because it believes he’s worth far more than that. (Come summer, we’ll find out.) And, again, it uncovered two jewels, defender Mehdi Benatia, a free agent from Clermont, and Pablo Armero, a Colombian leftback from Palmeiras who was a snip at $1.5M.

All of this costs money in terms of scouting and research, but it’s an investment that has paid for itself many times over. It also requires patience and a big squad — the website lists 26 first-teamers — which is a lot, but, then again, wages tend to be low. Players don’t join Udinese to make money or win trophies, they do so because of the paths taken by those that came before them.

The club’s philosophy has remained unchanged for the last 15 years, even as different managers and directors of football came and went. (In that sense, Udinese is a victim of its own success: once coaches and executives do well, they catch the eye of bigger clubs and leave.) But the core is solid and healthy and, with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play policy around the corner, you feel that this is a club that will only go from strength to strength.

Of course, in this case, given Udinese’s natural dimension, it doesn’t mean it will scale the heights of Serie A into Champions’ League football, just that it will continue to unearth quality players and lead a dignified mid-table existence. And that’s just fine. Because, deep down, Udinese knows that what it does year on year is arguably just as impressive as what Barcelona or Inter Milan do. If not more.

The topic has come up several times before, during, and after my time in that school district that public schools are going to have to cut athletics alltogether or make it a pay-for-play proposition. One AD I spoke to estimated that in 10 years school sports will be a thing of the past; another estimated 20 years. In New Jersey the Hudson County schools have cut all athletics. They now only offer intramurals. Of course there is contravesy in that they spent $850,000 to expand the gym after cutting athletics. Reminds me of another community that was having budget issues (West Lafayette, IN). They spent `$1 million to build an elementary school gym and then closed the school the following year. Maybe if school administrators were schooled in running businesses then these issues wouldn’t happen. Or…. you know… used common sense.

Genetic Testing

There are a number of ‘tests’ that purport to show athletic ability. Much of it centers on the slow twitch or fast twitch muscle fiber ratios. Endurance is connected to slow twitch muscle fibers while explosiveness and sped are related to fast twitch muscle fibers. A 2003 Australian research study that showed a variation of the ACTN3 gene was correlated with the production of fast or slow twitch muscle fibers. Researchers found that the R variant of the ACTN3 gene was linked to the production of a protein linked to fast-twitch muscle fibers and the X variant of the gene seemed to block the production of the protein. Athletes who had two sets of the R variant, therefore, appear to be better suited to sprint and power sports while those who inherit two X variant genes seem to have better endurance and excel in sports such as marathons.

In 2007, researchers in South African found no significant correlation between 457 endurance athletes and the XX variation of the ACTN3. In 2008, scientists at the Research Institute of Physical Culture in Russia couldn’t confirm a relationship between the XX variation of the gene and endurance performance, although they did find the RR variant in successful power sports athletes.

Critics of the science argue that the labs that perform this genetic testing focus only on one gene when many genes are related to athletic ability, and the science is too young to say that the ACTN3 gene is the most important.

 Australia is considering adopting testing to determine the best sport for children to build their athletic teams (it has long been assumed that the USSR and China do something simlilar involving genetics and peronality tests).

“One of the country’s leading Sports Medicines experts has warned Australia risks being left behind the rest of the world unless it embraces genetic testing for athletes. Professor Peter Fricker says testing could help identify athletes who have the potential to be strong at particular sports. Professor Fricker, who’s been with the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra since its inception 21 years ago, is Medical Director of the Australian Olympic team for the Athens Olympics.”

A company in Colorado (USA) now sells testing kits for $160 so that parents can test their children. They claim to give parents early information on their child’s genetic predisposition for success in power or endurance sports. Parents receive a specially designed DNA kit to collect a DNA swab and are mailed results in about three weeks. 

Finger Ratios

Comparing the ratio of index finger (pointer finger) and ring finger lengths (also known as the 2D:4D ratio) is another way to try and predict where sporting success is most likely to occur. 

In the majority of women, the index and ring fingers are almost equal in length. While in men, the ring finger is usually noticeably longer than the index finger. Male sporting ability can be linked with finger length as revealed in a study carried out at the University of Central Lancashire. The findings revealed that men with longer index fingers are more likely to be better sportsmen.

In the largest study of its kind, carried out at Kings College London, it was shown that women with a longer ring finger were more likely to be good at sports such as tennis, swimming and skiing. However, the same study also showed a correlation between women with a longer index finger and an increased prowess in cricket, martial arts and gymnastics.

Research from Teesside University has shown that the index finger/ring finger ratio has the potential to explain sporting success because of mental toughness. This research investigated the relationship between 2D:4D and mental toughness, optimism, aggression and performance.

Dedication

The results showed that participants with 2D:4D ratio were more likely to demonstrate mental toughness and have higher levels of sporting achievements. Dr Golby explained: “It appears that high prenatal levels of testosterone may result in increased mental toughness, optimism and hence aptitude towards sport. This provides tentative support for the conclusion that mental toughness may be partially biologically predetermined.”

This would seem to suggest that mental toughness/perserverance is the cause of greater sporting ability. Coaches will agree that dedication is, perhaps, the significant factor in an athletes continued improvement. Studies, such as the  infamous German music student study that revealed the 10,000 Rule, have also showed that serious practice time is directly correlated with success. Coaches are now quoting this number when they talk about player practice and dedication contributing to success. Of course, they need to be practicing the ‘right’ things, which still puts responsibility on the coaches.

Unfortunately injuries plagued him for much of his career, which limited him to the substitute role. He realized early on that he would have a front row seat to watch some of the best players and training sessions in the soccer. He started recording practices and preparing for a managerial career while still a player.

He then worked his way up coaching ManU youth teams. He left Manchester United with Ferguson’s blessing to be the Head Coach in his home country of Norway where he has guided Molde to the first Norwegian Tippeligaen title in their history. It is only a matter of time till he returns as the next ManU manager.

UC continues to do many things right. Good athletes, skilled fearless hungry players, and graduation rates. But it has been evident the past 5 years that they are now no longer THE dominant force in women’s college soccer. Carolina’s first ever loss in the 24-year history of the ACC Tournament came last week – their trademark mental toughness and tournament victories go hand-in-hand. The Tar Heels finished the regular season with an 11-5-1 mark, equaling the most losses in a single season in UNC history. Their three-match losing streak is now the longest ever.

There will be more National Championships, no doubt, but as the autumn lingers those resurgent summer weekends come further apart. Now it is time to find out if Dorrance and Palladino (the Clough and Taylor of college soccer) can do more than recruit and lecture. The overwhleming advantages they have enjoyed for decades are fading – Can they Coach?