INSIDER VIEW

Head Coach Charlie Naimo

As coaches, we are faced with the everyday task of development. I have always tried my best to to look at it on the whole not just the technical/ tactical and physical. Changing the way players think is a major part of development.

I think today’s athlete has lost a little focus when it comes to being responsible for their successes and failures. Where it comes from remains to be seen, but I do have my theories on that. I think it starts with the coach and extends to parents supporting the coach. When coaches create goals, too many times it revolves around wins and loses and not what is best in their minds for development. When I first started out, I certainly cared about that and still do. Don’t get me wrong I dislike losing as much as anyone you have ever met. With that being said winning has become second to the performance of my team.

This is the time of year when all of the positive thoughts and wonderful feelings are that much stronger.

It’s funny- when I stop and think about how I arrived where I am today, it takes a while to figure it out. I was a pretty good ice hockey player that was also a decent soccer player, and I ended up playing at great universities with a year or two in the USISL. I always wanted to be an architect but, as fate would have it, I developed a passion for coaching.

This year’s Final Four was very enjoyable from a coach’s perspective. The contrasting styles between teams created some interesting match ups. All were very close games that could have gone either way. In the end we saw two very well-coached teams competing in a game that delivered us a new first time champion.

One of the more fun things about the weekend is catching up with old colleagues from my club days at PDA, New Jersey. There is a youth soccer showcase that runs intermittently with the college games, and it usually draws the best of the best. Spending time at the fields through the course of the weekend, the topics range from who the best youth players are at the event to what is going on with the college coaching carousel to the biggest topic: who will win the NCAA championship and why. I have always found it amazing how so many people involved in the same profession could look at the same game and see things so differently. There is no better way to learn and grow as a coach then to take part in these discussions.