3rd Degree

October 1st, 2008 . By: Buzz Carrick

“You don’t **** with a winning streak” - Crash Davis

Holy cow is it October already?  Dang it this time of year goes fast.  Sometimes having to work for a living stinks.

At least the weather is terrific, albeit kinda warm for what I think of as October weather.  Mid 70s during training. We’re in the main stadium, it’s quite a bit warmer in there as the breeze is blocked by the press box and stands.  Training is not particularly long nor intense, as it’s a pre-game walk through.

News, Notes, & Observations

- Jeff Rowland has torn his meniscus and he’s done for the year.  This will be his third or fourth knee operation he’s had.  He works hard and has a solid head for the game, but with that kind of record for injury he might as well move on to another career.

- Brek Shea has his meniscus operation a while ago, but I had been meaning to ask Schellas what kind he had.  Being a young kid they opted for the repair kind, which means 4 to 6 months recovery, but a far better long term benefit.

- Compare that to Sikora who had his meniscus removed, he’s back in 5 weeks.  But the long term won’t be as good.  He’s also had a procedure or two on his meniscus before in his career so there wasn’t much use in the repair idea.  Looking at him run today I don’t see 100% from him as he’s still got a tiny hitch in his giddy up.  But Schellas wants some time for him prior to the playoffs, so look for Victor off the bench very soon.

- Schellas says he’s talked to Wagenfuhr one time since he took over, which should tell you how far off David is from any possible return.  He won’t be back this year and I don’t expect him next year.

- Emerson Hyndman Watch: he’s here but doesn’t participate in any drills.

Catching up with Schellas Hyndman

I’ve come to the conclusion that Coach Hyndman is the longest winded, most verbose coach in the history of sport.  Just look at how long these answers are.  I’m going to have to start cutting him down.

(p.s. Don’t let it slip your mind that the coach speak translations are a bit.)

What do you think has contributed to this run of good results?

I think firstly that the ball is bouncing right for us.  Maybe in the past it hasn’t been bouncing right for us.  People are being dragged out of position, we’re getting good service in there.  Then I would hope that it’s the structure.  People having understanding of their roles, whether they cross, whether they shoot.

I had an interesting conversation I had with my three strikes in DC.  I brought them into a room just before I took them out to the field and said, “guys, the last time we played DC I thought we had to many unselfish players, people trying to make the pass.  What I want you to think about is, that word is never going to be used again.  Unselfish player is not going to be used again.  It’s going to be,  if you have the best chance to score, shoot.  If you don’t have the best chance, then give it to a teammates.  But don’t feel like you have to give it to a teammate because you don’t want the responsibility to shoot.” I think they feel more comfortable with that, so they’re going at it.

We’ve had some good free kicks, Andre [Rocha] has done some good things for us with the free kick.  Chicago was an early goal that he hit and it goes in from his free kick, that’s what I mean by the ball bouncing right.

I think part of our attack is our new found counter attack.  Where, again, players are on the same page.  We have a direction where we want to win the ball, what we do when we win the ball, how we play out, and players are buying into it cause they are starting to see the success.

Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator:  Luck, skill, and coaching.

You’ve said Pitchkolan has been playing well, so why put Davino back in for him?

I was just talking with the team, and I said, “you know, in all the years I’ve coached I’ve always thought the hardest thing I’ve had to do was drop a player from the team.  Hardest thing to do is cut a player.”  Here’s a college kid who wants to play the sport but his lifestyle is screwed up.  He’s a party animal, chasing women, he’s not going to classes.  So you eventually get tired of that high maintenance and you drop him for his own good.

In a professional game it’s not that kind of situation.  You move them along to some place else or whatever.  But I think the hardest thing to do is take a player out of the starting line up that’s been playing so well for you.  For another player you have higher expectations, you know his level of play is going to be better.  What goes through my mind is if you put our defenders, and  I’m making a statement here, Adrian [Serioux], [Aaron] Pitch[kolan], Drew [Moor], and Blake [Wagner], and you put all their experience together in one bottle, it may not fill as much as Duilio’s experiences.

So I’m making a decision on a very experienced player that I think can help get this team get to the playoffs, realizing I’m really effecting a player who is for whatever, six or seven games, been a starter and done everything that I’ve asked him to do.  Tough decision for us.

So that’s the hard thing for me, the hardest thing for me, to go to a player and say you’re not going to be playing even though you ;ve done everything I’ve asked you to do.  I just have a stronger belief as a coach that that player is a better player and may make a difference.

Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator:  Experience.

Putting Davino back in against the taboo of changing a winning team, clearly are comfortable with that?

I wouldn’t make that decision if I wasn’t comfortable. You’re right, there are a lot of complications with this whole thing.  Not only is it the right decision? How do you effect the guy you’re taking out?  How do you effect his friends and teammates who believe in him?  That’s why it was very important to have a team conversation.  This was not an easy decision.

I said it earlier, “players win games, coaches lose games.”  If we don’t win this game it’s going to be a coaches problem, “why did he put Duilio?”  That’s my decision and my decisions will always be the best for the team.

Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator:  If we lose this game it’s on me.

Training

After some warm up jogging, stretching, and some simple cone work, Schellas moves the team straight into the walk through.  Pretty obvious what the lineup will be.

After the walk through is some work on corners.  Rocha takes them for the first team and McCarty for the second.  Pitch and Davino take turns with the first team.

Lastly is everyone’s favorite, the shooting gallery drill. 5v5 or 6v6 with the rest on each offensive end. Young versus Old.

Green (young): Wileman, Cooper, Wallace, Dello-Russo, McCarty, Moor, Wagner, Avila, Wadsworth, Guarda, Daniels.
Gray (old): Sikora, Oduro, Serioux, Rhine, Saragosa, Pitchkolan, Cunningham, Ricchetti, Davino, Watson, Rocha.

Not sure how Watson and Rocha ended up on old since they are both younger than half the young team.

Lineup Prediction

When you outscore your opposition 7 to 1 in the previous two games you don’t change anything.  Except of course that Schellas is changing something: Davino in for Pitchkolan

If San Jose wins this game, the Davino/Pitch swap will come under massive criticism and Schellas knows it.

Thought of the Day

There are a couple schools of thought about a situation like the Davino/Pitchkolan one.

1. You can’t lose your place via injury.  So Davino deserves his spot back.

2. You can lose your spot when your replacement plays terrific.  So Pitch keeps the spot.

3. You don’t change the team when they are winning.  Particularly when it’s a 7 to 1 in two games.  Pitch stays in there.

4. The better player plays and Davino is the better player.  So Davino plays.

So which one do you believe?

Categories: Practice Observations .

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