Do It Anyhow by Alan Maher
I have written about Rinus Michels before. He was a great Dutch coach and was named “Coach of the Century” by FIFA, the international governing body of soccer. He died last winter.
He wrote about an exercise in which a wing player centers the ball to four teammates running at the goal. It is assumed that the four players are running predetermined runs at the goal. Then one should get a shot on goal. That is the assumption of the exercise.
You must imagine a dialog between the wing player and Michels if the play does not work. We begin with the wing player.
-Suppose nobody makes the right run? Suppose that there is nobody there to shoot the ball? Or touch the ball? -Do it anyhow!
How many American coaches would say that? And why did Michels say that? “Do it anyhow!”
Think about it.
Now to how Michels’ thought. He wanted the team to function as a team. He wanted the team to do the problem solving. The coach ran the pattern and the team failed to perform properly. The team failed, not the coach.
So in telling the wing to do it anyhow, he shifted the responsibility to the players. Let them gather and sort out the problem.
I can imagine that the wing was most upset. He ran down the field at lightning speed, pivoted and delivered the ball. Now he is out of breath looking at a busted play. He is mad. He ran for nothing.
Michels would stand on the side of the field with his arms folded over his chest. He would listen. He would not yell or lose his temper.
When the players calmed down, he would say, “Do it again”. Calmly. If the wing player complained about poor running to the goal, what would he say?
“Do it anyhow”