Anson Dorrance

What I Have Learned From Anson Dorrance

1. The fight, the struggle creates a wonderful hardening, strengthening
2. In competition we get to see your character in action
3. Raising the bar
4. Never being satisfied
5. Fighting to get to the next level
6. Extraordinary confidence comes from extraordinary training
7. When training gets uncomfortable do you shut down?
8. Fight through every level of discomfort to get to the next level
9. Controlling your reaction is the measure of your strength
10. Average to good, good to great, great to dominate
11. Constant player improvement is the cornerstone of great programs
12. Intense competition.  Playing to win everyday.  Highest standards of play
13. Performance results maintained and posted for everyone to see
14. The highest level of play
15. The coach must make a passionate investment into the players
16. The constant battle of mediocrity is undertaken each practice
17. The presence of higher standards and greater expectations
18. The players standards are always in a comfort zone below their potential
19. Newcomers have to prove to the upperclassmen they belong on the field
20. Memorizing the game plan
21. Understanding vs. Knowing the game plan
22. Speed of play, speed of decision making, speed of organization increases
23. Always respect your opponent by crushing them
24. Commitment to being the best
25. Set goals within the game
26. The PREGAME warm-up is everything
27. The way we do things is our tradition
28. The two intensities: Fury & Composure
29. Competitive anger
30. Combine anaerobic training with aerobic training is the best fitness
31. It’s satisfying to work hard and do your best.
32. Always finish after a brilliant series of performances
33. Every effort contributes to the whole
34. Organizing team chemistry
35. Everyone must be fully in support of every teammate
36. Reserves must have great attitudes and the starters must respect them
37. Person first, player second
38. Genuine team: Mission, Equal value
39. Respect comes from character and never from performance
40. Laws of attack

• NUMBERS GAME: Consistent attacking numbers forward and into the 18
• Train to finish your chances
• Get into the penalty box
• Framing the goal
• Margin for service error

1. DEFENSE: Combination man to man zone

• Four lines of confrontation

1. Motivate, Lead and Drive player performance to high and higher levels 
2. Imprinting Core Values
3. What are the parameters in influence?
4. What is missing that makes most of us ordinary?
5. Energy, combative courage, a force of fortune
6. What are the best elements of our tradition?
7. Our core values
8. We are the way we choose to spend our time.
9. Getting your team to transcend ordinary effort is the challenge in every training session and every match. To get this effort, you as a coach are regularly dealing with the emotional strain of not accepting the lower standard of performance and effort. Your strength in coaching is having the courage to constantly deal with the athletes that unconsciously try to take things a bit easier
10. Leadership is the quality that drives the training session,
11. Five stages of Player Leadership at UNC
1. Lead yourself (character development, core values)
2. Be credible to lead others
3. Lead by example (an inspirations, demonstrate a high standard)
4. Be responsible for victory (accountable for team results, responsible for teammates performance)
5. Lead verbally (leadership voice, be responsible for everything)
   
   
12. Leadership is the quality that drives the core values,
13. Leadership is the quality that drives our players to make a positive impact
14. Leading through conflict resolution
15. Freshmen: Fred Tutweiller "The Champions Conversation" –Accountability
16. Sophomores: Roy Baroff/Bill Sanford Team achievement. "Leading Through Conflict Resolution" …building team chemistry.
17. Juniors: JohnSilva Sports Psychology class at UNC Anson Dorrance Seminar "Lead, Follow, or Get out of the Way"
18. What do our players and tradition value as acceptable behavior?
19. SENIOR LETTERS : At the Final Four each season, Anson writes each of his outgoing seniors a heartfelt Senior Letter. In the letter, he talks about the contributions each person has made to the program during her time, whether they are an all-American or a rarely-used substitute. The letters often cite an obscure yet important actual instance that many players are shocked he even noticed, let alone remembered. Anson reads the letters to the entire team in the locker room as a tribute to what the seniors have meant to the program. Each player is then reminded and challenged to play in a way that honors what the senior brought to the team.
20. Crothers writes: "He knows that he's only got a moment with these letters, and that this could be his last chance to make sure each senior knows how much he cares about them. He wants each young woman to know that even though he has spent four years telling her this isn't good enough, that isn't good enough, she isn't good enough, that what he's been secretly searching for all along is what really is good enough in her. When he recounts a personal story or two about her that she'd never expect him to remember, he wants her to know what he thinks is her finest quality - and this is never a soccer quality, but a human quality - because he believes that's what his women appreciate most.
21. When he reads the copies of the senior letters to the underclassmen left in the locker room, he wants his admiration to resonate. As he shares the words he has written to each senior, no matter how large or small her role on the team, Dorrance wants everyone inside that room to be in awe of her."
22. Think about how you too might be able to show your athletes how much they mean to you for what they have given to your program.
23. Two goals in the last three minutes of the match were the proper reward for 120 minutes of relentless effort.
24. The scrimmage training environment for this is a competitive caldron of pressure and a minimum of time and space where both your practice scrimmage units of your 1-3-4-3 create so much constant pressure all over the field against each other that when you finally get to a game against an opponent who plays a more classical 4-4-2 you feel like you are on vacation and so do your players
25. "Competition is key to developing players. The only practice environment in which you truly develop a player is a competitive arena." Coach Dorrance tries to make his practices a "Competitive Cauldron". More about Coach Dorrance is at the end of this article - he has won over 600 games, has a 90% winning percentage and has been Coach of the Year 8 times. Here are some of his tips:
26. In practice, encourage competition. During practice, try to keep score in everything you can -- keeping score encourages competition, 100% effort, game speed, and is more like what player's face in a real game.
27. Competition is critical to developing each player's potential.
28. "Competition is key to developing players. The only practice environment in which you truly develop a player is a competitive arena."

North Carolina Women's Soccer Core Values

ü     We don't complain.

ü     We work hard.

ü     The truly extraordinary do something every day.

ü     We choose to be positive.

ü     When we don't play as much as we would like, 
         we are noble and still support the team and its mission.

ü     We don't over-react to small issues or create crises where none exists.

ü     We are well led.

ü     We care about each other as teammates and human beings.

ü     We play for each other.

ü     We want our lives (and not just in soccer) to be never-ending ascensions.

ü     We want these four years to be rich, valuable and deep.

22 x National Champions