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Zusatztext "An invaluable tool for coaches of all levels." (Michelle Akers! Two-Time World Cup Champion! Olympic Gold Medalist! and FIFA Player of the Century) Informationen zum Autor Tony DiCicco coached the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team to the Gold Medal in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and the World Cup Championship in 1999. He is currently the commissioner of the Women's United Soccer Association. Dr. Colleen Hacker is the sport psychology consultant for the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team and a professor at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. Charles Salzberg is a magazine journalist and the author of more than fifteen books. Klappentext This guide to coaching female athletes of all ages shows how to build a team and provides invaluable advice on the differences between coaching males and females. The authors include exercises that foster teamwork and develop essential skills. They also answer parents' most common questions! such as how to tell if the coach is doing a good job and what to do if a child wants to quit. Filled with stories about the Olympic and World Cup championship teams! this useful handbook is infused throughout with DiCicco's philosophy that at every level playing soccer (or any sport) is about "playing hard! playing fair! playing to win! and having fun." Introduction The Gold Medal game in the 1996 Olympics between the United States and China is, to my mind, the greatest women's soccer game ever played. It was a battle of equals, with everyone playing at the highest possible level. China was more effective than we were in the midfield and we outshone them on defense and in the attack. As a result, it was not unlike a high caliber chess match and, as the game progressed, we were very close to a stalemate. When we got the ball, China couldn't get it. When China got the ball, we couldn't get it. Quite simply, this was an amazing game to watch and even more amazing to be a part of as coach of the Women's Olympic Team. In the first half we had a wonderful passing combination that started when our goalkeeper, Briana Scurry, distributed the ball up the right flank and it came through Michelle Akers in the midfield. Then we changed the point of the attack to the left flank, to Kristine Lilly, who bent in a terrific cross that Mia Hamm, who was one of the early sequence passers, ran onto and, with the outside of her foot, perfectly placed her volley on goal. Gao Hong, the Chinese goalkeeper, made a great save that hit and ricocheted off the post onto the field. Then Shannon MacMillan opportunistically finished it off, scoring the first goal of the Gold Medal match. It was not only a great passing sequence but also a great finish that included a terrific save by the Chinese goalkeeper. But China wasn't about to lie down and play dead. Not long afterward, Sun Wen, the scoring phenomenon of the Chinese team, received a long pass over the top that beat our defense. And as Briana Scurry was sprinting out to her, Sun Wen chipped it over her head, but Brandi Chastain, sprinting back, couldn't quite clear it off the goal line. So it was 1-1 going into halftime, and despite the fact that it was a tie, I was still loving the game because everyone was playing so incredibly well. I had very little to say to the team in the locker room because we were doing so many things well. After the normal tactical adjustments I told the players that they had been a great group to coach over the last year and that now it was up to them. They had forty-five minutes to fulfill their dream of winning the first ever Olympic Gold Medal for women's soccer, and although we'd played well, we needed to play better to defeat this worthy opponent. In fact, I was so excited and so eager for the second half to begin that after only a few minutes I left the locker room and went back onto the field. After a moment or two of standi...
