Various News

A few things to report. 

1. There is a makeup practice today at 6:50 on L4. Vedad will be running it. Roz will be at our Thursday session at 5:30. 

2. We have a game tomorrow against Space City at 6:30. We are wearing Navy. Be mindful of the traffic. 

3. We play again on Monday at Dyess against the Dynamos at 7:00. Navy again. Traffic again. 

4. We are planning on playing in the Challenge Texas Shootout on May 30 - June 1. If you can't make that weekend, please let me know. 

5. There is a good chance we will go to Tulsa to play the game that has been cursed by nature. Maybe the first weekend in June? Not sure yet. 

6. I am planning on signing us up for the Surf Cup. It's August 2-4 in San Diego. Please let me know if you think you can't make it. I'm sure there will be families willing to take your daughter, if you all can't come. Be warned though, if you send your daughter with me, she may also go to the San Diego Zoo, Legoland, and the beach. 

7. Summer training program. Don't forget to check that link I sent before about the Express Summer Training Program. I think it's a great idea. 

8. Speaking of registration with Express, fall registration is now open, and I think there's even a discount if you register before April 30. Here's the link: https://www.youthleaguesusa.com/hntsc/14-15/Welcome.html

9. Today is tax day. If you got a refund, hurray! If you had to write a check, then I'll be sure to enjoy an additional adult beverage on your behalf tonight. 

10. Since I had 9 items above, it seemed like 10 would be a better number. So here's an interesting fact: if you flip a penny, it's actually not quite 50/50 to land on heads or tails. There is a very slight advantage to the side that was up when it was initially flipped. More surprisingly, if you spin a penny, there is something like an 80% chance it will land on tails. The heads side is slightly heavier, and causes the coin to fall in that direction more often than not. 

11. I know I just made a case for ten items on my list, but I thought it would be funny if "this one goes to eleven." And my last tidbit of useless information is that the volume on the radio in a Tesla actually goes to eleven. In case you don't get the reference. http://youtu.be/4xgx4k83zzc

RC 

NPL games this week and next

We have an NPL game with Space City this Wednesday, 4/16, at 6:30 PM in the Clear Lake area at Dad's Park. We will wear Navy, please bring your whole kit! Traffic will be unpleasant getting there, so allow for a little extra time. The fields are at:

14500 Village Evergreen Trail

Houston, TX 77062

http://houstonx.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/DC_DadsClub1.pdf

Don't forget that we are also playing next Monday, 4/21, at Dyess Park against the Dynamos at 7:00 PM on field 2. We will wear Navy for that game too. Traffic will also be a factor here too. 

Dyess Park

16822 Kitzman Road

Cypress, Texas 77429

http://hcp4.net/parks/dyess/images/DyessSP.pdf

Training tonight. Roz should be there at 6:00. 

State Cup #3 - 4/5/14

We've got our third of five games coming up this weekend. We are playing Texas Rush at Katy Park Field 15 at 4:00pm on Saturday. Let's wear NAVY, but please bring everything.

I know I sound like a broken record in saying that this is an important game, but it is. Winning this keeps our State Cup dreams alive.

I think everyone is familiar with Katy Park, let's get there at least 45 min before.

My own thoughts:

In my amateur opinion this team has what it takes to win State Cup and NPL and so on. In every game we've played this year, we've shown brilliance and dominance. But in some games it's only there for a 15-20 minute window, and it's too little too late.

Intensity, desire, and the refusal to lose has to be there from the start.

In my cycling career, one of my formidable opponents (who had a string of National Championships, National records, and a legitimate international career) had a motto: Win, Crash, or DQ.

It meant that was losing was not an option. He would give it everything to win, even if that meant crashing or getting disqualified was the only alternative. Pretty hard core if you think about it. But very effective.

Thought #2:

I hear Mark dishing out advice and instruction with more enthusiasm and emotion than ever before. And I hear him repeating himself a lot. Are the girls simply not listening? Or not following instruction? Or willfully doing something different?

I don't think so.

It's human nature. People have a difficult time changing their opinions or beliefs very quickly. There are cognitive biases that impact our judgments. In this case, I believe it's anchoring and insufficient adjustment and conservatism.

Imagine a scale of 1-10 in terms of aggressiveness on the field.

Mark emphatically tells the girls to "be more aggressive!"

The girls are at a 2 on the scale of 1-10. Mark wants them to be at a 9. The girls hear the message, and they make a change, but because of anchoring (anchored to the old way of playing, i.e. 2, and conservative and insufficient adjustments relative to the anchor point) they ramp up their play to a... 3.

Five minutes later Mark is telling them to be more aggressive (he's barely noticed a change going from 2 to 3). The girls may go to a 4. Or maybe they get frustrated with the situation, thinking to themselves "I did get more aggressive! What the heck?" In either event, they're certainly not at a 9, and this process will take a long time to get them there.

My advice to Claire has been this. When Mark tells you to do something, do it. Don't do it just a little, don't make a tweak - really embrace it. Find the limit of what Mark wants from you. See if you can get him to tell you to bring it down a notch - then you'll know you've found where he wants you to be.

The closest analogy I can think of is the game where I think of a number between 1 and 100, you guess, and I tell you if it's higher or lower. A reasonable person would start at 50. I say my number is higher than 50. Perhaps your next guess is 75. I say higher still. You have to keep pushing higher until I say "lower", then you know you're close. 

Conclusion: Be aggressive. Be strong. Work hard. Take chances. Take them on. WANT TO WIN MORE THAN THEM. Take all these things to a "10" on your Mark's scale. See if you can be the one where Mark says, "That's it! That's what I'm looking for!"

Disclosure: These thoughts are purely my own, and they may or may not be helpful. Mark hasn't seen any of this, and anything he says clearly supersedes anything I've said here. 

State Cup Game #2

It's another early start for us tomorrow. We are playing Albion at 8:00am at Zube park field #5. Let's wear WHITE, but as always please bring the whole kit. I think we're only going to be missing 2 girls tomorrow, so we're almost back to a full squad.

Zube Park is just off 290, exit Roberts Road and turn right.

Zube Park
17400 Roberts Rd
Hockley, TX 77447

Also, I put a link to the State Cup standings on the home page. Let's put up a big win tomorrow and see how it feels to be on the top of that list. 

First State Cup Game

I'm sorry I've been off the grid this week, we've been in the hill country with no phone and no internet. 

We have our first state cup game Saturday morning at 8:00 at Burroughs on field 6 against Challenge. Every game counts. It would be great to start with a big win. We will be without quite a few girls, so bring your fitness with you. 

Let's wear Navy, but please bring white. It's going to be a very early start, so make sure you're on time, and let's get in a string warmup. We need to come out swinging. 

Ok, disregard my previous post. Liverpool FC has dropped out of NPL, and that game they have scheduled  for us this Saturday is just a place holder. The real game is at 1:45 pm vs. Tulsa Blitz. We play them again on Sunday at 9:00 am.

We can wear NAVY on Saturday and WHITE on Sunday. The fields are near Alvin.

1156 Fox Meadow Dr.
Alvin, TX 77511

We are on field #1 on Saturday and field #5 on Sunday.

As far as NPL standings go, it's pretty tight, and we need to win these games. But then again, isn't that always true?

In other news, I added the link to the State Cup Schedule on the front page.

3/15-16 NPL

Some of you noticed the confused schedule on the NPL site. They updated it today, and now it shows that we will be making up that missed game in Dallas immediately after our first game. So, Saturday we have a 12:00 game, and then a 1:45. Sunday we play at 9:00.

Plan accordingly. More details to follow. 

3/9 NPL game is cancelled due to weather/conditions

State Cup Schedule

This is on gotsoccer. Not sure it's 100% official yet.

#91  3/22/2014 8:00 AM-9:30 AM H HOUSTON EXPRESS 00G NAVY (TXS)        A CHALLENGE SC CHALLENGE 00 (TXS)        Burroughs Park #06   #95  3/29/2014 8:00 AM-9:30 AM H AHFC 00G (TXS)        A HOUSTON EXPRESS 00G NAVY (TXS)        Zube Park #5   #98  4/5/2014 4:00 PM-5:30 PM H HOUSTON EXPRESS 00G NAVY (TXS)        A TEXAS RUSH 99/00G (TXS)        Katy Park KP15   #101  4/26/2014 8:00 AM-9:30 AM H SPACE CITY FC 00G (TXS)        A HOUSTON EXPRESS 00G NAVY (TXS)        Burroughs Park #06   #104  5/3/2014 2:00 PM-3:30 PM H ECLIPSE 00G BLACK (TXS)        A HOUSTON EXPRESS 00G NAVY (TXS)        Burroughs Park #01

NPL games on 3/8-9

Sorry for the late update on this weekend's games. I've been off the grid most of this week.

Saturday we have a rematch against Eclipse. Game time is at 3:00 pm in Sugarland at Community Park, field L4. Let's wear NAVY, but bring the whole kit!

1700 Glenn Lakes Ln
Missouri City, TX 77459

Sunday we are at the same field at 11:00 am against the Dynamos team that we've already played twice (4-0 and 5-0). NAVY again.

I am told the State Cup schedule is supposed to be posted today. I'll link it on front page of the blog once I see it.