Lauren Wiese

A few of my most favorite quotes from a soccer maestro, Pep Guardiola:

• “Children very young, they must play, just play. Play and play and play and play. Just play”

• “If you train badly, you play badly. If you play like a beast in training, you play the same way”

• “I will forgive if the players do not get it right, but not if they do not try hard”

• “Perfection does not exist, but you have to look for it anyway”

• “I can’t promise titles, but I am convinced that the fans will be proud of us”

These quotes are the building blocks of my (our) philosophy at SDA. We create challenging environments and multiple playing opportunities that allow our players to fail while still feeling safe and to succeed with hard work. Our passion for the beautiful game both on and off of the pitch needs to be glowing in the eyes of our players, and I believe that it is! Our players know that we love them when we win and especially when we lose. I believe that the most important lessons for young players and for coaches happen in training and in matches that are won and lost. I have always believed that soccer is played by intelligent and talented athletes. It takes so much work, mentally and physically to play the game. It is an awesome challenge to coach such a complicated sport to young people. And we work super hard to help them connect every moment in training to the game itself. We provide appropriate, timely information to help each individual player.

At SDA, we constantly teach our players the importance of patience and hard work. Every player on the pitch at every given moment of training learns that they are a part of the overall beauty of the game. My favorite players: Luca Modrić, Sergio Ramos, Dani Carvajal, Andrés Iniesta, Gianluigi Buffon, Andrea Pirlo, Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Michelle Akers, Julie Ertz, Tobin Heath…they all offer something different to the game and remind us that skill and talent most of the time are not enough. You have to have a loyalty to the game, the team and to training. I talk about my favorite players often and encourage kids to watch soccer and identify themselves with players of all levels.

Personally, I am so proud to work alongside some of the most brilliant, hard working people. Our leaders demand such a high level of professionalism regarding coaching methodologies/curriculum and communication with parents players and colleagues. The training environment is full of energy and opportunity to be a life long learner. I have learned millions of things from every coach and realize that although we may have our own style, we all encourage each other to teach kids about every detail of the game…the details that most people don’t see but absolutely matter the most.