When I think of Coach Dorrance, I think first of his relentless focus on conditioning, the "competitive cauldron," "continual ascension," and "competitive fury."
His resume' includes over twenty NCAA Championships and coaching some of the premier women players in history including Mia Hamm, Michelle Akers, and Kristine Lilly. Transparency demands noting sexual harassment litigation by two former players.
"Isn’t it wonderful that you play a team sport, knowing that if you struggle, the person next to you will carry you? Don’t every forget that, because there’s going to be a time when others struggle, and you need to carry them."
"That Saturday we had begun to rebuild our winning mentality. We did that with one of the most important steps you will read about extensively in this book: by each and every player stepping up to take responsibility."
"Competition is key to developing players. The only practice environment in which you truly develop a player is a competitive arena."
"What this team fought through in order to win surely took mental toughness. But this mentality was not constructed during the adversity. Actually, those comebacks were constructed in the off-season. My favorite quote about this is attributed to Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight. "The will to win is overrated in athletics, because everyone wants to win. It’s the will to prepare to win that makes the difference."
"One of the most unfortunate things I see when identifying youth players is the girl who is told over the years how great she is. By the time she's a high school freshman, she starts to believe it. By her senior year, she's fizzled out. Then there's her counterpart: the girl waiting in the wings who quietly and with determination decides she's going to make something of herself. Invariably, this humble, hardworking girl is the one who becomes the real player."
"It is critical for you as a young player to understand that vision and great tactical minds are built on a complete foundation of skill, so that you can problem-solve individually and hurt the other team tactically. Knowing what to do is easily compromised by being unable to do it.
"One of the wonderful life lessons of athletics is that success itself shouldn’t be the ultimate reward--because there are a lot of people who work incredibly hard and never "make it". What is important, above all, is being in the arena."
Lagniappe:
Duke double downscreens sets up mismatches on off-ball switches.
Keywords: Anson Dorrance, competition, coaching, North Carolina Women's Soccer, basketball