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A coach's legacy

August 12, 2009 12:28 PM | Posted by   Jason de Vos  

After Canada was eliminated from the Gold Cup by Honduras last month, I was asked by numerous individuals if I thought we should give Stephen Hart the full-time position of head coach of our men’s national team.

It is always an interesting topic to debate; everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and it is never an easy decision to make for such an important position.

Having to answer so many questions about who should manage our men’s team - and what characteristics would make that person successful - had me considering the merits of the coaches I have played for over the years and what made them successful. Fortunately, I have had the benefit of working with some tremendous coaches from whom I have learned a great deal.

Myriad of qualities

David Hodgson, who brought me to England to play for Darlington, was exceptionally charismatic, and his passion for the club was infectious.

Paul Sturrock, my manager at Dundee United, was a supreme tactician. He knew everything there was to know about the opposition and how we were going to set about beating them.

Paul Jewell, my boss at Wigan Athletic, rarely made a mistake in the transfer market. Just about every player he brought to Wigan played a part in the success of the club during his time there.

Joe Royle, who signed me for Ipswich, was an outstanding man-manager. He knew exactly how to treat his players to maximize their impact on the team. He treated everyone with respect, and you couldn’t help but give your best for him in return.

Jim Magilton, my former teammate who took over from Joe Royle, was a perfectionist. He was all about standards, and by setting his standards at the highest level, he demanded that his players do the same.

Yet the best coach I’ve ever had (apart from my father, who taught me just about everything I know about the game) is someone you’ve never heard of. In fact, he wasn’t even a soccer coach.

The beginnings of teamwork

Jack Mackinnon was my hockey coach in Glencoe, Ont., when I was 10 years old. He taught me how to play the game the right way - by teaching me the fundamentals - and he did it in such a way that it was both fun and exciting at the same time.

He taught me about commitment and sacrifice, about giving up some of your own individual success for the benefit of the team. In essence, he taught me the meaning of the word, “teamwork.”

We had players with varying levels of ability on our team, yet Jack made every player feel like a star. During games, he would routinely be on top of the boards in front of the players’ bench, encouraging and cajoling his players in equal measure.

I can vividly remember him teaching me one day in practice how to cut on the outside of my skates. When I completed a successful turn, he literally grabbed me and whispered, “Boy, I’m going to turn you into a player!” He did it with such enthusiasm that I couldn’t help but learn how to do it well.

We were a successful team - winning the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) title for our division - but that wasn’t down to the fact that we were a team full of future NHLers. We were a team that played like a team, where every player knew he had a part to play in the success or failure of the team.

Directly or indirectly, that cohesiveness came from Jack. He knew how to shape a team of players with varying abilities into a single unit, where the stronger players made up for the deficiencies of the weaker ones. Rather than playing the best players together all the time, he would partner weaker players with stronger ones in order to ensure that they formed an effective partnership.

Principles in place

That sort of leadership and direction is what coaching is all about. Teaching kids the fundamentals of the game in a fun and exciting way, and then encouraging them to put those skills into practise during games.

He didn’t know it at the time, but Jack Mackinnon taught me what it meant to be a professional. It didn’t matter that he was coaching me in a different sport, because the same principles of sacrifice, commitment and hard work applied to soccer just as well as they did to hockey.

I talk about the need to improve the standard to coaching across the board in Canada because it is an important topic. It is one of the key issues we need to address in Canada if we are to improve our system of player development in soccer.

But there are some excellent coaches out there who deserve a great deal of credit for the tremendous job they are doing. Keep up the great work - our next generation of national team players could be right under your noses.

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