Today's blog post was written by Jennifer Jasper. Jennifer is a senior Marketing major at Notre Dame and a student in the Social Foundations of Coaching course taught by Play Like a Champion Today Founder and Director Professor Clark Power and Program Director Kristin Sheehan. In addition to her studies, Jennifer also served as the goalie for the Notre Dame Women's Soccer Team.
This past summer, I had the opportunity to go to the
FIFAWorld Cup Final between Germany and Argentina. It was honestly one of the best days of my life. I have been playing soccer since I was three
years old, and I was about to go into my final collegiate season. It was incredible to see some of my favorite
players including Lionel Messi, Manuel Neuer, and Bastian Schweinsteiger
compete and play for the highest award in the soccer world. These players and that game will be
remembered for the next several decades, but in ten years, I doubt people will
be talking about how great a coach Joachim Low was. So for my post, I want to talk about the some
of those that will not be featured on the highlight reel--the coaches of the World Cup.
There are two coaches I want to focus on, Joachim Low and
Jurgen Klinsmann. These two coaches are
very similar and are revolutionizing the sport with their coaching
tactics.
Klinsmann is currently the head
coach of the
US national team while
Low is the German national team head
coach. Before he came to the US,
Klinsmann was in Low’s spot as the German head coach and is considered Low’s
mentor and good friend. Together, these
two coaches created a new style of play; some call it the “blitzkrieg” due to
the fast and furious speed of play. While
both are considered as co-creators of this philosophy, they are still different
types of coaches.
Klinsmann is the charismatic motivator, and this can be seen
throughout his coaching career. In
interviews, Klinsmann constantly makes jokes and turns his success around to
his players rather than focusing on what he did well. He is respected by his players
and this respect enables him to effectively coach. However, this does not mean he is best
friends with his players. Klinsmann practices tough love
with his players, and is not afraid to discipline them when they are acting
out. I believe this leads to a stronger
team. When Klinsmann was implementing his
new style of play in Germany, he received criticism from both players and the
public for switching from a static defensive style to a dynamic attack
style. They claimed he was forgetting
the roots German soccer was based on. Despite all the criticism, Klinsmann continued with his new strategy and
they placed third in the 2006 World Cup. I think this shows how great a coach Klinsmann truly is; the man was probably
going to be fired if the team was not successful at the World Cup, but he
decided to go ahead with his controversial style anyway. I believe that Klinsmann knew that if anyone
could transition to this style of play, it would be his Germans, and he knew it
was only a matter of time before it started clicking. In the end, Klinsmann was the coach, and
despite the criticism from all ends, he knew that as coach, no one
should control his decisions. His
dedication to implementing this style has carried over to the United States Team, too.
Klinsmann is considered the one who originally came up with
the new soccer philosophy, but Low is considered the technical mastermind. Low was with Klinsmann every step of the way
as his right hand man in Germany. After
Klinsmann stepped down from the head coaching position, Low went on to develop the
philosophy further through his unique lineups and attention to detail. Low’s players also respect him like they used
to respect Klinsmann. Low also
demonstrates a tough love type coaching. He is strict in his practices, but that does not mean he is all work no
play. Often there are videos or pictures of the team playing soccer-tennis or
soccer-golf. These games help lighten
the mood at practice and help them release whatever distractions they have in
order to focus on soccer. You can also
see him playing smaller games such as 5-on-2 with his team. This helps the coach monitor what his team is
doing and focus more on each individual. I think this also creates transparency for Low’s players.
I think it is crucial to have a coach who is confident in
the style of play he or she wishes to coach, but their players must also
respect him or her. These coaches need
to earn the respect of their players too.
I think this is why coaches such as Jurgen Klinsmann and Joachim Low
have been successful and have been so revolutionary. The confidence of a coach and team, and the mutual respect between coach and team are fostered by coaches who strive to build teams of talent and character, which is just what
Play Like a Champion Today promotes.
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| The Jasper family at the World Cup in Brazil, June 2015. The author is on the far left. |
