The Mindset of a Champion

The Huffington Post recently published an article discussing the grueling nature of sports, specifically tennis. With the close of the Australian Open, being the longest Grand Slam Final of all time at a total of 5 hours and 53 minutes, journalist Karthika Muthukumaraswamy notes the grueling nature of the sport and the length of its season. More importantly, however, the writer raves about the talent and game style of several steadily top ranked players. Yet she fails to mention the hard work, determination, and perseverance on the lengthy road that got them there.

Muthukumaraswamy notes, “Nadal and Djokovic, while blessed with enviable endurance and amazing abilities to defend and prolong matches, have effectively threatened the brilliance of mental acuity and shot-making on the fly, exemplified by more cerebral players like Federer and Andy Murray.” I do not to believe that Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic were simply “blessed” with such talent. Their abilities were not merely born within; handed to them like some package of luck. Nadal states, “I always try to improve and play better and better…the only thing that is going through my mind now is having enough illusion to keep practicing hard, enough motivation to keep trying my best and to keep finding solutions to be a better player for next year.” Nadal credits his talent and leading success to hard work, resilience, and constant improvement.

Carol Dweck calls this mental state “the mindset of a champion.” She, too, believes that success does not stem solely from natural talent but rather from diligent work and fierce determination. She notes in her writing, “It’s more about the process than about the talent.” I believe Rafael Nadal would agree. Dweck argues that people, especially the media, are too often guilty of revering “the naturals.” It is too frequent that we act as though true champions are born, not made.

Dweck provides numerous examples of those who did not fit the criteria for natural ability, nevertheless rising to the top despite their grim forecast. Consider famous players Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, and most recently Jeremy Lin. Michael Jordan was cut from his varsity basketball team. Practicing his shots for hours, shocking everyone with his resilience and determination, we all know who Jordan turned out to be. It is no streak of luck that Jordan’s courage and dedication took him to the top. Yet the false notion remains, as Dweck notes: “Because now we know he was the greatest basketball player ever, and we think it should have been obvious from the start. When we look at him we see MICHAEL JORDAN. But at that point he was only Michael Jordan.”

It is undeniable that certain players possess different levels of talent. It is hard work and the mindset of a champion, however, that takes true talent to the top. People are not born stars, they become that way. Dweck does an excellent job of opening our eyes to see the real road that got them there. Nadal, Jordan, and many alike do not attribute their talents and success to any sort of physical gift or talent. Rather, they point to their laborious efforts and never fail attitude that continues to drive them along the road to success.  

"ATP - Nadal Talks to Media about Current Form." Tennis World. Web. 26 Feb. 2012. <http://www.tennisworldusa.org/ATP---Nadal-talks-to-media-about-current-form-articolo1777.html>.

Dweck, Carol S. "Chapter 4: Sports, the Mindset of a Champion." Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York: Random House, 2006. Print.

Muthukumaraswamy, Karthika. "Professional Tennis Today: A Grueling Season or a Grueling Style?" The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 02 July 2012. Web. 26 Feb. 2012. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karthika-muthukumaraswamy/tennis-season_b_1259006.html>.

Jennifer Kellner

Notre Dame 2014

Social Foundations of Coaching

Lessons of Lent, Life, Sports

Today marks the start of the Lenten Season. In the Catholic faith, Lent is often referred to as a journey through towards the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Anyone who has played sports or been the parent or coach of an athlete knows that sports can also be a journey as well. Let us today reflect on some of the lessons learned on the journey of faith and of sport.

Good Faith and Good Sports require Good discipline. Championships are not won in the week leading up to a competition. Enlightenment does not come from nowhere. Jumping higher doesn’t come without practice. Loving relationships do not sustain without ongoing attention. A coach once put a spin on an Emerson quote when he told me “Nothing great was ever accomplished without hard work.” Sports take work. So does parenting. So does faith. Sometimes faith can present more challenges because the path to spiritual growth does not have the same kinds of drills that becoming a better defender does. We must try different approaches for spiritual growth depending on who we are, and what are experiences with faith have been. Just as athletes are asked to submit to a coach’s will without full understanding, sometimes people of faith are called to submit to the will of a higher being, or the advice of a spiritual guide.

Sports and Faith require multi-faceted nourishment. Does a football player spend every day in full pads doing tackling drills? Does a Christian spend her whole life in a meditative state? Does a shortstop only focus on his fielding skills? Is the only job of a parish priest to say mass? Does a distance runner only go for long, slow runs?  Of course not. Just as athletes vary there practice routines to hone their physical skills, we vary our spiritual exercises to nourish our souls. A swimmer must both spend time in the pool and in the weight room. As believers, we must pray and seek community, as they are both part of our spiritual growth. We are also called to be of service to others, and to show our love in the way we carry ourselves. There are no catch-all practices for athletes or for people of faith.

It’s not all go, go, go. No one attends mass all day long. Coaches usually require a day off in the midst of a week of practices, even at the elite level. Participating in service to the poor can often be very exhausting and draining. The human body and soul are not designed for 24/7 activity. For healthy physical and spiritual growth, we must spend time in quiet, restful reflection. This extends beyond merely the proper night’s sleep that we should all get every day. As athletes, we should consider our rest equally as important to our development as our intense workouts. As believers, we must peacefully reflect on the lives we are leading, and not get caught up in the quantity of our good works. In all areas of our life, we must respect a balance of activity and rest to ensure that our discipline is not wasted by exhaustion.

Faith and Athletic life are not always easy. It’s hard to get out of bed when lacrosse practices are going to be brutal before the season starts. Going to religious services can seem pointless at times in our lives. Sprinters can get burned out. God can seem very distant and disconnected from us. As any human will tell you, life is not always easy. Sometimes, we’re just going through the motions of our daily routines, and we’re lucky enough just to make it through. Even if we are enjoying a good life, there are stretches that might be painful, tiring, or seemingly pointless.  In this Lenten season, we are reminded of that painful side of life. Inevitably though, we come out of the mire, and triumph over adversity, and we are thankful that we stuck it out. Whether we are in a job that is unfulfilling, we don’t seem to be improving in our athletic endeavors, or we seem far from spiritual fulfillment, it is in mental, physical, and spiritual endurance that we are able to be renewed!

Sports and Faith are causes for Joy! Scoring a goal is an awesome feeling. Sharing a meal with family and friends is a warm reminder of love and friendship. Winning a championship can be a lifelong memory. Realizing the beauty of creation all around us is a cause for elation. Registering a personal best performance is gratifying. Attending a wedding of friends is an occasion for laughter, fun, and celebration. Although Lent can often be seen as a hard season of what we don’t or can’t have, it can also be a joyful season of what we do have. We have hope for the future! We have the companionship of friends, family and teammates! We have our health! In the Christian tradition we are reminded that we must “Rejoice always!” (1 Thes 5:16) Faith and Sports are reasons for fun, for pleasure, for achievement, for community, and life; live them that way!

From the Notre Dame Alliance for Catholic Education website, Peter Piscitello, of Kansas City, KS talks about the potential for Youth Sport in the Catholic Church:

http://ace.nd.edu/news/in-the-spotlight

Coaching in Uganda

The Ugandan Media can be hard on a new coach

I recently returned from a 16 month stay in Uganda where I was volunteering as a teacher, and also part time as a coach in secondary school outside the city of Jinja. It was a tremendous experience, and was a great period of growth personally for me. Coaching was an interesting experience and very characteristic of my entire experience living in a very different culture than the American one in which I grew up.

My tenure as a coach at Lake View Secondary School began shortly after I arrived in Uganda when I mentioned to the headmaster that I was interested in sports, and that I would love to do some coaching. He said to me “can you be ready for playing soccer today?” I thought I might be given a day or two to prepare a workout plan, or craft some ideas for what practice might look like. I thought I could take a look at the field, maybe clean up some of the numerous “cow pies” that covered the field. The field was in rough shape. Sitting at a 10º incline from side to side, it was rocky, with mounds of soil throughout, and served as a grazing field for cattle. But I said I would love to coach, and I’d be back later that day for some practice.

I came back with a whistle, cleats, shin guards, and even some orange cones. I knew that, living in a foreign county, I should be ready for whatever comes, and I should be adaptable, but I figured I would try to run the sort of practice that I had been accustomed to in youth and high school levels. So I waited until the students came out of school. I had retrieved the school’s lone soccer ball and was waiting out on the field ready for the first day. I thought about what I would say; probably a cross between Edward James Olmos in Stand and Deliver and Denzel Washington in Remember the Titans, I presumed. Even though I wanted to enter humbly into this new chapter of my life, I secretly had images of developing an army of 16 year Ugandan old boys winning championships, raising money to fix the field becoming a legend at Lake View!

“Practice” started with a few barefoot boys coming out, seeing the ball, and playing around with it. They were in charge. Whistle in hand, I was the one trying to figure out what the afternoon looked like; I was merely along for the ride. No drills, no sprints, no cones. I spent that day, and many months after that, seeing how young people in a different culture experienced sport. It was beautiful. There was no care for the cow dung or the rocks, or the large, unpredictable divots. They were playing for fun, pure and simple. And it wasn’t because they were trying to get back to some bygone age, and relive their past in a nostalgic, pure way. All they have ever known is to play for fun.

So my goals shifted. I wasn’t going to try to build an unbeatable team. As the months passed, I realized areas where I could make an impact. Because sport is not as much of an institution, Ugandan youth don’t see the value in proper preparation for competition. So I made it my goal to instill some lessons of the value of showing up every day, or at least as often as possible (sometimes a 14 hour school day made showing up an impossibility). I wanted to build general fitness among my team, and show them that you can become a better player in other ways than just going out on the field. And to a certain extent, I succeeded. My athletes learned the value of proper preparation, the value of showing up, and the spirit built by a team doing this together. And I learned the value of realizing that no matter how much preparation you can do as a coach, you’ll get far more out than you could ever put in.

Life Lessons Through Sport

Based off of personal experience and those of other athletes I have encountered, I have learned a variety of things through sport. At a young age I was very active and involved in a variety of activities. By being engaged in multiple sports it allowed me to be taught by different coaches, interact with an array of athletes, and discover myself through various situations.

As an adolescent the first sport I played was soccer. Since I was still young, I enjoyed playing soccer just to run around with my friends and have my parents cheer me on from the sideline. This physical activity gave me an energy release, acted as a confidence booster and was the beginning of my athletic career. As strange as it may sound, playing on my 5th grade soccer team is what ultimately led me to where I am today. It was my soccer coach who suggested I tried out for his basketball team because of how tall and lean I was at a young age. This is where I initially learnt to embrace and understand the phrase “never give up”. When I first begun playing basketball it was very intimidating because I had no idea how to play. In addition to beginning this new sport, the first team I joined was full of very talented players that had been playing since they first began to walk. At times I felt discouraged because I could just play soccer, a sport I was good at, instead of being uncomfortable engaging in a sport I was terrible at. But to this day, I still remember coming home from each practice and my father reassuring me that I had the ability to do anything as long as I put my mind to it. I am very thankful to have such motivational parents that were able to help me develop a sense or urgency and drive at such a young age.

"The ultimate measure of a human being is not where they stand in moments of comfort and convenience, but where they stand at times of challenge and controversy."
-Martin Luther King Jr.

I also believe the reason I have enjoyed playing basketball so much is because of the amazing people I have been so blessed to meet. From representing my country by playing on the Olympic team to travelling to over 10 different countries, basketball has opened many doors for me to grow as an athlete and a human being. With these many experiences I have learnt: “to whom much is given, much shall be required” (Luke 12:48). To me, basketball has expanded from a mere physical activity to a game I love and live for. A failure to take full advantage of these opportunities would be a waste of God’s given talents. I try to remember that each day is a blessing and because tomorrow is never guaranteed to anyone I must live today to the fullest. As long as I continue to look to improve with each occasion and to remain true to myself, the opportunities are endless.

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference.”
-Reinhold Niebuhr

Natalie Achonwa
Notre Dame Women's Basketball and Social Foundations of Coaching Student

Softball Creates a Lesson for Life

I played softball in high school and our team was pretty talented. We had been playing well all season and we hadn’t lost a game yet. We had a really tough game coming up against our biggest rival, and they were also undefeated. Everyone on the team knew how important this game was and so we all committed to working hard and training specifically for this game. We gave 100% at every practice, we stayed after the coach left to work on our weaknesses, and we encouraged our teammates to push themselves. Things were going great at practice: we looked better than we ever had before and yet everyone was still having fun. We felt pretty good about the upcoming game,
When game day finally approached, we were all a little nervous but we felt confident with what we had done to prepare. And we looked great during the game: our pitcher was dead on, our outfielders didn’t miss a ball, and our infielders and catcher were making some great plays. We were doing a great job of preventing the other team from scoring, but they were holding us back as well. By the end of the eighth inning, neither team had scored a single run and everyone was getting restless. We were up to bat first: no dice. A ground ball, a strikeout, and a fly ball. We knew we would have to hold them to have any chance of winning and preserving our perfect record. First batter up, and a strikeout. One down. Second batter up and she nails it out of the park on the first swing. We were heartbroken: we had been so close to a victory here, but not close enough. We were all devastated, but our coach helped us realize that we had done everything we could have to prepare, and that we all played an amazing game. She told us it wasn’t any one person’s fault that we had lost: we win as a team and we lose as a team. This experience really helped me understand how important it is to play for your team, rather than just for yourself.
Kate Riley
Social Foundations of Coaching
ND 2012

A Special Kind of Sport

Most young athletes dream of playing for their favorite college or professional team. Yet these dreams are often accompanied by the pressures of making them come true. For some these pressures can create passion and lead to success, but for many they transform a fun game into a stressful fixation.
What if we could take that pressure out of a sport? Then we would have rugby. There are no professional rugby players in the US, and the most competitive college teams do not have a single scholarship athlete. That is not to say that rugby is not competitive. Rugby will become an Olympic sport in 2016, and every year high school, college and senior teams travel all over the country to compete for national titles.
Ask any rugby player why they play and you will get the same answer. They play because it is fun. They love the sport and the incredible friendships they form with their teammates. At every level, in every city, rugby teams form a unique community that cannot be found anywhere else. It is hard to tell what makes rugby teams so special. Some people attribute it to the types of people who play rugby. You might have to be a little crazy to play an 80 minute, full contact game with little to no padding in every conceivable condition: from driving rain storms to 100 degree heat. Maybe it is that craziness that bonds us. However, I think there is something more. When I step out on the rugby field there are not 80,000 adoring fans, there is no money to be made and my coach’s livelihood does not depend on how I perform. Instead I get to spend my day playing the sport I love with 14 of my best friends; girls who just like me are playing for love of the game. I do not have to worry about where I will be in a few years or if I am good enough to play professionally. When I play rugby, I just get to have fun.
Margot DeBot
Notre Dame ‘12
Social Foundations of Coaching

Flow in Sport

In our second meeting of our Social Foundations of Coaching class we discussed the article Flow in Sports by Susan A. Jackson and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. This article goes in depth into a state of mind that many athletes work and train to achieve in a time of competition. The authors describe the flow through nine different characteristics, challenge-skills balance, action-awareness merging, clear goals, unambiguous feedback, concentration on the task at hand, sense of control, loss of self-consciousness, transformation of time, and autotelic experience. These are the characteristics athletes have described experiencing while feeling as though they are in a state of flow during competition. To be in a state of flow an athlete does not have to experience all of these characteristics at once, because flow is different for every athlete, but often multiple forms of these characteristics are experienced by the athlete when in his or her own flow.
It is a goal of nearly all athletes to get themselves in a state of flow, groove, rhythm, or whatever they may refer to it as. But as the article explains it takes a nearly perfect set of circumstances to allow an athlete the opportunity to reach this level. The authors point out that a combination of challenges and skills need to be correct for the opportunity to exist. The area where the skills and challenges of the competition and athlete intersect must be opportune for flow to be achieved. If the challenge is too high or the skills of the athlete are too low in comparison to the opponent then the athlete will be unable to reach flow, because he or she will simply be out matched. Also, if the challenge is too low or the athlete is too far superior then flow will not be reached because the competition will not be enough to keep the focus of the player or athlete. However, when everything lines up and flow is achieved then that athlete will have been able to get to that ultimate level he or she has worked to reach.
Scott Martin, ND 2012
Social Foundations of Coaching
Notre Dame

Sport Injury - Lessons Learned

It was my senior year in high school, my last year playing soccer with my friends and my first playing with my brother who was a freshman. When winter rolled around, a fellow senior teammate and I had been declared captains. We decided that this year would be different. We were being moved up to a much more competitive division, and so we knew we need to work that much harder. We started conditioning workouts a month before pre-season workouts were scheduled to begin. It was the largest class of senior starters the school had ever had. We had one ambition, winning the state title. If we were going to win, leadership was going to be a major factor. The team had a meeting and we decided that this year was going to be different.
Personally, it was an important year for me. Not only was it my final season, but I had committed to play at the University of Notre Dame. My future coaches expected results. They expected me to have a very impressive senior season, to walk out on top. I had every intention of performing beyond any level I had previously. I was training and conditioning all winter for the spring season. I knew this was not only an important season for the team but for me as well. Because I played a primary role on the team, I knew that the quality of my season would fluctuate with the team’s success. I had to polish every aspect of my game before making the trip to South Bend later that year.
The season started, and the team was hot. We were winning at ease, dominating teams we should have and beating teams we weren’t expected to. It felt like “one of those years.”
I’ll fast forward 3 games into the season. We were playing our rival high school, Maryville. Twenty minutes into the game, we found ourselves sitting in a 0-2 hole. We came out flat, and lacked the intensity that we needed to make this a great game. In the 25th minute one of my shots found its way to the back of the net, 2-1. We went into halftime with momentum. We were pumped because we knew the game would end with us being the victors. Both teams came out of the locker rooms ready to play. It was one of the most intense, dirty, and fought for games I had ever played in. In the 78th minute I ran onto a beautiful through ball played by the other co-captain. I go to strike the ball to tie the game up. The next thing I hear is a pop. I had been slide tackled by the goalie. The first thing I though was, “that’s a penalty kick.” I was screaming at the referee. I tried to get up and then I felt an enormous amount of pain as I tried to put pressure on my left leg. It was agonizing. I screamed for the trainer. I remembered the pop that I heard and I saw flashes of my career at Notre Dame coming to an end before they had gotten started.
The trainer runs over and asks what hurt. I yelled, “obviously the leg I’m clutching!!” She examines it on the field and made the diagnosis that it is most likely a bone bruise. Hearing the great news I try to get up to continue on with the game. Again I feel the pain and sit back down. My coach demands that I sit out for the rest of the game.
As my dad and school minister walk me to the sideline, I look to see that my brother was cursing at the referee for not giving the goalie a red card. My brother therefore receives a yellow card for dissent. He is emotionally distressed to see that I am in serious pain and to not know the proper diagnosis of the injury. Once at the sideline a parent doctor from the other team runs to the sideline to examine my leg. He too feels it is only a bone bruise but recommends that I go get an x-ray to be sure. The game ends with us losing 3-2. The team was devastated, but they were much more concerned with my leg. Our rival school knew of my future at Notre Dame. After the game they were screaming at their own goalie for injuring me. They all came over to shake my hand and wish me the best. The pop was still resonating in my mind.
We go to the hospital to find that I indeed fractured my tibia all the way through the bone. I was to be put in a cast up to my hip for 3 months, which went past the time I was to report at Notre Dame. I received countless texts and emails containing prayers and sympathy. It didn’t matter to me. My whole season was shot and maybe even my future career. Fortunately I recovered. It took a lot of hard work, but I made it back.
The point of this story is that speed bumps are put in the way of our ultimate goal, but they can be overcome. They may slow us down a bit, but we can still reach our destination.
Luke Mishu
ND Soccer
Social Foundations of Coaching

Soccer - an analysis of the system

Soccer, the most popular sport in the entire world, is in a state of disarray. A large majority of the teams in the Barclays Premier League, Europe’s most profitable league soccer league, are in over $75 million of debt. Currently only 4 of the 20 teams in England’s top tier of football are making a profit, and this figure is projected to get worse with the current market. Some teams are in such a terrible state that even if the team had no expenses they would be still be unable to pay off their debts for 3 to 5 years. With teams being so uninterested in addressing their financial issues, how are they going to continue to operate with their current expenses?
One of the main reasons why so many clubs are in debt is player transfers. European football does not trade players in the same way teams in the United States do. They rarely make trades or have free agents to buy. For the most part teams buy and sell players. In this buying market the clubs with larger revenues buy and the ones with smaller revenues sell. This results in the top teams buying established players for large sums of money and the smaller teams having to sell their star players and find younger players to be able to afford running their club. This creates a huge gulf in skill between the historically great teams and the newly established teams.
This system creates a never-ending cycle of teams needing to win to afford the players to continue to win and increase their revenues. The best teams in Europe (the top 4 in England) play in the European Champions League with additional revenues of around $40 million for just taking part in the competition. This large amount of money is very attractive and spurs the best teams to continue winning. For the worse teams, motivation comes in another form. If a team falls to one of the bottom three places in the league, they get relegated from their current league into the one below them. This league drop comes at a cost of nearly $50 million in revenue due to sponsorship, television revenue, and ticket sale losses. Therefore every team must stay competitive; otherwise they will have to sell off their best players because they will be unable to afford their high wages. No team wants to find itself in that situation so they are compelled to continually reinvest, even if they don’t have the means to do so.
This is where the problem lies. For a team to be competitive they must have a significant payroll, but if they are not good enough and get relegated they are trapped in a financial model that they cannot sustain. Their profits shrink while still have to pay for their players, usually resulting in significant debt. Therefore, to avoid this fate, owners choose to invest in their teams with both cash and loans. The problem with that is that they have been priced out of the market. A few ultra rich owners have come out with their own cash and significantly changed the wage structure and the money it costs to buy players. Their insane spending habits have let to an inflated transfer market and players expecting wages that are unrealistic. Both Chelsea and Manchester City of the Barclays Premier League are spending roughly $40 million per year on player transfers with this number looking to rise substantially because of the rising market value of players. Keep in mind these enormous sums do not include player salaries. These spending splurges make it difficult for other clubs to compete when they don’t have an owner who has a personal net worth of over $7 billion. The result is that lesser teams choose to take out loans to afford the players to make them competitive, resulting in the debt problems throughout soccer.
Manchester City is the perfect example of a team to show the flaws of the current system. They have an owner who has invested over $500 million over the past 2 years. They have players costing over $35 million that ride the bench and never play for the team. When the team doesn’t win, they just throw money at new players who they believe can play even better. They have a wage bill that exceeds the total revenue they bring in. Their seemingly unlimited spending has also driven up player costs for other perspective teams. In short, Manchester City is the definition of a team that is not at all sustainable and is also ruining the game. This past year they spent over $60 million for a single player.
On the other hand, Arsenal is a club in the Barclays Premier League that tries to do things right. They are the only team who consistently makes the European Champions League, has a wage bill less than one third of their total revenue, and has posted consecutive years of net profit. Their team strategy is one of youth. They buy the best young players when they are inexperienced and give them the opportunity to play every week, a rare occurrence for other top teams.
This strategy has been chided, mostly from those critics who believe that they will never win a trophy because their team lacks the experience and leadership needed to win. This has been true for the past 6 years in which Arsenal have failed to a trophy. The fans see these shortcomings and plead for a reinvestment of those earnings. The fans feel they need to pay for players with experience and leadership because Arsenal needs to start winning it all. Their manager went into the transfer market this summer to try to find those key players who he believed would put Arsenal over the edge. To his dismay, he found the market to be overpriced and unrealistic for a financially responsible club, returning with a few players under 20 years of age and a few former stars, with a history of injuries. This did little to comfort the fans, especially after players like up and coming midfield starlet Samir Nasri held the club for ransom and refused to sign a new contract. (He ended up at Manchester City for what was reported as double the salary Arsenal offered)
Arsenal’s fans, however, must be realistic. Every team cannot afford to spend the $80, $65, and $55 million Manchester City, Chelsea, and Manchester United respectively can and did this off-season. They are in a position to be both competitive and fiscally responsible, a situation most clubs would love to have. Spending an average of $1.5 million a year on transfers is much more respectable and impressive considering the $15 million other clubs in the top four of the Barclays Premier League choose to spend every year.
This large financial gap is why Arsenal consistently finds themselves punching above their weight. A team whose opening day lineup had 2 players over the age of 24 simply cannot compete with proven superstars in their prime. The past 6 years have shown that although they can be competitive, they just don’t have the resources to win it all. Despite their lack of league titles, I stand by Arsenal and their insistence to not be bullied into pouring money into an inflated and ridiculous transfer market. By creating a model that allows them to compete and be fiscally responsible, their approach is to be admired even if they do struggle to put together a championship team consistently.
Soccer needs to find a way to make their teams more accountable and create a certain element of equity in their league. If this continues, only be a handful of teams will be in competition for the title, and most of those teams will be unable to pay their bills. I am aware that UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) is starting to make a stand with financial fair play regulations, but it will not stop teams like Manchester City finding ways around the rules. They will find ways to put their owners money onto the playing field, and no team will be able to compete without incurring large amounts of debt. To remedy this, an independent accounting firm should be employed to access their accounts and ensure that teams aren’t spending money that they’re not making or going to make in the very near future. Otherwise, the soccer landscape will soon be filled with teams incurring insurmountable amounts of debt with no true way to address the issue.
Matthew Cirillo
Social Foundations of Coaching Class
University of Notre Dame Class of 2012