"Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play…it is war minus the shooting."
The Man watching
Return to the book list for titles beginning with 't'.
a biography of Anson Dorrance the unlikely architect of the greatest college sports dynasty ever, Tim Crothers, Sports Media Group, Ann Arbor, 2006. ISBN 978-1-58726-434-4 352 pages
The book is a biography of a successful American college women’s “soccer” coach. The strength of the book is in the insights into the mind of the coach and in his approach to coaching women; the weakness is tedious accounts of seasons.
The book starts slowing with the first three chapters setting the scene and developing the story of his entry into coaching and his first success. His team was not to lose for
103 games. is the insights into the mind of the coach,
What is Dorrance’s philosophy? It is hard to sum up succinctly: He believes the three key ingredients to every player’s success are self-discipline, competitive fire, and self-belief, and he tries to identify and fortify each player’s fragile area. “I never think of players in terms of other players, because I believe every player is incredibly unique,” he says. “My job is to find out away to let her know she’s unique, accelerate her unique qualities, and hide her weaknesses.” (Page 105) He talks of walking “a precarious tightrope of caring for you and challenging you at the same” (Page 275)
He doesn’t scout its opponents with the detail that most schools do because he doesn’t want to overwhelm his players with information and because he isn’t going to make any adjustments in his system anyway. The pregame message is that if UNC play their best they will win, so why worry what the opposition are going to do.
He coaches with calm, never shouts. Unlike male leadership, which is more hierarchic and tends to function through intimidation and memorandum, Dorrance’s leadership style is designed to be more respectful and receptive.
In a tight game he is reluctant to make substitutions - or even shout instructions in case in suggests panic and undermines the confidence of the players on the field. There is a story of how he was going to make a substitution but allowed himself to be talked out of it by a senior player. (Page 143)
Page 142-43 gives a fascinating account of the relationship between coach and the player. For Dorrance, the coach’s job is to get players to take responsibility.
Dorrance says. “Coaching isn’t knowing the game; it’s figuring out a way to have the players do what we want. Coaching is about having an effect”. (Page 141)
There are several references to his ability to know how to deal with individual players: Says Kristine Lilly: “Anson constantly reminded me of what I did best, which was great for my confidence.” (Page 126)
Dorrance once saw Mia Hamm training on her own and pushing herself to the point of exhaustion. From this he developed a mantra: “The vision of a champion is someone who is bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of exhaustion when no one else is watching”. (Page 107)
There is a fascinating section on his different approach needed for men and women (Page 76-78) and how he gave the Gift of fury to the girls’ team and how it transformed them (Page 74). One aspect of that is allowing girls to be competitive. Several girls are quoted as saying that before they met Dorrance they were not allowed to be competitive:
Cindy Parlow: “I remember growing up playing sports I was always trying to win every game I played. People would always ask me, ‘Why are you playing so hard? Why are you trying so hard?’ It was frustrating. Anson said it was OK to try to carve people up. It was such a relief. For the first time in my life, I felt it was OK to win.” Page 94
Catherine Reddick: “I think a lot of college soccer people are bitter towards our program... That take-no-prisoners mentality comes from Anson, and it bothers people outside the program who like to say, ‘Why not just play the game and have fun?’ Playing hard is what’s fun for us. What’s wrong with that?” (Page 103)
Brandi Chastain: “I think Anson was one of the very first individuals, male or female, to be able to motivate women to combine physical activity with emotion”. (Page 304)
Julie Foudy “The thing I love about Anson is that he was the first one to condone women being competitive, ripping opponents’ head off, chewing them up and spitting them out. Basically a ‘f... you’ mentality. He allowed me to be the competitive sonofabitch that I knew I was. We were all competitive, but not verybody knew it until he brought it out in all of us.” (Page 154)
Dorrance believes he is fighting against a sociology that discourages women from being competitive. “So much of what girls have been taught growing up is about cooperation and acquiescence. Women have the superior understanding that friendships are more important than winning the game, and there’s really nothing in their culture that encourages them to be competitive. Girls who compete are considered bitches. Girls would rather be accepted and liked than be competitive and respected. We want the girls in system to understand that we don’t want you to be popular, we want you to be respected. My job is to change their natural course.” (Page 94)
Anson converted to Mormonism (Pages 228-9) but this is not a major theme.