U.S. Men's soccer

Last night I watched the US play El Salvador in a World Cup qualifier. The US won 2-1 plus they had a goal called back after an extremely puzzling call by the official so it could have been 3-1. Unfortunately, the score could have just as easily been 2-2 or 2-3.

When Donavon, Altidore, Davies and others are passing and making good runs they can be an exciting team. But for the most part I find them to be extremely frustrating to watch. In the first half the US midfield and back line would give Salvador too much space in the midfield. In one sequence the Salvadoran player dribbled 30 plus yards down the middle of the field before anybody decided it might be good to challenge him. When a defender finally challenged him the guy made a good pass putting even more pressure on the defense. Fortunately from the US perspective, the guy who received the pass didn't have the best touch on the ball and a US defender cleared the ball off the eighteen.

The extremely frustrating part of the game to watch was the second half when the US seemed content to piddle around and "protect" their lead. Instead of possessing the ball and pushing forward they seemed perfectly happy to make two or three passes in the midfield before one of the players would make either a bad pass or lose possession. Dempsey played around with ball, drew defenders, and would then lose possession. Instead of working to get the ball back he would act like he was fouled and then whine when the official didn't make the call (because there was no call to make) El Salvador got off at least two good shots after picking up a loose balls in the midfield.

I tell my players, especially the forwards and midfielders that nothing frustrates me more than a player who loses possession in the midfield and then stands there watching the action, or worse yet, acts like he got fouled. I can live with losing possession because it happens, even to the best of players. But if you lose the ball, you better bust your butt to at least make an attempt to pressure the ball. I've seen way too many goals scored because a forward lost possession, the other team counters, and the guy who lost the ball does nothing. Those are the goals you can see coming. The forward loses the ball, the midfielder is slow to get back, and the defender is caught out of position. The goalie, who has been left hanging, is forced to make a great save to keep the ball out of the net.

I will continue to watch, but if the team is going to qualify for the World Cup and move out of pool play they are going to have to improve their midfield play significantly and tighten up the defense.

So much for my humble analysis.

soccer, the constitution, and the Iowa High School Athletic Association

At the beginning of the soccer season in Iowa, the Iowa High School Athletic Association (IAHSAA) puts together the districts and sub-state brackets and places them on their web site. The teams are grouped geographically and their is no seeding done so it is always a bit of a mystery to see where and who you might play. The last two years we have had to travel to Fort Madison a trip which takes a good two hours in a school bus. After our season ended last year I wrote a letter to the IAHSAA to express my frustration with the situation.

If anybody cares to read the letter it follows. If you don't want to read it all I made the argument that they were acting unconstitutionally by not allowing us to host district games because we do not have a flag or play the national anthem. In return I got a letter from Mr. Anderson basically telling me they wouldn't talk to me about the flag issue. After they realized the school hadn't hired a lawyer they basically ignored the school as well.

So it was sort of a surprise when the IAHSAA called this spring to ask if we would be willing to host a district game even if we didn't have a flag. It also wasn't much of a surprise when we saw the team we would get to play, Cedar Rapids Xavier, generally one of the best teams in the state.My guess its the IAHSAA's way of saying "you made your point, now we'll make ours." I just hope we can make it interesting.

June 4, 2007

Mr. David Anderson, Assistant Executive Director
Iowa High School Athletic Association

Mr. Richard Wulkow, Executive Director
Iowa High School Athletic Association
P.O. Box 10
Boone, IA 50036

Mr. Anderson and Mr. Wulkow,

I am the soccer coach at Iowa Mennonite School and after our season ended I thought it appropriate to share three concerns with you.

First, it is my understanding that Iowa Mennonite School is not allowed to host any district or substate games because the school does not perform the national anthem prior to games. Because of this, IMS teams participating in post season play have had to travel. In the case of the soccer team we made two trips to Fort Madison, a trip which in a school bus requires that we allocate 2 hours of travel time.

I am not a constitutional lawyer, but a quick perusal of Supreme Court cases suggests that any organization, particularly one described as a “State Association,” cannot compel or penalize anyone, or any group, for refusing to participate in practices designed to promote patriotism, such as the Pledge of Allegiance or the national anthem. In West Virginia State Board of Education v Barnette, 1943 the Supreme Court over turned a state law which required all students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. To quote Justice Jackson who authored the majority decision,

“To believe that patriotism will not flourish if patriotic ceremonies are voluntary and spontaneous instead of a compulsory routine is to make an unflattering estimate of the appeal of our institutions to free minds. We can have intellectual individualism [319 U.S. 624, 642] and the rich cultural diversities that we owe to exceptional minds only at the price of occasional eccentricity and abnormal attitudes. When they are so harmless to others or to the State as those we deal with here, the price is not too great. But freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order.”

I would encourage you to note the phrase, “voluntary and spontaneous instead of compulsory…” Jackson adds,

"[i]f there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein."

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=319&invol=624 also see http://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1949/1942/1942_591/

More recent cases decided in Federal District courts seem to me to affirm the Courts decision in West Virginia v Barnette. This would include Lane v. Owens, 2003 and Holloman v Walker County Board of Education, 2004. In both these cases the idea that a school board or State could compel people to participate in patriotic rituals and then punish them in any way was denied.

I realize these cases deal with the Pledge of Allegiance rather than the national anthem but the purpose of both seems to be the same. One of the great things about the United States is that it has a form of government which allows for freedom of expression, even when that expression is not popular. At the same time our constitution also provides the freedom to not participate in certain forms of expression. To force people to participate in patriotic rituals makes a mockery of both patriotism and the principles espoused in our constitution. If we have freedom of speech, but no one dares to say anything unpopular, do we still have freedom of speech?

Mennonites as a group have at times taken positions which are unpopular because of their religious faith. They were among the first religious groups to advocate for the separation of church and state in 1525, and many of them were put to death by both religious and state authorities in the years that followed.

When the United States was founded, the idea that church and state should be separate was enshrined in the first amendment to the constitution. An idea which had at one time been unthinkable now became part of the guiding document which lays out the foundations of our government.

The school’s practice of not performing the national anthem is not done out of disrespect for this country. While it may be seen that way by some, I would argue that we Mennonites are being true to both our religious values and at the same time expressing one of the highest forms of patriotism. In the face of criticism we are willing to call our country to live up to the high ideals it expresses, the importance of the individual, and the right of individuals to express them selves, even when the idea is unpopular. In doing this we follow in a long tradition of dissent and civil disobedience, dating back to those who signed the Declaration of Independence and in so doing broke the laws of their day.

To summarize my first concern, I would argue that the position taken by your organization is unconstitutional and as such it should be changed.

My second concern is related to the first. If you are going to require schools to perform the national anthem prior to district and substate games I would argue that this should be done in a way which shows consistency and respect.

This year we played our first district game against Mid-Prairie in Wellman. The fields are nice and it is only a fifteen minute bus ride, but they did not have a flag and the national anthem was not performed. Last year when we played district games in Mount Pleasant, we had a similar experience as the national anthem was not performed nor do I recall a flag being present.

If the national anthem is so important to perform prior to a district or state athletic event that our school is penalized by not being allowed to host games, why are sites chosen for games where it cannot be performed or flags are not present?

I am frankly more troubled by the situation at Fort Madison and have included pictures taken by one of our athlete’s parents as evidence. Though there was a large flagpole at the end of the field, there was no flag present on this pole. Instead we were directed to look at the flag by the school, some distance away. If the tree had been fully leafed out I doubt the flag would have been visible. When the national anthem was played it was a scratchy recording that did little to stir patriotic fervor.

This was a common experience during the season. One school brought a flag out mounted on what appeared to be a pvc pipe rather than using the stationary flagpole at their field. When the winds blew, the pvc bent and there were times when the flag came in contact with the ground. During the season the one school which handled the national anthem in a dignified way was Columbus (Columbus Jct.). They made use of their regular flagpole and had a student sing the anthem. She did a beautiful job. It was much better than the many recordings I’ve heard played over poor sound systems.

I would ask which shows more respect? Choosing to not display a flag because of one’s religious beliefs and in doing so practicing the freedoms espoused by our country, or not putting up a flag on the flag pole at the field because, maybe it was too much bother, or maybe they just didn’t get around to it?

My third concern has to do with the size of the fields we had to play on, particularly the field at Fort Madison. Our home field is 67 yards wide, that at Mid-Prairie is 70 yards. Then we traveled to Fort Madison to play on a field that according to the officiating crew is 54 yards wide. I think the article from the Fort Madison Daily Democrat summarized it well when they wrote, “In contrast to the physical play of last Saturday’s FMHS opponent, Keokuk, Iowa Mennonite was more a finesse team.”

I know you are trying to clean up the rough play and unsporting conduct too often found in soccer. I would argue that one easy way to do this is to encourage schools to play on fields which are at least 65 yards wide. By not assigning district and substate games to fields which are less than 65 yards, I think you would be helping both soccer, and you would encourage schools to improve their facilities. As I reflect on our season, the roughest and most physical games we played were on the smaller fields.

I wouldn’t mind the two hour trip if we had the opportunity to play on a full size field but to travel that far to play on a very narrow field was not enjoyable. The narrow field had a detrimental affect on my teams play in both games we played at Fort Madison, the one we won against Fairfield and the one we lost to Fort Madison.

One could argue that teams should be able to adapt to different sizes of fields and differing conditions, but imagine what would happen if a basketball team showed up to discover the rims were at 11 feet or maybe just 9 feet, or the football team found the football field was going to be 120 yards long and 65 yards wide. We don’t expect this to happen and for soccer to be taken seriously, I would suggest that your association adopt minimum standards for a soccer field. As a start I would encourage you to choose to assign district and substate games to sites where the fields will be similar in size to those played on at the State tournament.

Thank you for your patience in reading this and for your efforts to provide quality activities for the young people of Iowa.

Marcus Miller

Losing season, cold temps

The presidential candidates have long since left Iowa. The only traces are a few yard signs around town and the many emails I get from all of the campaigns. Most of them ask for money, particularly the ones from Edwards and Huckabee. These two also ask me to contact people I know in South Carolina or Florida to encourage them to support the candidate. Since I don't have much money and I don't know many people in either State I generally hit the delete button.

In addition to my wife's leg we are dealing with cold temperatures. Our thermometer says it is -10 F. I tell my students it teaches them how to deal with adversity.

In the meantime I thought I would put something on here which I wrote back in the fall of 1999 after my soccer team finished the season with a grand total of two wins. If somebody runs across this I hope they find it helpful. The guys I shared it with at the time seemed to appreciate the sentiment.

Fall 1999
Riding home on the bus after a game there is always time to think. One night I remembered something from when I was a student at Eastern Mennonite. After practice as I hurried into the cafeteria, an important looking guy asked why I was so late. I told him I was on the soccer team. He asked how we were doing. I replied "we're having a losing season." He said, "you can learn a lot from losing." I don't remember exactly what I said but it was probably along the line of, "the only thing you can learn from a losing season is that its no fun to lose."

Two years ago after we won the State championship I remember saying all those nice things about how hard work and dedication always lead to success. This caused me to rethink some of those things I've said. The guys on this years team worked hard, they were dedicated, they did, or tried to do what we asked of them and yet our record didn't reflect their effort. Are there things you can learn from a losing season? Let me suggest some.

1. Hard work is no guarantee of success. Hard work is necessary but just working hard won't always ensure success. If you look around this community you can see many people who work their tails off without much to show for it. Farmers are just one example, there are many others.

2. There is pleasure to be found in working hard, especially when you are doing something you enjoy, regardless of the outcome. One of the most gratifying things I will remember from this season was after our last game when one of the seniors, a guy who worked extremely hard to improve his soccer skills said, "this was the most fun sports season I've ever had."

3. Relationships are extremely important. When there are lots of wins it is easy to overlook personality conflicts on a team. When things are not going well even minor conflicts can become major problems. From my perspective this years team got along with each other better than any other team I've coached. That says a lot about the character of these young men.

4. It is important to recognize your strengths and weaknesses, and while high goals are necessary, realistic goals are important. One of the reasons this group related to each other well was because they all took responsibility for themselves. They focused on how they could improve themselves and the team. They didn't focus on how someone else could improve or what someone else could do differently. These guys knew their limitations and they worked to improve themselves.

5. A won-loss record is only one way of measuring success. A won-loss record is obviously the most visible and easiest way to measure success but it is not the only way. In many ways these young men are winners. They know how to work hard in practice and competition. They have learned how to relate to each other under adverse conditions. They put forth maximum effort even when the situation looked bleak.

In my mind you are all winners and I expect you to have much success in the future, in sports, academics, and most importantly, in life. Life isn't always fair, but if you have faith in God, supportive friends and family who share common goals and values, and if you are doing something you enjoy, you will have a "good life."

That is what I wrote back in the fall of 1999. Since then I came across a book by Pat Conroy titled My Losing Season. I would recommend the book. For all the winning teams that people celebrate, there are usually losing teams many of them made up of fine people.