Hello Luxembourg! Now I can hear the whispers starting already, "Who is this American DV idiot who thinks he can coach a U21?" To answer the question, yes; I am an idiot and no, I don't think I can coach a U21. But I'm willing to try.
A little about me: I started this game in season 15, and was barely active. I promoted quickly to DIV, and hung around the US offsite and observed how everything went on. I picked up quite a bit of advanced things, but never really made an effort to involve myself in the community. Eventually, due to other commitments, my team went inactive and I was MIA for about a year. However, I decided to start afresh. One of the greatest appeals of this game to me is the NT/U21 system, is that it forces us to create a community in order to win. I realized that honestly this game is no fun without participating in the community. A DI trophy isn't as much fun if you don't have anyone who you can gloat with. :p
So now I've officially become more active in the community, and hope to really invest and give back to the system. Yes, I do not have a lot of experience in higher leagues, and yes you may call me a newbie if you wish. But I've had the opportunity to see how the U21 works at a high level, and my goal is to attempt to lay some groundwork so that Luxembourg can eventually play as a competitive team.
Take note, if I accomplish anything during my term, it will be small and seemingly minuscule, but what makes an U21 great is not the manager, it's the community. The manager's primary job other than setting tactics is to invest into the community to create a pipeline of players from active managers who communicate and are dedicated to the team. This is a hard thing to do. I can't do it during one short term. But my goal is to continue to cultivate that community for the next manager. Here are a couple of goals that I would like to set for the U21 this year:
1. Not use 2-3 zone. I know this is rather stupid, but I would rather not go into details as to why this strategy is not effective at high levels. True, we are able to contest more shots inside, but that simply allows the opponent to take more uncontested shots on the outside, generally leading to more 3 pointers. The benefits simply do not outweigh the cost. Man to man tends to work best, but we are more free to experiment on offense.
2. More clearly define what kind of player builds we're looking for. It's really helpful to managers if the U21 gives them a template to use so they can kind of see what they're shooting for. It would also be effective to experiment with other player builds. Most bigs have now evolved into ID/RB/IS monsters, who are really one trick ponies just focused on pumping one or two skills, but by the time they turn 22 lose most of their value as they have been poorly trained. Guards these days have become PA/OD junkies, meant only to get the ball into the hands of the bigs. In the interest of future success, it would be in the best interest of Luxembourg to experiment with different player builds to make a more sustainable team with players that can make an easy transition into the NT. The popular player builds now will soon be obsolete, so we must continue to stay ahead of the curve, and be unpredictable.
I'm not a Superman. If I am elected, don't expect radical new players to come bursting out of the ground left and right. Most likely, my record will not reflect well upon my intentions. But I'm not about wins and losses right now, I'm about building up a community that is needed in order for this U21 team to be successful. I'm about laying some building blocks for the next manager after me, and investing in the pipeline 3-4 seasons down the road. If you're looking for a guy to make a quick turn around and assert Luxembourg's dominance, then don't vote for me. But I'm willing to invest into this program to make it a competitor and stronger in the future. We've got a lot of work to do.
Last edited by Aradrad at 11/27/2012 7:30:01 PM