One day in July of 2016 Facebook told me it was the anniversary of my initial arrival in Sweden. I was only there initially for a couple of weeks to get to know the Svedala area a bit after leaving England. I went to Germany for about three weeks before I actually began work with the team at the start of preseason.
At that point I didn’t know what the future had in store for me. I knew I was coaching my first professional team. That’s about it. For the first time in a while I didn’t have concerns about my next step in life.
Seven months later it was a very different situation. I’d just been cut loose by the club out of the blue. It was definitely a shock, and it stung. At that point, though, my main focus was on getting out of Sweden and finding a new job. Then I had to move and start a new position. It was a whirlwind that probably didn’t give me as much time to process things emotionally as might have been the case otherwise.
A couple weeks before the Facebook notice I chatted with one of the Svedala players. I asked her how things went after I left. As much as I wanted to know during the season what changes there were – if any – I didn’t want to ask. It could have been a distraction, which would not have been fair to the team.
Anyway, major changes were highly unlikely. The squad was too small and the player positions and roles were well-established. She confirmed that and told me the big issue the rest of the season was player confidence in certain areas. Sadly, that was a reversal of a major focus from the first part of the season.
Surprisingly to me, some emotion about that whole Svedala situation bubbled up at that point. The timing was interesting given the anniversary. I found myself thinking about going back to Sweden some day with the intent to dominate the Elitserie with another club. It’s definitely an “I’ll show you!” type attitude.
And thus do you learn that telling me I can’t or I’m not good enough is a great way to motivate me to show you just what I am capable of – at your expense. 🙂
P.S. I had similar feelings when I didn’t get the head job at Midwestern State – perhaps even stronger.
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