A win and injuries

We played the Ljubljana Silverhawks in a CEFL game this past weekend and came away with a win 47-8. It was one of those games where offensively we could do whatever we wanted. The running game was working well so we just kept with it and our starting running back ended up with over 200 yards. All in all, a pretty good showing. That is the good news. The bad news is that the injury bug has started to creep up again. Two of our American players Zach Howard and Joe Sturdivant are injured and will miss this weeks game and possibly the next as well. This makes our already thin secondary and receiving corps even thinner. We will trot out there for this Saturdays game with 3 receivers and 3 defensive backs and pray that no one gets hurt. That could be said about every game we play, but especially this week. These injuries faciliated some drastic measures this week.

I went through the necessary step to be eligible to play! Both Zach and Joe were backup QB's and we have an Austrian kid who can kind of play QB, but it would be a struggle. If nothing else, I would at least know the offense and be able to hand the ball of to the right guy. It is a lot of paperwork and BS to be honest in order to become certified. The kicker was that I had to get a physical before I could be certified. Now a routine physical is no big deal. I have had one of those before and while I am not in tip top shape I am as healthy as most 24 year olds. The only problem was that this was not a routine physical. This was an athletic performance physical. So along with all of the usual things they test and ask, I had to be hooked up to a machine that monitored my heart rate while riding a bike. Now the best part about this little bike ride was that I had to pedal at a certain speed while every minute it becomes more and more difficult until I could no longer maintain that speed.

Let me rephrase that in athletic performance terms. THEY MADE ME GO TO FAILURE! Now there is nothing wrong with that, except for that fact that I haven't pushed myself to failure while exercising since high school. Suffice it to say that my performance and subsequent heart rate was sub par. I had to explain to them that I came over here in "coach shape" and not playing shape. There is a vast difference. All in all, it was a cool thing and I am now quite aware of my current physical fitness state. I would have paid good money for something like that in the states. If I had only known ahead of time I maybe could have done some running so my performance would have been less embarassing.

Here is the best part. After I went through all of the hoops in order to be certified to play, I won't be able to play because I am classified as an "A" player. My understanding of an "A" player is that it is anyone who has played NCAA or professional in the U.S. Since I do not fall into that category, we all assumed that I would be certified without any problems. I just learned today though that since I am paid by the team for coaching that I would have to be classified as an "A." Long story short, it is BS. What the written rules say and what actually happens here tends to be different. There are those who in power in this league who often pull power plays. No matter where one goes in the world, there is always political games involved.

This week marks the unofficial halfway point for my time here in Austria. The strange thing is that it means that I am starting to think about what I will do when I get back home to the states. There is not a day that goes by that I do not check the coaching job board. I would be lying if I said that it has been encouraging. At this point in time, I am looking for a full time coaching job with a good program. To say that those are hard to come by would be an understatement. If I am unable to secure a full time college coaching job, I am going to explore any and all options including getting out of coaching entirely.

I love the game, I love coaching, and I truly believe that it is the best job in the world. All that being said, I have come to learn that coaching itself just simply is no longer enough. This is my 5th season coaching and I have poured an inordinate amount of time and energy into coaching. I love it, but I know 15 years from now I do not want to be that coach who is 40 years old, single, has been at 7 or so different colleges waiting for that big break, and sits in the bar all the time chasing skirts. That just isn't me nor do I want it to be. It may come to fruition that I will get out of coaching, move to the Twin Cities, and get a regular 9-5 like everyone else. Right now, I just don't know what the right move is and I am keeping all of my options open. If anyone knows of any job opportunities available don't hesitate to let me know.

That is all I have for now. Hope all is well back home. Take care

--Josh