BOOK REVIEW
Chapter Four : Seeing Is Believing
TJ Kostecky // Head Men ’ s Soccer Coach & Asst . Athletic Director for Leadership , Bard College
Through forty years of vision training , both on and off the soccer field , it ’ s often been my experience that the people and players who benefit from it the most are initially the biggest skeptics . Their blinders are so firmly in place that it ’ s virtually impossible for them to see beyond their own tunnel field of vision . So they refuse even to try . It ’ s classic resistance . And as any good therapist knows , you can ’ t resist resistance . You need to find a way around it .
To show you what I mean , let me tell you about my good friend Glenn Crooks . If you follow soccer in the U . S ., you no doubt know Glenn ’ s name . The guy ’ s a legend , with a career that spans more than five decades , including fourteen years as the head coach of the Rutgers University ’ s Division I women ’ s soccer program . These days , fans of Major League Soccer know him as the national radio voice of New York City FC , and he also hosts several popular podcasts — The Coaching Academy , On Frame , and Soccer in the City .
Like I said , Glenn is big-time . When we first met in the early 1980s , he and I were both just starting out in the game . He was a cub sports reporter at a local radio station in New Jersey and I was cutting my teeth as a high school assistant soccer coach and summer camp director .
One of my early ventures had been starting tournament in Jefferson Township , New Jersey , that within a few years was attracting many of the biggest men ’ s clubs in the metro NY / NJ area , like the Metuchen Rovers and the famed Dover Strikers . I thought it would be cool to get some local media coverage . Glenn had a growing interest in soccer , so he agreed to come down and cover some of the action , including the championship match between my own club , Jefferson Township SC and Dover , played on a patchy grass pitch before a few hundred fans , most of them immigrants from places like Mexico , South Africa , Costa Rica , Scotland , Germany and Italy . Future U . S . National Team , World Cup and Premier League standout Roy Wegerle was an 18-year-old college player at that time who I managed to recruit on my Jefferson team that weekend . Roy scored the winning goal ( off a gloriously hard-driven cross from my college roommate Mike Buday ) falling to his knees as he gently coaxed the ball with his head into the lower right corner of the goal . Another legend in the making .
Glenn and I chatted a bit that weekend , then kept in touch in the ensuing years . When one of my zanier side projects involved the distribution of a non-alcoholic wine , Glenn was good enough to have me on his call-in radio show at the time . His first question for me : “ Why the hell would I want to drink this stuff ? I ’ m trying to catch a buzz , man !”
Anyway , fast forward fifteen years or so . I ’ d continued down my soccer path , getting the Vision Training Soccer program in full swing , while building out my career as a college coach , starting with a five-year stint at New Jersey Institute of Technology . In 1998 , I made the move to Appalachian State University ( ASU ) in North Carolina , and took on the challenge of rebuilding their DI program . ASU was once a national power under legendary U . S . soccer emissary Hank Steinbrecher . I ’ d been excited to restore the program to its former glory . Unfortunately , my wife Donna really missed living in the northeast , so I was looking around for my next gig , which is how I ended up in the staff parking lot at Long Island University ( LIU ) in downtown Brooklyn . As I was riding down the elevator it slowed to a stop , the doors opened , and who should walk in but Glenn Crooks .
“ Oh , so you ’ re the surprise applicant everyone is talking about ,” he said .
Glenn ’ s casual interest in soccer had developed into a full-blown passion , not to mention his full-time occupation . He ’ d spent a decade at the high school level , coaching the girls ’ team at his alma mater , Ridge High School , in northern New Jersey . He also plied the trade with the NJYS Olympic Development Program ( ODP ) and the Players Development Academy ( PDA ), one of the nation ’ s premier soccer programs . That had catapulted him to the collegiate level , starting with the women ’ s program at LIU . The first-ever coach of the Blackbirds , he developed the Long Island program from the ground up .
“ Well ,” I said , holding open the elevator door , “ Donna really
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