Coach Flip Naumburg's Journal

Monday, December 5, 2005

BEWARE OF MISPLACED EMOTIONS

However dismal things may seem, they can always get worse.  No matter how wonderfully things might be going, they can always get better.

ARE YOU TALKIN' TO ME?

I often fall in love with attitudes, or should I say perspectives?  I like players that have certain qualities.  What coach doesn't have his favorite people and or player parts he sees in one or another of them?

Sometimes, probably due to my advancing age, I am slow to see the light.  Sometimes I am still able to pick out actual player attributes that are right in front of my eyes with no help at all and almost right away.  One never knows now does one?

TIE ME KANGAROO DOWN SPORT

Last year we had a few transfers come in from Division III schools back east.  One of these transplants was a potential flower for our team, but also one of those "bloomers" that shall we say took a while to "grow" on me.  His name is Kyle Rosa.

AMERICAN BEAUTY ROSA

Kyle Rosa (M – 2009?) came to CSU and back to his home in Colorado and family last spring after some time at a school back east.  He definitely had a lot of one thing going for him when he got here, something that I never had as a player or otherwise, and that was astonishing height.  He's about the tallest middie I have ever coached.  The fact that he was advertised as a face-off guy did little to further pre-impress me simply because he is so tall, and I see that as a face-off disadvantage for a player for the most part unless he's got something special I don't know about. 

WATCH OUT FOR TENSES AND INTENSES

At first I can't say that Kyle did have that special thing for us, and last year had me sore about face offs in general, and the face-off X or circle or whatever they do call it now that there is no longer an X painted in the middle of the field was a sore spot in our game.

THANK YOU SIR – MAY I HAVE ANOTHER?

I liked Kyle's attitude from the day that he started playing for us last spring.

He was at once soft spoken but hard driven, and he had a bit of a lady's man appeal to his tall, dark, and handsome look. He was and is interesting as a person. He was and is a pleasure to be around and to coach, but I didn't have him in there either physically or in my mind as a big contributor for most of last year.  He was patient with his almost nonexistent role.  He needed to be. I know, or should I say I think I know that he felt like he could have played a bigger part last year, but he waited.  For my part of things, I just couldn't quite pull the trigger with him in terms of my own confidence in him as a player. 

In some ways it seemed like he still hadn't quite grown into his body, but that is a bit like saying that a giraffe doesn't look tall.  How could one ever grow into something that high off the ground?  His lacrosse skills were decent, needed to improve, but easily could.  It just seemed like he was missing something, and "they" could take the ball away from him too easily.  I wanted to reach out and put my finger on what it might be he most needed to get to the next level because something was definitely there to be "cultivated". In the end I wish I could say I made it it all happen with my green coaching thumb, but that's not what happened.

SEASONS CHANGE AND SO DO I

The blossom I saw pop out this autumn was a Kyle that came back to school with what seemed like a whole new view of himself as a lacrosse player, a bigger passion to play and to really be a "player", and I'm thinking that was the thing.  Now he may have always had the raging fire that became apparent to me only this past late summer.  I admit I might have been missing the good part of Kyle or whatever. 

He may have been exploding already last spring and I might have snoozed through it, but either way what I saw coming this September got me truly excited for us and for him.  He was playing with a total lack of fear while still using his brains.  What a novel concept for a lacrosse player to use.  I like it.  With this kind of a complete ying and yang balanced process going on I can live through the elements of change that a player must go through and the mistakes that might come with.  In my mind the result will be worth it. 

YOU GO, BOY

This evolution as September became November was that I basically began to "green light" Kyle.  He could make his own fearless match-up choices and I would and could live with the action to follow.  I was beginning to trust him and I was encouraging him to lead us with his style of playing and the way he has of attacking the defense.  He was going beyond what he was really capable of at times, and not all his decisions have been perfect, but I saw and see that as what he needs to do for his own development. He likes to be aggressive. So do I.

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

So just as I got out the "pen" to mark down Kyle as a big part of not just our 2006 team, but also our identity, (and I don't mean I was going to use only tall players) the bad thing came to our house and our garden once again.  Injuries are a part of most any game, especially one with as much gratuitous violence as lacrosse, but Kyle got his foot somehow caught on the fake grass at the Edge one night and as non-violent as the instant seemed, in the end his knee gave way and it has become season ending knee surgery and the total rebuilding of the knee which is to take place in a couple of weeks.  Merry Christmas.

So anyway I'm sure this bummed Kyle and his family out, and I felt bad for me as well as him, but then I felt even worse when we were all together and his mom and dad were there at "the dinner" the other night.  The whole thing broke my heart because of all that had happened and how much he had progressed this season leading up to that torn up knee moment.

I'LL BE THERE

Kyle has shown his true and vivid teammate colors by having attended every practice since his injury. On crutches, in pain, whatever, he is there being part of and supporting his team and teammates.

DR. LIVINGSTON, I PRESUME

I personally know the miracle of modern surgery, so I have faith that Kyle can be back better than ever at some point down the road.

YOU GO, BOY - is there an echo in here?

It's easy to like this Rosa. No one will root harder for Kyle Rosa during his rehab than me.  We'll still be here when he gets back up to speed and I wish him God's speed with that.  I could coach a million kids like him. Meanwhile we need some other young midfielder to "step up", so actually I could use one of those million kids right now.....

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Flip Started Blogging Before it was Cool, Read Over 400 of His Entries Since January 2001
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