Head women's soccer coach Mike Friesen, the winningest coach in Mountain West history and manager of last season's regular-season title winner, was in the midst of the team's spring schedule when all his carefully laid plans changed in a matter of days.
"Initially we were all in shock," Friesen, the owner of 10 league titles said. "Things went so fast from, 'Hey we have some issues here to no practice, to no games, and then to you're going home.' I mean, that was in a matter of I think three days. We had to make some quick decisions on how we change what we were doing because we were in the midst of our spring season. We were putting (the players) in a position to handle a (physical) load in the fall and that means we're putting them under a fair amount of stress. Then, not being able to do that, we had to make some quick adjustments. One thing we did was we went into a maintenance mode right away.
"We'll start into our summer stuff a little earlier so we can make sure we can get some of those stresses on their bodies and to be appropriately prepared for the fall. But from a mental standpoint, because it wasn't our competitive season and results matter less, I think they were able to deal with the fact that spring wasn't happening. Frankly, maybe some of them thought this is not a bad deal because spring is so hard. The bigger challenge for them is going to be thinking about the fall, and if our season gets jeopardized. That'll be a challenge for them to handle."
"Had this never happened, we would have one more spring game, this Friday night. We would still be in our 20 hours per week with the team. We would be training at 7 a.m. every morning, then three times a week in the weight room, team meetings and film. At this point of the year it's more about individual development. The focus is really on what each player needs to do to get better and be prepared for fall, both physically, mentally, and tactically. Usually all those things are happening right now and I think that's the part that's a little disconcerting that we're missing some of that really critical development time."
Straddled with injuries to the side in the spring, Friesen had switched things up before COVID-19 changed everything. "We were doing things a little differently just because of the injuries. A lot of years we will go until spring break concentrating on team training and then get into some of the individual training stuff in April. This year we reversed that order.
"In the fall everything is about preparing for the next game. There is some individual development that is happening, but the reality is that we are prepping tactically for in the next weekend. We are focused on things that we need to do to prepare for a specific opponent. Whereas in the spring, we're not as concerned with who we are playing, but rather working on specific tactical things. It's more of the technical part of those tactical things or other individual aspects we want to work on and get better at. We'd spend all of our time in a week focusing on how we can accomplish that. How to master the techniques to get better, the nuts and bolts. It's team stuff but it's also, individually, what they need to do to be better at a skill and here is how we do it."
THE NEW NORMAL
With social distancing and the state's "stay at home order", Friesen has to work through a new normal.
"I've been on the phone all day already, which is crazy," the two-time Mountain West Coach of the Year said in an early afternoon interview. "We would normally have a once-a-month head coach's meeting, which is now every week. And then in regard to team stuff, it is just different because normally we're doing everything in person, but that is obviously not happening any time soon. Now we have a weekly meeting for each position group, a team meeting, academic meetings, and compliance is having meetings. It feels like it's so much more because we're doing it all on calls, instead of in person. In addition, I'm probably on the phone with at least one player every day just to check in with them.
"We set up all their physical maintenance programs. There's a lot of running that they can do on their own and they're doing bodyweight lifts. Thankfully (strength and conditioning coach) Eddie (Padilla) has put together a really good workout for people that they can do in their house without any equipment. They all have a computer link to see exactly what they're supposed to be doing and the timing of those things in their daily workout. I think that gives them something, soccer wise, to focus on each day. We have them in a program that's not so involved that they need other people or other things to workout. We can be in that maintenance mode until we can get back together and expand things."
Not only does Friesen spend a lot of time doing Zoom meetings and phone calls with his team and athletics staff, he also has used the internet to stay connected with other coaches around the nation.
"I've had a few Zoom calls with coaches in the Midwest talking about scheduling and things like that. The concern for all of us is not that physically the players are getting what they need, because I think most of them are. Given a workout and some direction most are going to handle those things. It's more of the mental component of being connected to your team and connected to other people that concerns us. So most of our discussions are more focused around the mental aspect of the game rather than sharing what we're doing from a physical standpoint. It's more 'how are you connected with your team.' I'm also in a couple of Facebook groups that have coaches from all different levels of youth, college and club and we're sharing ideas and experiences."
WHAT 2020 COULD LOOK LIKE
With so much uncertainty Friesen has to plan for the best but be flexible.
"We have our schedule done for the fall and it has 20 games. Right now, there are a couple of things we are in conversations about. The first is potentially losing in our conference tournament and secondarily would be the loss of some of our non-conference games, based on what the conference decides.
"Yesterday I was on a national call representing the Mountain West. We discussed what is happening in every conference. Some conferences are just making budget cuts and letting their schools do what they need to do within their game schedules. Other conferences are going to limit games to only the conference schedule, but no conference tournament. So, we're waiting to see what our conference decides. This is the year we have just two away games in our non-conference schedule. One is at USD and the other is at Sacramento State. So, if we are required to take four games off our non-conference schedule, it's actually not going to save us much money but it's going to make it equitable for the rest of the conference."
Asked if he was concerned that possibly canceling the Mountain West Tournament this year may become a permanent thing, Friesen responded, "I don't think that's been in any of the discussions I've been involved in. I've been told that it would be a one-year fix in our coaches' meetings. But it's definitely a concern for some people. We're always concerned about keeping that experience. We've had many classes that have come through San Diego State that have gotten 10-to-12 postseason games under their belt. Those games are massive as we go into the NCAA Tournament. It's critical that we have that experience of playing in a hostile win or go home environment. So, I hope that's not the case, but at the same time we want to preserve sports in order to preserve our sport. We want to make sure we have a sport so we're willing to do whatever it takes. But right now I'm not overly concerned that it's going to be a multiple year or a long term thing."
The Aztecs played all but their final spring game and Friesen was happy with what he saw, especially from his keepers after the graduation of two-time MW Defensive Player of the Week and member of the 2019 MW All-Newcomer Team, Brooke Lisowski.
"We had pretty good play this spring from our goalkeepers. (Sophomore) Poonam (Ranu) had a really good spring but Clarissa (Ramirez, a redshirt freshman) did a really good job as well and I feel comfortable with both of them. I think Alexa (Madueno, a freshman) is certainly somebody that we're looking to come in and challenge for that starting role right away. The keeper question wasn't necessarily going to be answered until August when we get back anyway. But we've kind of been addressing that for a few years and understanding that's kind of the route we're going down.
"As a coach, the spring is one of the most valuable times we get. In some ways, spring is more important to our success in the fall. So it's a bit frustrating we lost some games, but so did everybody else. It's not like we lost any more than anybody else, but I do think that those are the experiences and playing opportunities that we would love to have for some younger players. I like to get game action for some of them or time in different spots for instance. Just to give you that experience to look at different things for her. And we did that with a few players. It hasn't been catastrophic because we didn't lose a massive portion of our spring season or anything like that, but we did lose that ability to have some development time that doesn't have consequence like they do in the fall."
With now one month away from his team, more of the same in the future and the ultimate outcome still to be determined, Friesen looks forward to one thing…seeing and competing with his team.
"There's so much up in the air right now that we're just going to be excited to get back together and get to the things we've been talking about as a team. Regardless of what our season ends up looking like schedule wise, it'll be great to be back together and just competing alongside each other. I'm excited to get back to just being able to see them. I really enjoy being around my team and you really find out what you miss and what is important in a situation like this."