Assistant Coach, Clay Christenson gives his weekly thoughts about the team on the blog known as “From the Box”.

As a team, we expect to win every game. It’s difficult to play well, fight
for every ball, and not come out on top. Unfortunately, we’ve had results this year that aren’t reflective of how good we are or how hard we work. What the guys do show day in and day out at practice and in games is character and heart. It takes a lot of character to come out each day and work your guts out, despite having your back against the wall all year. I’m deeply impressed with how hard the players fight, even though the season hasn’t gone according to plan.

The last week of practice for the year is always surreal for the players who are graduating. It’s tough to close this chapter in their lives, but I know they’ll work just as hard as ever as they prepare to play their last games as a BYU Cougar.

BYU plays its final two games of the season this week. (BYU Photo)

Assistant Coach, Clay Christenson gives his weekly thoughts about the team on the blog known as “From the Box”.

We’re coming off a great win Saturday night.  It was nice to see our offense have a breakthrough game but there’s not much time to enjoy the victory because the upcoming weekend is the most important of the entire year. Both the Hollywood Hitmen and Ventura County Fusion are vying for the division crown, and desperately need a good result as well. We will be ready.  Every player on our team needs to be at the top of their game. With only two days of practice, the team will focus on what we do best—work. The only consistent success we’ve had this year has been our work rate.  We pride ourselves on out-working our opponents.

To be successful against two of the top teams in the league this weekend, we’ll have to overwhelm them with our energy and organization. No need for big pep talks, the players know what’s at stake and everyone is excited to showcase our talent.

Brady Marshall and the Cougars face Hollywood and Ventura this week in Provo. (BYU Photo)

Assistant Coach, Clay Christenson gives his weekly thoughts about the team on the blog known as “From the Box”.

After a tough weekend road trip, we’re all excited to return home for four of our remaining five games. Playing in front of a home crowd builds confidence for our players and we’ll need that as we prepare to play the best teams in the division over the next few weeks.
 
The Ogden Outlaws are a team that’s easy to get excited for because whenever you play an instate opponent you’re not only battling for points, but also for pride. I can guarantee that there’s not a hungrier team in the Premier Development League than BYU and even though we’re late in the season, our practices will continue to get more intense and the expectations will raise. As a staff, we’re still looking for players who can prove themselves each day at practice and those will be the players who get minutes on Saturday night. Because our roster is so large, every day players have an opportunity to break into the starting 11.

Assistant Coach, Clay Christenson gives his weekly thoughts about the team on the blog known as “From the Box”.

With 4 of our remaining 7 games at home, there’s still a real possibility of making the playoffs. It’s going to take a great effort and we’ll need to overcome our biggest obstacle which is simply confidence and belief in ourselves. We’ve proven  that we can compete with the best teams in our division, but can we finish balls when we need to and get on a roll with a few wins?

I know the players aren’t satisfied with the first half of the season, and their work rate has been good both at practice and on the game field. However, to turn the switch from merely being a good team to a great team, we’ll need a few special players to rise up and make a difference. During our few days of preparation before we leave for Fresno, we’ll compete for starting positions 1-11, everyone is going to have to earn their spot. That should make for a highly competitive atmosphere at practice.

Assistant Coach, Clay Christenson gives his weekly thoughts about the team on the blog known as “From the Box”.

The team has had a week off and we’re anxious to step back on the field and prepare for two big games this weekend. Whenever the guys take a week off from training, it takes time to ramp back up to the intensity and quality of play we had before the break. As a coaching staff, we’ll do our best to minimize that time by providing a very competitive environment at practice this week. We’ll also need to get our fitness level back, which means we’ll push the players very hard today and tomorrow.

In our last match, we tied the defending PDL champs on their home field. We had opportunities to win that game and I know everyone is hungry to now play at home in front of our crowd. Six points this weekend will put us right back in the hunt for a playoff spot.

Assistant Coach, Clay Christenson gives his weekly thoughts about the team on the blog known as “From the Box”.

This is a huge weekend for us. Hollywood and Ventura are two of the top teams in the division, and Ventura won the PDL Championship last year. Now that the season is in full swing, training a team of 25 guys is a little more tricky, especially because about half are playing significant minutes each weekend. We always tell the players who did not play, that they need to make up the fitness they missed, otherwise they fall way behind. We want to work hard at practice, but not overdue it, because we need everyone fresh for the weekend.

We’ll spend more time on finishing this week and continue with the topic of 1 v 1 attacking so we can be more dangerous going forward. Whenever we go on the road, our first priority is a shutout on the board. We know that if we get the shutout we’re guaranteed at least one point and in a league as tough as ours  even one point on the road is a good thing.

Assistant Coach, Clay Christenson gives his weekly thoughts about the team on the blog known as “From the Box”.

Tough weekend. The good news is we dominated our opponents, we just couldn’t find the back of the net. To say that we’re going to be hungry for a win this weekend is an understatement. Any time you get 40 shots off in 2 games without a goal, you’re beyond anxious for the next game to start so you can have a better result. That’s where we’re at now, nowhere to go but up, and I’m confident the guys are up to the challenge.

With only 2 days to train before we hit the road, we’ll have to be efficient and pick out the most important things to work on. Obviously finishing will be at the top of our list, but we’ll also need to instill a renewed confidence in all the players. I’m very excited for the uphill climb. I think the best way to find out how much character a team has is to see how they react when their backs are against the wall. The one thing I guarantee about this team is that we’ll fight until the very last minute of the very last game of the season.

Go Cougs!

Assistant Coach, Clay Christenson gives his weekly thoughts about the team on the blog known as “From the Box”.

Assistant Coach, Clay Christenson

We had a fantastic game last Wednesday against Mexico’s U-21s and we need to build off that momentum for our home openers this Friday and Saturday night. With two very good teams coming into town (LA Legends, Lancaster Rattlers), we’ll have a great week of practice to help us prepare.

We have a few big advantages over the competition when they come to Provo. First, the elevation change takes a toll on the visitor’s fitness level and teams tend to run out of gas more quickly. Secondly, our field is longer and wider than any of the competition. As a result, we hold the ball very well on our big field which also tires out the competition. Lastly, there’s nothing like playing in front of a home crowd. Playing in front of family and friends provides confidence and energy for our guys.

We need to come away with 6 points and establish ourselves as a division contender.

Assistant Coach, Clay Christenson gives his weekly thoughts about the team on the blog known as “From the Box”.

It took us only 7 minutes to dig a hole that would ultimately take 83 minutes to dig out on Saturday night (against Orange County) but we did it.  The guys showed a lot of fight and we’re excited to build on that this week.  What an amazing opportunity the guys have to play against some of the best players in the world on Wednesday night.   Many of the players we’ll go head to head against, will be vying for Mexico’s world cup team in 2014.  It doesn’t get much better than that.  These are the games you remember for the rest of your life.  I know the guys are very excited about it.

Assistant Coach, Clay Christenson shares his thoughts on Monday's on the blog.

Coach Sackett, and his wife Aubrey have had their baby. He was born early Saturday morning. They now have a boy in the family to join their daughter Bella. Both baby and Mom are doing well.