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Message: [QUOTE="BRS24, post: 4303647, member: 197"] There is some truth to Dorrance's coaching observations. I read his book many years ago, and will try to remember and paraphrase what he said, so apologies for any awkward phrasing. Something along the lines of women were less willing to compete in practice and beat the %^& out of each other, and his goal was to have every practice be super competitive without losing friends. When you walked off the pitch, you left the battles there. From [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anson_Dorrance']Wikipedia[/URL] : [I]Dorrance's success comes from several interrelated attributes. First, he has an eye for recruiting outstanding talent.[URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anson_Dorrance#cite_note-6'][6][/URL] Related to that is his emphasis on competitiveness. He noted early in his time as a women's coach that women seemed to have an inhibition against open competition. He decided to develop an atmosphere at UNC in which women were rewarded for having an aggressive desire to win. Finally, he noted from his work with both the men's and women's teams that women tended to play best in an atmosphere which focused on relationships. Dorrance was able to bring out his players' aggressiveness and competitiveness while also fostering an almost family sense of the team.[URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anson_Dorrance#cite_note-7'][7][/URL] Regarding the aggressiveness, [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Clara_University']Santa Clara University[/URL] women's soccer coach Jerry Smith noted in a 1998 [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_Illustrated']Sports Illustrated[/URL] article, "When you watch them, you can see the edge they have. I'll go beyond aggressiveness. It's meanness. Anson has found a way to bring that out of his players." [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mia_Hamm']Mia Hamm[/URL] added in the same article, "I grew up always good at sports, but being a girl, I was never allowed to feel as good about it as guys were. My toughness wasn't celebrated. But then I got to the [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_North_Carolina_at_Chapel_Hill']University of North Carolina[/URL], and it was O.K. to want to be the best."[URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anson_Dorrance#cite_note-8'][8][/URL] [/I] [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach