Available online
Description
There was one moment when Pia Sundhage first came across a football in the small rural town she lived in in Northern Sweden. Instead of catching the ball, as had been intended, she just wanted to k...ick it, and from that moment a long career in football was born.Everyday meant football to Pia, she played with the boys at school, after school, but when it came to joining the boys team, life wasn't so simple. The manager of the local team told Pia that she was going to have to change her name from Pia to a boy's name; Pelle.This didn't put Pia, or Pelle, off and she went on to turn professional in Sweden, play nearly 150 times for her country, scoring 71 goals.It is as a coach that Pia Sundhage has made most headlines though, and in the second of our series of The Managers, Jane Garvey meets Pia to talk about her coaching career which has led to her to her biggest successes.In 2007, Pia took over as coach of a USA Women's team that was in disarray, the squad was split and the atmosphere was described as toxic over a row over the dropping of star goalkeeper Hope Solo. Pia tells Jane about this test to her coaching and management skills in her first big job in world soccer.What she did in the first team meeting won't feature in many text books or coaching seminars but seemed to have worked, she broke into song. After a few verses of Bob Dylan's 'The Times They Are Changing' the mood in the team had changed, and within a few days the team was ready to change, as the lyrics suggest.Pia explains to Jane in the two-part programme her coaching philosophy, how she has used her experience of playing in her coaching, her ideas of coaching 'healthy'. Also how a coach doesn't always like the players she managers and how she took that US team that was so divided to two Olympic Gold medals and a World Cup Final where they were runners up to Japan.Pia left the US team job in 2013 and is now back home in Sweden in charge of the national women's team hoping to guide them to the World Cup title in Canada in 2015.
There was one moment when Pia Sundhage first came across a football in the small rural town she lived in in Northern Sweden. Instead of catching the ball, as had been intended, she just wanted to k...ick it, and from that moment a long career in football was born.Everyday meant football to Pia, she played with the boys at school, after school, but when it came to joining the boys team, life wasn't so simple. The manager of the local team told Pia that she was going to have to change her name from Pia to a boy's name; Pelle.This didn't put Pia, or Pelle, off and she went on to turn professional in Sweden, play nearly 150 times for her country, scoring 71 goals.It is as a coach that Pia Sundhage has made most headlines though, and in the second of our series of The Managers, Jane Garvey meets Pia to talk about her coaching career which has led to her to her biggest successes.In 2007, Pia took over as coach of a USA Women's team that was in disarray, the squad was split and the atmosphere was described as toxic over a row over the dropping of star goalkeeper Hope Solo. Pia tells Jane about this test to her coaching and management skills in her first big job in world soccer.What she did in the first team meeting won't feature in many text books or coaching seminars but seemed to have worked, she broke into song. After a few verses of Bob Dylan's 'The Times They Are Changing' the mood in the team had changed, and within a few days the team was ready to change, as the lyrics suggest.Pia explains to Jane in the two-part programme her coaching philosophy, how she has used her experience of playing in her coaching, her ideas of coaching 'healthy'. Also how a coach doesn't always like the players she managers and how she took that US team that was so divided to two Olympic Gold medals and a World Cup Final where they were runners up to Japan.Pia left the US team job in 2013 and is now back home in Sweden in charge of the national women's team hoping to guide them to the World Cup title in Canada in 2015.
| Series: | The managers |
|---|---|
| Episode | 2 |
| First transmission date: | 2014-05-17 |
| Original broadcast channel: | BBC World Service |
| Published: | 2014 |
| Rights Statement: | Rights owned or controlled by The Open University |
| Restrictions on use: | This material can be used in accordance with The Open University conditions of use. A link to the conditions can be found at the bottom of all OU Digital Archive web pages. |
| Duration: | 00:55:00 |
| Note: | BBC World Service version |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | Richard McIlroy |
| Presenter: | Jane Garvey |
| Contributors: | Jane Garvey; Pia Sundhage; Marika Domanski-Lyfors |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Production number: | AUDA008C |
| Available to public: | no |
