Countdown Beijing-Hungary
6/25
We arrived in Budapest on Monday and after a full day of travel jumped in the pool almost immediately to play a four quarter scrimmage against the Hungarians. We were fatigued from the week long tournament and the long day of travel. We lost the scrimmage by a few goals but I still saw something I liked. Our team has a new confidence. A year ago, we were totally intimidated by the Hungarians and the Serbians. Now here we were with all odds against us and we were holding our own against the reigning gold medalist from the Olympic Games.
Last year the Hungarian coach would barely give me the time of day. This week he has been pumping me with questions about what we are doing in our training and if we want to get together in China and train. We have the respect of the Hungarians and the Serbians. Wow – we have come a long way in this past 6 months.
Tonight we played the Hungarians in an official match. In the beginning the game looked like we were going to be in trouble. We went down by a score of 4 – 1 and things did not look so good. Our guys responded with some great defense. We scored a nice goal to bring the score to 4 – 2 at half time. Then we kept on fighting and dominated play in the third period. We had many good chances to go ahead but we kept on missing our 6 on 5 opportunities. At the end of three periods we were down 5- 4 and we had the Hungarians looking a little scared.
We scored the first goal in the 4th period to tie the game at 5. Then from that point on we went back and forth. The Hungarians took the lead and then we tied it up. Both teams had their chances but the Hungarians scored the game winner with two minutes left in the game and we could not respond. Even though we lost we battled hard and our confidence is even better now. Ryan Bailey told me that in his career with the national team (he is our oldest player) he has never been that close to the Hungarians.
We head home on Friday. Lots of work to do but the team is seeing the fruits of their labor. We are much improved physically and mentally. As the coach this trip could not have gone much better. We will come home knowing that we can beat anyone at anytime. That is what I hoped for above all else. No one can take that from us now. We have the belief – we just need to keep on building…
See you at the pool!
Coach
We arrived in Budapest on Monday and after a full day of travel jumped in the pool almost immediately to play a four quarter scrimmage against the Hungarians. We were fatigued from the week long tournament and the long day of travel. We lost the scrimmage by a few goals but I still saw something I liked. Our team has a new confidence. A year ago, we were totally intimidated by the Hungarians and the Serbians. Now here we were with all odds against us and we were holding our own against the reigning gold medalist from the Olympic Games.
Last year the Hungarian coach would barely give me the time of day. This week he has been pumping me with questions about what we are doing in our training and if we want to get together in China and train. We have the respect of the Hungarians and the Serbians. Wow – we have come a long way in this past 6 months.
Tonight we played the Hungarians in an official match. In the beginning the game looked like we were going to be in trouble. We went down by a score of 4 – 1 and things did not look so good. Our guys responded with some great defense. We scored a nice goal to bring the score to 4 – 2 at half time. Then we kept on fighting and dominated play in the third period. We had many good chances to go ahead but we kept on missing our 6 on 5 opportunities. At the end of three periods we were down 5- 4 and we had the Hungarians looking a little scared.
We scored the first goal in the 4th period to tie the game at 5. Then from that point on we went back and forth. The Hungarians took the lead and then we tied it up. Both teams had their chances but the Hungarians scored the game winner with two minutes left in the game and we could not respond. Even though we lost we battled hard and our confidence is even better now. Ryan Bailey told me that in his career with the national team (he is our oldest player) he has never been that close to the Hungarians.
We head home on Friday. Lots of work to do but the team is seeing the fruits of their labor. We are much improved physically and mentally. As the coach this trip could not have gone much better. We will come home knowing that we can beat anyone at anytime. That is what I hoped for above all else. No one can take that from us now. We have the belief – we just need to keep on building…
See you at the pool!
Coach
posted by Dr. Terry Schroeder at
9:37 AM
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