Countdown Beijing

5/28/08


I woke up this morning feeling a bit overwhelmed. There is so much emotion connected with this job. On one hand, I am very anxious and somewhat stressed about how little time we have to prepare. Less then three months now and we still do not have all of our players back from Europe . The last two come back within the next day or two. One of the biggest challenges will occur over the next month. I have to cut the team from 24 to 18 players at the end of this month and then two weeks later down the 15. The final Olympic Team of 13 will not be selected until June 28th. This is not something that I am looking forward to. Over the past two years, as the assistant and now head coach I have become attached to the guys. I appreciate the hard work and sacrifice that they have put out. It will be very difficult to end the dreams of 11 of these guys as we trim the team down to the final 13. That is a heavy weight on my shoulders. There will not be any easy way to do this.

On the other hand, I am excited about returning to the Olympic Games. The Olympics have been such a huge part of my life. After I stopped playing and started coaching at Pepperdine, I made it one of my goals in life to return to the Olympics as a coach. Here I am once again living out my Olympic dream. I am excited about marching opening ceremonies and about playing the games. I get goose bumps even thinking about it. There is something that is so special about represented the USA in the Olympics. I have always been so proud to wear the red, white and blue. Off to another day of practice.


See you at the pool

Coach