Expectations vs. Reality
We just recently returned home from Germany and Hungary with Team USA. It was billed as a training trip and the reality of it is that is exactly what the trip was. However, it was difficult as a coach and I am sure for most of the players to not expect to do well.
We trained with the German team for five days. Each training session we would scrimmage with an emphasis on extra man. The training was good. Overall, we had a pretty young group with only five Olympians present (Merrill Moses, Peter Hudnut, Rick Merlo, JW Krumpholtz and Peter Verralles). We dominated the scrimmages but unfortunately when it was time for our one official match the Germans got the best of us and won the game 10 – 6. The game was very close most of the way but our lack of playing together really showed up on our 6 on 5 opportunities (we scored 3 out of 12).
On to Hungary we went to face the Olympic champions and the bronze medal team, Serbia. The final team in the tournament was Romania. After a two hour bus ride to the airport, a two hour flight and then another two hour bus ride to Eger we arrived the evening before the tournament. We lost Merrill and Peter Verralles but gained Ryan Bailey and Jesse Smith. First up in the tournament was Serbia and a rematch of the Olympic semi-final game. My expectations were secretly high. I thought that maybe we could pull off another win against these guys. The reality of the game was this. We had not trained together since the Olympics while Serbia has been going full out since about one month after the games. Serbia has all but two of their national team players playing with Partizan in Belgrade (so they have essentially been training as a team since September). In the mean time we have had our college season and players spread out all over Europe. We brought together a team almost like you would pull together a team for a weekend softball game. Do we have a left fielder? Call Jesse…
We matched them pretty well for the first half, trailing 6 – 4. The third quarter was the turning point. We missed some critical 6 on 5’s and a few other good scoring opportunities. Even so, we still trailed by two going into the 4th quarter. We just seemed to run out of gas in the 4th quarter and Serbia pulled away and ended up winning by 5. So much for expectations…
Next up was Romania. We controlled the tempo and scoreboard for all but the last two minutes of the game. It was one of those frustrating games where we had so many chances to put the game away but just missed too many scoring opportunities. At the end, Romania was able to creep back into the game and go ahead for the first time in the game with a minute to go. We lost 8 – 7. Another loss and another reality check.
The final game of the tournament was a rematch of the Olympic Gold medal game. Peter Hudnut had to fly home for a business school interview on Monday morning so we were down one Olympian. We came out flat and really struggled on our 6 on 5. On the other side, everything went for the Hungarians and before we knew it we were down 7 – 0. The final score was 12 – 4 Hungary. Not good and far below my expectations.
Reflecting on the trip – the reality is that this was a “training” trip for us. If you look back to one year ago (Feb. 08) we went to Serbia and were totally blown out of the water for 9 days straight. This is not an excuse - we have a great deal of work to do before the world championships in July if we hope to get back on the medal stand. This was a good wake up call for us and hopefully it will motivate us to get to work.
We won a silver medal last year. That is history. We need to put that behind us now and get to work on our goal for this year. The USA Men’s team has never won a medal in the World Championships. That is right “NEVER”. We can do this – we can win a medal and I believe that we can win a gold this summer. We certainly are not going to surprise anyone. We are one of the favorites now and everyone will be out to get us. So now it is time to begin the journey and climb another mountain.
In order to do this, we need your support once again. The team will be out in the Thousand Oaks area with full time training beginning in May.
See you at the pool.
Coach
We trained with the German team for five days. Each training session we would scrimmage with an emphasis on extra man. The training was good. Overall, we had a pretty young group with only five Olympians present (Merrill Moses, Peter Hudnut, Rick Merlo, JW Krumpholtz and Peter Verralles). We dominated the scrimmages but unfortunately when it was time for our one official match the Germans got the best of us and won the game 10 – 6. The game was very close most of the way but our lack of playing together really showed up on our 6 on 5 opportunities (we scored 3 out of 12).
On to Hungary we went to face the Olympic champions and the bronze medal team, Serbia. The final team in the tournament was Romania. After a two hour bus ride to the airport, a two hour flight and then another two hour bus ride to Eger we arrived the evening before the tournament. We lost Merrill and Peter Verralles but gained Ryan Bailey and Jesse Smith. First up in the tournament was Serbia and a rematch of the Olympic semi-final game. My expectations were secretly high. I thought that maybe we could pull off another win against these guys. The reality of the game was this. We had not trained together since the Olympics while Serbia has been going full out since about one month after the games. Serbia has all but two of their national team players playing with Partizan in Belgrade (so they have essentially been training as a team since September). In the mean time we have had our college season and players spread out all over Europe. We brought together a team almost like you would pull together a team for a weekend softball game. Do we have a left fielder? Call Jesse…
We matched them pretty well for the first half, trailing 6 – 4. The third quarter was the turning point. We missed some critical 6 on 5’s and a few other good scoring opportunities. Even so, we still trailed by two going into the 4th quarter. We just seemed to run out of gas in the 4th quarter and Serbia pulled away and ended up winning by 5. So much for expectations…
Next up was Romania. We controlled the tempo and scoreboard for all but the last two minutes of the game. It was one of those frustrating games where we had so many chances to put the game away but just missed too many scoring opportunities. At the end, Romania was able to creep back into the game and go ahead for the first time in the game with a minute to go. We lost 8 – 7. Another loss and another reality check.
The final game of the tournament was a rematch of the Olympic Gold medal game. Peter Hudnut had to fly home for a business school interview on Monday morning so we were down one Olympian. We came out flat and really struggled on our 6 on 5. On the other side, everything went for the Hungarians and before we knew it we were down 7 – 0. The final score was 12 – 4 Hungary. Not good and far below my expectations.
Reflecting on the trip – the reality is that this was a “training” trip for us. If you look back to one year ago (Feb. 08) we went to Serbia and were totally blown out of the water for 9 days straight. This is not an excuse - we have a great deal of work to do before the world championships in July if we hope to get back on the medal stand. This was a good wake up call for us and hopefully it will motivate us to get to work.
We won a silver medal last year. That is history. We need to put that behind us now and get to work on our goal for this year. The USA Men’s team has never won a medal in the World Championships. That is right “NEVER”. We can do this – we can win a medal and I believe that we can win a gold this summer. We certainly are not going to surprise anyone. We are one of the favorites now and everyone will be out to get us. So now it is time to begin the journey and climb another mountain.
In order to do this, we need your support once again. The team will be out in the Thousand Oaks area with full time training beginning in May.
See you at the pool.
Coach
posted by Dr. Terry Schroeder at
8:52 AM
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