World League Super Final - Day 1
In our pre-game meeting today we set a goal of holding each of our opponents to 6 goals or less in this tournament. I stressed the fact that we must play defense first. We know that if our defense is strong we will be in every game. I also talked about making winning a habit. Getting back to the podium last year was a huge step for us – but now that we are an Olympic medal winner we are a target. Every team will show up wanting to play their best game against us. We are now a target. It is harder to stay at the top than to get to the top. This is our challenge. We as a team need to get used to winning - we need to get used to being in contention to win every tournament that we play. Essentially, success is a habit and I want our team to develop this habit.
We came out and played a solid four quarters today. The Italians stuck around and made it difficult but in the end we accomplished our goal and won 10 – 6. Even better from a coaches perspective is that we had 9 different players score today. Jesse Smith led the team with two goals, and Tony Azevedo, Peter Varrellas, Ryan Bailey, Jeff Powers, Justin Johnson, JW Krumpholz, Tim Hutton and Brian Alexander all scored. As a coach, this is a nice thing to see. It was a total team effort.
This was an important game for another reason too. Next month, when we travel to Rome for the World Championships we will face Italy in our first match. So it was important today to send them a message. They are a team that plays with a great deal of emotion and if you let them feel that they have a chance they are much tougher. I am sure that they will give us a battle in Rome but for today – we definitely got the best of them.
On a side note. We played a 4:20 pm today. Game time temperature was about 95 degrees and extremely humid. The benches also faced the afternoon sun which made it almost unbearable. We did not have ice on the bench and all the water that they brought for us was luke warm at best. I know that I left the game pretty dehydrated and all I did was stand in the sun for an hour. We will be better prepared over the next few days. We are sending Rick out to get an ice chest so that we can have ice and cold water on the bench.
Tomorrow we will face Japan at 7:00 pm. The Japanese lost today to Serbia 12 – 6 after being tied at the half. They are relatively small but fast. It should be a decent game but I will be surprised if we don’t over power them.
It feels good to be back with the team. I am enjoying being back on the deck with our guys. They are a joy to work with and the rewards have been great for me.
See you at the pool.
Coach
We came out and played a solid four quarters today. The Italians stuck around and made it difficult but in the end we accomplished our goal and won 10 – 6. Even better from a coaches perspective is that we had 9 different players score today. Jesse Smith led the team with two goals, and Tony Azevedo, Peter Varrellas, Ryan Bailey, Jeff Powers, Justin Johnson, JW Krumpholz, Tim Hutton and Brian Alexander all scored. As a coach, this is a nice thing to see. It was a total team effort.
This was an important game for another reason too. Next month, when we travel to Rome for the World Championships we will face Italy in our first match. So it was important today to send them a message. They are a team that plays with a great deal of emotion and if you let them feel that they have a chance they are much tougher. I am sure that they will give us a battle in Rome but for today – we definitely got the best of them.
On a side note. We played a 4:20 pm today. Game time temperature was about 95 degrees and extremely humid. The benches also faced the afternoon sun which made it almost unbearable. We did not have ice on the bench and all the water that they brought for us was luke warm at best. I know that I left the game pretty dehydrated and all I did was stand in the sun for an hour. We will be better prepared over the next few days. We are sending Rick out to get an ice chest so that we can have ice and cold water on the bench.
Tomorrow we will face Japan at 7:00 pm. The Japanese lost today to Serbia 12 – 6 after being tied at the half. They are relatively small but fast. It should be a decent game but I will be surprised if we don’t over power them.
It feels good to be back with the team. I am enjoying being back on the deck with our guys. They are a joy to work with and the rewards have been great for me.
See you at the pool.
Coach
posted by Dr. Terry Schroeder at
1:27 PM
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