Another Adventure
We are off on our final trip off the summer – the World Championships. We left LAX on Saturday and finally arrived in Montenegro on Sunday night around 8 pm. It was a long day of travel with stops in Frankfurt and Belgrade. Unfortunately, most of our bags are still in one of those cities. My chiropractic table made it but none of my clothes. So as I write this I am going on three days with the same clothes. I guess it just adds to the adventure. Half the team is wearing the same outfit everyday. We were told our bags would probably get here today but no such luck. It just so happen that today was Montenegro’s Independence Day. Apparently, not too many people were working today - maybe tomorrow.
It is a bit interesting that we have witnessed a small part of that Montenegrin history. Three years ago we were here training with Serbia-Montenegro when we learned that the countries were going to split while we were in town. It was strange – we practiced in the evening with the Serbia-Montenegro team and then the next morning we showed up for practice and it was just Montenegro. The worst part about it was that they did not skip a beat. They had brought in about 7 new players and were just as good as the night before. What an incredible wealth of water polo players this region produces. Anyway, we were here on there first Independence Day and now helped them celebrate their third birthday.
So you ask – what did we do today to celebrate? Well the Montenegrin’s had that one figured out. They scheduled an official game with us for tonight – to help them celebrate! Here is how the day played out. After training in the morning we immediately boarded a bus and were driven to lunch. We arrived at a beautiful winery for an extended lunch and wine tasting. We had a short tour of the winery which is called July 13th and is the largest winery in Europe. After the tour, we sat down for lunch (with the entire Montenegrin team and delegation) and after a few speeches from the mayor and a few other dignitaries we had a very nice lunch. I knew we were in a bit of trouble right when we sat down and saw that each setting had 5 wine glasses in front of it. Actually, the winery is one of the team’s sponsor’s and it was pretty good wine. Probably would have made more sense to have the event after the game though. Anyways, we came back to the hotel and had about a four hour nap before the game. Not exactly ideal but the game was a bit of a set up anyway.
We were told prior to the game that one of their old players was retiring and that one minute into the game they would stop the game and have a little ceremony for him. I had seen this before in my playing days so I warned the guys that we would probably get an exclusion on their first possession and then after that player scored they would stop the game and have a ceremony. As if that was not enough, one of the officials was also retiring after the match so each player and coach was kissing the referee prior to the game. Obviously, we knew it was going to be a tough game to win but never the less, we were prepared to battle. Sure enough, on our first defensive possession, we were excluded and they worked the ball around to the big lefty who was set to retire. Merrill made a great save and we kept on playing. On the very next possession Jesse scored a nice outside shot and we were in their heads a little. A few possessions later Montenegro earned a second exclusion. Once again, they worked the ball to their lefty who shot and scored on a ball that was deflected. The game was immediately stopped and after a five minute ceremony in which the player received a great standing ovation - he left the pool and retired. They really know how to honor a player over here! Play resumed and although we played pretty well we just did not have the gas to keep up with them tonight. We were obviously a bit fatigued after our long day of travel and the officials were not going to give up too much help tonight. Montenegro ended up winning the game 12 – 9. It was good training and the reality is that we are getting ready for one week from now. That is when we will square off with Italy in the first game of the World Championships.
That is all for tonight. I will be checking in frequently over the next three weeks. What will tomorrow bring? Bring on the adventure – we are ready. I can once again sense a great swell building and we are coming together as we share these great experiences together. We are learning to be champions.
See you at the pool!
Coach
It is a bit interesting that we have witnessed a small part of that Montenegrin history. Three years ago we were here training with Serbia-Montenegro when we learned that the countries were going to split while we were in town. It was strange – we practiced in the evening with the Serbia-Montenegro team and then the next morning we showed up for practice and it was just Montenegro. The worst part about it was that they did not skip a beat. They had brought in about 7 new players and were just as good as the night before. What an incredible wealth of water polo players this region produces. Anyway, we were here on there first Independence Day and now helped them celebrate their third birthday.
So you ask – what did we do today to celebrate? Well the Montenegrin’s had that one figured out. They scheduled an official game with us for tonight – to help them celebrate! Here is how the day played out. After training in the morning we immediately boarded a bus and were driven to lunch. We arrived at a beautiful winery for an extended lunch and wine tasting. We had a short tour of the winery which is called July 13th and is the largest winery in Europe. After the tour, we sat down for lunch (with the entire Montenegrin team and delegation) and after a few speeches from the mayor and a few other dignitaries we had a very nice lunch. I knew we were in a bit of trouble right when we sat down and saw that each setting had 5 wine glasses in front of it. Actually, the winery is one of the team’s sponsor’s and it was pretty good wine. Probably would have made more sense to have the event after the game though. Anyways, we came back to the hotel and had about a four hour nap before the game. Not exactly ideal but the game was a bit of a set up anyway.
We were told prior to the game that one of their old players was retiring and that one minute into the game they would stop the game and have a little ceremony for him. I had seen this before in my playing days so I warned the guys that we would probably get an exclusion on their first possession and then after that player scored they would stop the game and have a ceremony. As if that was not enough, one of the officials was also retiring after the match so each player and coach was kissing the referee prior to the game. Obviously, we knew it was going to be a tough game to win but never the less, we were prepared to battle. Sure enough, on our first defensive possession, we were excluded and they worked the ball around to the big lefty who was set to retire. Merrill made a great save and we kept on playing. On the very next possession Jesse scored a nice outside shot and we were in their heads a little. A few possessions later Montenegro earned a second exclusion. Once again, they worked the ball to their lefty who shot and scored on a ball that was deflected. The game was immediately stopped and after a five minute ceremony in which the player received a great standing ovation - he left the pool and retired. They really know how to honor a player over here! Play resumed and although we played pretty well we just did not have the gas to keep up with them tonight. We were obviously a bit fatigued after our long day of travel and the officials were not going to give up too much help tonight. Montenegro ended up winning the game 12 – 9. It was good training and the reality is that we are getting ready for one week from now. That is when we will square off with Italy in the first game of the World Championships.
That is all for tonight. I will be checking in frequently over the next three weeks. What will tomorrow bring? Bring on the adventure – we are ready. I can once again sense a great swell building and we are coming together as we share these great experiences together. We are learning to be champions.
See you at the pool!
Coach
posted by Dr. Terry Schroeder at
4:45 PM
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