Siracusa-- Experiencing Team
I think that one of the difficult things for most people to understand is how a team is formed. Many may think that it should be easy. Just put a group together and tell them all about what it takes to be a team - snap your fingers a few times - and there you go - you have a team. This may be true on paper and sometimes it does come together fairly easy but most often it takes time. To truly become a team you have to experience it - the highs and the lows. The wins the loses. It is much easier to come together and feel good about each other when things are going well and you are winning. The true test is in the adversity.
Do the difficult times pull you apart or bring you together. Either can happen. It is often times easier to get pulled apart in the difficult times but these are the biggest opportunities for growth for any team. The challenges can help the individual team members understand each other better. Every team must get to a point where the individual team members understand and respect the differences that exist. Respecting and caring for each other are cornerstones to team chemistry. When the team members respect each other trust begins to build. This is another cornerstone that must be present for any team to be successful.
As we look back onto World League and our 5th place finish, we are all a bit disappointed. The reality is that we did not play at the top of our game. Our 6 on 5 was not good. We struggled to finish on the counter attack and most disturbing was our shot blocking on our front court defense. I think that we have become a little lazy on defense knowing that Merrill is in the goal and he is playing very well. This needs to change. We have to take pride in how we play defense. We have to take pride in our shot blocking. We have to be the best defensive team in the world in order for us to reach that ultimate goal of Olympic gold.
We are now in Siracusa, Italy playing in the second tournament in a row over here in Europe. We opened up last night with Canada and we stuffed them pretty good. We won 11- 6 and we were able to rest most of our top guys. This is really a training tournament and the goal is to play many of our younger players as much as possible. Get these younger guys some good experience and keep everyone healthy heading into next week and the World Cup.
The guys are a little angry about there performance in World League and we have set our sites on winning the World Cup. We can do it. We are growing. There is healthy talk about coming together and getting on the same page. We are living it and breathing it everyday. We eat together, train together and have meetings to discuss and talk about things. We are virtually together 24/7 for a three week period. Believe me with the heat we have been experiencing over here we all smell the same - pretty bad.
Today we play Kazakistan. This is a team that we have not played since the 2004 Olympic Games. They are mix of older players that used to play for Russia and some pretty young players. They lost to Germany yesterday 12 - 9. The will be decent but we should be able to take care of business. We are going to try to rest a few of our key guys - Tony and Jesse will both be sitting out this game.
We actually have 10 games left on this trip in the next 11 days. With the day off a day of travel. This could prove to be a great team building experience or it could be a disaster. We (the coaches) have to find the right balance of keeping the guys fit and ready for the World Cup without breaking them down this week. It will be interesting to see how it works out. I am confident that good things are happening here. The “team” is building. The personality of this team will evolve and grow as we go through this next two year period into London and the 2012 games. It is a journey and I am blessed to be experiencing the process with the guys.
See you at the pool.
Coach
Do the difficult times pull you apart or bring you together. Either can happen. It is often times easier to get pulled apart in the difficult times but these are the biggest opportunities for growth for any team. The challenges can help the individual team members understand each other better. Every team must get to a point where the individual team members understand and respect the differences that exist. Respecting and caring for each other are cornerstones to team chemistry. When the team members respect each other trust begins to build. This is another cornerstone that must be present for any team to be successful.
As we look back onto World League and our 5th place finish, we are all a bit disappointed. The reality is that we did not play at the top of our game. Our 6 on 5 was not good. We struggled to finish on the counter attack and most disturbing was our shot blocking on our front court defense. I think that we have become a little lazy on defense knowing that Merrill is in the goal and he is playing very well. This needs to change. We have to take pride in how we play defense. We have to take pride in our shot blocking. We have to be the best defensive team in the world in order for us to reach that ultimate goal of Olympic gold.
We are now in Siracusa, Italy playing in the second tournament in a row over here in Europe. We opened up last night with Canada and we stuffed them pretty good. We won 11- 6 and we were able to rest most of our top guys. This is really a training tournament and the goal is to play many of our younger players as much as possible. Get these younger guys some good experience and keep everyone healthy heading into next week and the World Cup.
The guys are a little angry about there performance in World League and we have set our sites on winning the World Cup. We can do it. We are growing. There is healthy talk about coming together and getting on the same page. We are living it and breathing it everyday. We eat together, train together and have meetings to discuss and talk about things. We are virtually together 24/7 for a three week period. Believe me with the heat we have been experiencing over here we all smell the same - pretty bad.
Today we play Kazakistan. This is a team that we have not played since the 2004 Olympic Games. They are mix of older players that used to play for Russia and some pretty young players. They lost to Germany yesterday 12 - 9. The will be decent but we should be able to take care of business. We are going to try to rest a few of our key guys - Tony and Jesse will both be sitting out this game.
We actually have 10 games left on this trip in the next 11 days. With the day off a day of travel. This could prove to be a great team building experience or it could be a disaster. We (the coaches) have to find the right balance of keeping the guys fit and ready for the World Cup without breaking them down this week. It will be interesting to see how it works out. I am confident that good things are happening here. The “team” is building. The personality of this team will evolve and grow as we go through this next two year period into London and the 2012 games. It is a journey and I am blessed to be experiencing the process with the guys.
See you at the pool.
Coach
posted by Dr. Terry Schroeder at
3:35 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home