Not ready for prime time

6/27/11

My coach's intuition proved to be right in that we just did not have it against Croatia. We played a decent first half. In fact, we went 4 for 4 on our first four extra man opportunities. This was a great positive step. The problem is that every time we scored we would give up a goal immediately at the other end. So at half we were down 6-4.

Croatia just pulled away in the second half as we began to wear down. We were 0 for 6 on our extra man in the second half and only managed to score one goal as Croatia went on to win 11 - 5. Once again, I was disappointed in our defense which gave up too many easy goals.

In the gold medal game, Serbia was just too much. They defeated Italy 7-6 in a great battle. This means that Serbia is the first team to qualify for the Olympic Games next year.

Our goal in the tournament was to finish in the top four. We knew coming in that we were not where we needed to be. Few of our guys have been finishing up school or work commitments and now should be free to dedicate their time to training and getting ready to begin our climb to the top of the mountain.

We sit right now ranked 4th in the World. We come home today and have a few days off before we begin training for the World Championships that are in Shanghai, China July 16th - 30th. The top three teams in this tournament qualify for the Olympic Games in London. Our bracket is not easy. We will open up with Italy on July 16th and then play Germany and South Africa. The top three teams in each bracket advance to top 16, play with the winner getting a bye into the top 8.

We have a lot to work on when we get back. All parts of our game are a bit off. We have to step up our conditioning and at the same time work in tactics so we are prepared for all situations. The task is great.

I do feel as though the reality check we had this week was good for us. The guys know fully that we need to work hard to catch up to these other teams. They also know and feel that all the pieces are there for us. They are not all connected yet. They are certainly not synchronized as they need to be to become the team we all know we can be. This takes time and I am confident that we will get there. Will we be ready and fully prepared for the Worlds? I can tell you that we are going to do our best to prepare this team and get them ready to compete at the highest level. I believe that we can do it.

Time will tell... as any mountain climber will tell you - the journey to the top is one step at a time. This is our plan. To stay the course and stay in the moment. One day at a time. Each of us giving our best to challenge one another to become better individually and as a team.

The journey goes on and even though we are not where we want to be - we are on the road and prime time is just around the corner. Good things are going to happen...

See you at the pool.

Coach

Respect

6/26/11

Last night we lost to Serbia 8 - 5. Definitely a better game than our first game against them. We played hard but are really struggling. Seems like the timing is off and we are not working together very well. Once again, we were destroyed on the 6 on 5 and 5 on 6. They scored 6 out of 9 times that they were up a man and we did not score on 7 attempts on our 6 on 5. That is about as bad as it gets. We have a lot of work to do in the next few weeks to get ourselves ready for the World Championships.

We did close the gap a little on the Serbs but they still have our number. I feel in a way that they do not really respect us. It is interesting to look at history. In February of 2008, we went to Belgrade and trained with the Serbians for 8 days. They kicked our butts night after night. Slowly over the course of that year we closed the gap with that team and just a month before the Olympics we played them in the finals of the World League tournament. We lost 7 - 4 but all the guys walked away from that game knowing we could beat that team. Serbia also knew that they had a worthy opponent. We had gained their respect (finally). In the Olympics, we played them in the first round and lost 4 - 2. The gap was getting smaller... and then in the semi finals we played them and finally beat them 10 - 5. It was a huge win and it kind of shocked the water polo world.

Over the past few years, Serbia has once again established their dominance over us. We have played them 5 times since 2008 and lost every time. What hurts the most is that they don’t seem to respect us again. I look down at their bench during our math with them and see players laughing. We make a big play and celebrate a bit (as a team) and they laugh at us. It makes my competitive blood boil and I hope it does the same for our guys. In my mind, Serbia is playing at about 95% capacity. They may improve but not much. On the other hand, we are at about 75 - 80%. We have a lot of room for improvement.

In the other semi final, Italy defeated Croatia in a shoot out to advance to the final. That means that we will play Croatia in the bronze medal game tonight at 7 pm. It is significant in that over the past three years we have consistently been in the medal round but have failed to win a medal. We have finished fourth on numerous occasions.

Croatia will be tough. They are big and strong. I think our guys feel pretty good about our chances but I am a little concerned that we don’t have enough gas left in the tank...

We seem worn down as I look them in the eyes this morning - I don’t see what I want to see. I worried.

We shall see.


See you at the pool.

Coach

Signs of Life

6/25/11

Our quarter final match up was going to be a battle - we knew that going in. We also knew that unless we began to play with heart and some emotion we were in for another slaughter. This game started out pretty badly. Monte Negro scored on two out of three of the first possessions. When the first quarter ended, we were lucky to be down 3 - 0. It could have been a lot worse.

Then something happened... I could sense that the team began to find their heart. They started to battle and each possession suddenly became important. There was a different feeling on the bench and in the water. Truly, this is the reason I still coach. The feeling of team. When everyone begins to see the bigger picture. It is not about them individually but rather about the team. It becomes a matter of wanting it for your team mates as much or more than for yourself. It becomes a brotherhood - a family if you will. Wow! It is coming back...

The truth is that this is a process and it just does not happen. It is in the works and it is part of our journey. Slowly we fought back in the game and eventually tied the game up at 3 apiece. Then it was a back and forth battle with each team taking the lead before giving one up. Merrill Moses played great in the cage after the first quarter and he kept us alive. With 30 seconds to play we were down 6 - 5. We drew an exclusion and Tony Azevedo scored a nice outside shot to tie the game with 8 seconds left. That is how the game ended. In World League (unlike the Olympics or the World Championships) when the teams are tied you go directly to a penalty shootout. Each team picks five players to take penalty throws. The teams alternate shooting. Monte Negro missed on the first one and Tony made his to put us up 1-0. They made their next one and Adam Wright made his to make it 2-1 us. Once again they made theirs, but Brian Alexander missed his - so it was 2-2. Both teams made the next (Peter Varrellas scored for us). 3-3 with one shooter to go on each team. Monte Negro missed the next shot leaving Ryan Bailey up for us. If it makes it game over we win - if he misses the shooters keep going until there is a winner. Ryan came up big and made his shot.

This is a huge step for us. We have not been too successful at the penalty shootouts in the past. In fact, last year at World League, we lost to Monte Negro in the quarter finals.
It was a great step in the right direction for us.

Today we will face off with Serbia once again in the semi finals. To me this game is about respect. Over the last few years, Serbia has once again had our number. They are the best team in the world but I feel like they don’t really respect us. This was the case before the 2008 games and it really was not until about a month before the Olympics that that began to feel like maybe would could create a problem for them. After Thursday’s game they were kind of laughing at our inability to score on our extra man. I don’t blame them really as we were pretty pathetic but it is time to make them start thinking that maybe we could be a thorn for them again....

Moving forward... We are in the final four and playing for a medal. Win tonight and we play for gold. Lose and we play for bronze.

See you at the pool.
Coach

The heat is on....

6/23/11

Yesterday we faced off with China in the preliminary round of the WL Super Final. China is definitely not one of the stronger teams in the world. We handled them pretty easy with a 13 - 6 win. The toughest part of the game was standing/sitting on the pool deck for a 4 pm game. The temperature was in the 90’s and I am sure the pool deck was hotter than that. I wish I could say that I have been working on my tan but I am afraid that I am just becoming more and more of a lobster. Cooking in the sun.

Today we faced Serbia in a 5:30 pm game. I think the temps were a little cooler but the angle of the sun made it difficult to withstand. It was like staring into a heat lamp for an hour. I was cooking... The team played with more energy than we played with against Italy and in many areas of the game we were vastly improved. Unfortunately, in one area we were terrible - that was our 6 on 5. We actually played well enough to earn 15 exclusions - which is really a high number. The sad part was that we only scored 3 out of 15 opportunities. That is a 20% conversion rate. Which on any level is very poor. If I had to give us a grade I would say that we played overall at a B+ level but our 6 on 5 was a D -. Not good at all. Almost embarrassing. Perhaps that is why I was sweating so badly. The sun was brutal no doubt but what was happening in the pool was not good. We ended up loosing the game 11 - 5. Serbia is the best team in the world right now and they looked very strong.

Just to give you an idea. At the Olympic Games in Beijing we scored about 55% of our 6 on 5 opportunities. If we scored this same percentage in this game, we would have had five more goals and the score would have been 11 - 10 and then who know what would have happened.

In my opinion, which is based on years of playing and coaching the 6 on 5 is one area where it takes time to play together and be successful. It is truly a measure of how your team is doing as a team. It takes good chemistry to make it all work and right now we have a bunch of individuals trying to find their place on the team. Am I worried? Maybe a little because of the some of the guys overall fitness level. However, this is a team that believes that we can beat anyone. They are realistic and know that we have a lot of work to do to get where we want to be and in my opinion, they are willing to do that work over the next 13 months.

The nice part about the way this tournament is set up is that the preliminary round (the first three games) are only for seeding into the quarter finals. So tomorrow we begin a brand new tournament. We will play Monte Negro at 4 pm with the winner going to the semi finals to face Croatia. Hopefully, we can get our guys to be ready tomorrow.

I am excited. This trip has gone fast. Just a three day tournament left to play. Anyone, can still win the tournament. Most would consider us a long shot but you never know. We will see what our guys have in the tank.

More heat tomorrow...

See you at the pool.

Coach

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Let me begin with the good. Last night was very cool. They bussed us all down to the Duomo in the city center and had a brilliant opening ceremonies there. The created a parade of athletes that marched from the Duomo to the Piazza della Signoria. There they held the opening ceremonies for the tournament. Many vans lined the parade route and the biggest surprise to me was just how many Americans showed up to support our team. In fact, when they lined up all the athletes from all of the countries in the Piazza della Signoria, a live band performed the national anthem of each country. When they came to our anthem, a boisterous American contingent sang out loud to the music. Many of the guys said they felt goose bumps during the anthem. It was pretty emotional and moving. After the anthems they took us inside to the room of 500 where the town hall is. The mayor welcomed us and wished us good luck. It was certainly the best opening ceremonies that I have been to outside of the Olympic Games.



Now let me get to the bad and ugly. Unfortunately, we had our first game tonight and our team forgot to show up. That is how it seemed from the bench anyway. Italy came out on fire and we could never match their energy. We were down 8 - 1 at one point before we woke up and fought back a little. The final score was 10 - 4. Honestly, it was a bit embarrassing - I guess as the coach I take on a great deal of that responsibility for getting the guys ready to perform. We have been training hard but honestly - we were beat on all fronts tonight. They were better than us offensively and defensively. They looked crisp and full of energy where we were flat. I guess the reality of it all is this is where we are right now. We are in pre-season form - where we can step up every once in a while but we can not play consistently at a high level. I can not really think of any real highlights. We were flat out bad tonight. Perhaps the worst I have witnessed as their coach.

The good thing about this tournament is that we are still very much alive. This first round is only for seeding into the quarter finals. Tomorrow we will play China at 4 pm and then Thursday we will play the reigning world champions Serbia. After that the quarter final match ups are determined by how you finished in your bracket. If you win your pool you will play fourth place in the other bracket. If you finish second you would play third place in the other bracket, third place second and fourth plays first. So everyone is still very much alive.

Tomorrow morning it is back to the pool and try to get the guys going in the right direction. The climb to the summit looks pretty high from here. However, I feel like we can make this happen. It is early and we have been training hard. The Italians are peaking for this tournament. No excuses just the reality. We know that we are going to get better and better. Lots of work to do.

Miles to go before we sleep....

See you at the pool.

Coach

On to Florence

6/19/11

The day began today with me wishing all the dads on the trip a Happy Father’s Day. Besides the coaches and staff (Robert, Rick, Kyle and Pat and myself), we now have two dads on the team. Jesse Smith and Adam Wright are both proud dads. Jesse has a little boy and Adam a little girl. Pretty cool. Our family is growing. I am a little bummed being away for Father’s Day - it is a special day meant to be celebrated with family. However, I know that my family supports what I am doing and they are a big part of this team. I also feel like besides my own two beautiful daughters, I have 15 sons (the team). I am blessed.

Yesterday was a day of travel as we trained in the morning (weights and pool time), then ended the training with a run/swim/run in the Adriatic. Our time in Rijeka was very good. Training was just what we needed. Intense, hard and competitive against one of the best teams in the world. On the final day, we won the two quarter scrimmage in the morning and then tied the game scrimmage at night. Both teams were working hard. The food was excellent and the hotel was perfect. Going to bed at night with the full moon over the Adriatic was spectacular.

After a two hour bus ride, we caught a short flight to Rome (from Trieste) and then another short flight to Florence. We were met at the hotel by the organizing committee who promptly loaded us onto a prison bus (they must have got a good deal on the bus) for our ride to the hotel. The problem with this bus was that is had no room for luggage. I guess when you think about it the prisoners usually travel pretty light... So we packed all of our luggage onto the bus and crammed into the remaining seats for a bus ride to our hotel - which we were told was just around the corner. 25 minutes later we arrived at the Sheraton Florence hot, sweaty and hungry. I guess that don’t worry too much about keeping the prisoners cool either...

After checking in and changing clothes we went straight to dinner for our first meal in Florence. Expectations were high - especially with our experience in Rijeka and past history with Italy in general. Unfortunately, we were let down. The meal consisted of salad and cheese with pasta and red sauce. My assistant coach, Marco officially proclaimed that the sauce was Ragu. Now Marco is an excellent cook and he was embarrassed. Needless to say, we have been battling the kitchen since we got here. Marco is on top of it. Where everything seemed to flow in Croatia, everything has been a bit of a battle here. Even to the point of getting water at dinner (seriously).

I am not sure when this happened but Italy used to be one of the best places in the world to travel with great hospitality and exceptional food. I am sorry to say that over the past few years, we have had better food and better hospitality in Serbia and Croatia. The world is changing...

Tonight, we trained with China and scrimmaged them for two quarters. It was very one-sided. At one point we were ahead 8 - 0 and then we went on a little bit of cruise control. Anyway, like our scrimmages in Croatia - this was just a scrimmage that really does not mean anything.

We had a good team (players and coaches only) meeting tonight - just a bit of a reality check as to where we are on this journey towards London next year. Certainly a long ways to go but headed in the right direction. The bottom line is no body is in their best shape right now. We are gradually building. Our strength training program is new. We are working with a new group that is based up in Santa Barbara. It is called P3 and I will discuss this in another blog. I will tell you now that we feel that this will give us the competitive edge as we march towards the Games next year. We have also been pushing the condition pretty hard in the water. Swimming and doing a lot of jump training (in the water) which I will also talk about more later. In my opinion, this jump training may be the difference between winning a medal and not winning a medal next year. The bottom line is that we are building with the goal 13 months away.

Tomorrow, we will do weights and swim in the morning and then head back to the hotel for some lunch and rest before the opening ceremonies of the tournament which will take place in the town center next to the Duomo. It should be a nice night. Two days before the tournament begins.

Preparing for competition...

See you at the pool.

Coach

Training Hard

6/17/11

We have spent the last few days training very hard. We have lifted weights in the morning followed by swim conditioning, passing, shooting and then some scrimmage with Croatia. The scrimmages have been close as we have been getting stronger and working out the jet lag. This morning we played 2 quarters and at the end of that it was 3-2 us. Our defense looks to be shaping up and doing better. Merrill and Chay Lapin have been playing well in the cage, which always helps the defense look stronger. The fact that we are winning quarters is positive, no doubt but these are just scrimmages. And I am sure there is some cat and mouse being played on both sides. We have used all players equally except for Tony Azevedo, who has not yet played at all because he has been sick. Tonight we play one more time and then tomorrow we have training on our own in the morning before we take off for Florence.

Everything has been great here. The hotel, food, and weather have all made for a perfect training environment. Of course, it helps that Croatia is one of the best teams in the world. Rijeka is a great city and the evenings have been magical. Two nights ago, we witnessed a total lunar eclipse out over the Adriatic Sea. It was spectacular! Then last night as the full moon was rising it was a deep red color, then after an hour it was orange. Wow - I have never seen anything like it.

The coaching staff and team are all getting along very well. There is a good vibe. There is seriousness when we train but then there is always lots of laughter on bus on the way home from the pool. It is good to hear the guys laughing together. The bonds of these friendships will last these guys a lifetime. I have a sense that good things are in store as we go thru this next 13 months together.

After we travel tomorrow, we have two days in Florence before the tournament begins. On Tuesday, we will open the tournament up with the host team Italy. It is interesting how many times we get to open with the host team. Our guys have down well with this arrangement. We have beaten Australia in Melbourne in the 2007 World Championships, China in Beijing for the Olympic Games and Italy in Rome for the 2009 World Championships. Let’s see if we can keep that string going.

Time to head back to the pool for training.

See you at the pool.

Coach

On the Road

6/15/11

We left at 9 pm on Monday evening head to Europe for training and our first opportunity to qualify for the Olympics. After an 11 hour flight to Munich, Germany, then a three hour layover, we flew another hour and a half to Trieste, Italy. As we flew into Trieste the full moon was glowing over the Mediterranean Sea. What an glorious sight... Wow.
After landing we jumped on a bus and then travelled another two hours to Rijeka, Croatia. We finally arrived at our hotel at 1:30 am on Wednesday morning. What a journey. The guys were in pretty good spirits and all went right to bed.

This morning we woke up to the beautiful Croatian coastline. It is amazing to me to think that I visited this city in 1979 for the first water polo world cup. I remember the pool sitting up on the hillside looking down over the Adriatic. After a nice breakfast at the hotel we headed over to the pool (after waiting an extra 15 minutes for Ryan Bailey and Jeff Powers who apparently slept right through there wake up call and missed breakfast). Anyway, the pool is about a 20 minute bus ride.

We arrived at the newly rebuilt pool and were blown away. Apparently the city of Rijeka has pumped 44 million Euro into redoing the pool. There are four pools. Two indoor 50 meter pool with a retractable roof and one outdoor 50 meter pool and a diving pool. Incredible. There are cafes attached to the pool building and it is a place where families hang out and enjoy the water sports. After we swam a good long stretch we all decided to walk down and play catch in the Adriatic which is about a five minute walk down the hill. I have attached a picture that is the view from the pool deck. More pictures will follow. Not bad.

We returned for lunch and after a nice nap we will head over to the pool for training with Croatia. All is well. Everyone is healthy.

As for me personally, I am catching up on my sleep. So far I have logged 7 hours on the first flight, 1 hour on the second flight and almost 2 hours on the bus. Then I slept till 9 am this morning so that is another 7.5 and then a 2 hour nap this afternoon. So that is a total of about 20 hours sleep out of the first 36 hours on the road. Not bad. I think that I am catching up.

Off to the pool.

Coach

Men's Team Update 6/9/11

Last week was difficult. I found myself scrabbling to keep up. I was running from practice to the office and then back to practice. It is always difficult to shift gears and get into a new schedule. All the free time that I used to have in the middle of the day was literally gone. Evenings hanging out with Lori and the girls was gone too. I am aware of this imbalance and will work hard to keep all areas in a good place – especially family. We actually had a night off last night and it was nice to relax and spend some good quality family time. Balance will be a key word over the next 14 months. It will be challenging but I am sure it can be done.

Practices have actually been going pretty well. The staff and players all seem to be getting along very well. There is a good energy in the pool and on the deck. Everyone has been working very hard. The younger players have been pushing the older players. It is good. There is a healthy competition for spots on the roster. We actually have three Junior team players training with us. Those players are Brett Bonani, Spencer Hamby and John Sibley. They are all doing very well. All three have been holding their own and gaining some valuable experience.

We have a total of 24 athletes in the water – which is a lot. In the end, we will have to choose just 13 to make the final Olympic team. On Monday, I had to name the team for the World League Super Final in Italy. This is never an easy task. I struggle with cuts. It is my least favorite part of being the head coach. Each athlete that is training with us expects to be a part of the team that is named. If they did not feel that way then they probably would not be out in the water with us. So when I have to talk to them individually and them that they are not going on this trip – it is very difficult -to say the least. It hurts me to do this. This first cut was especially difficult. I pride myself with trying to create an environment where each athlete feels that they were given a fair chance at making the team. In this case, we only had a week together before I had to name the team that was going to World League. This is very difficult and honestly much of the decision is based on last years performance combined with what I saw last week in practice. Is it fair? All I know is that I don’t take it lightly. I mull over it for hours and look at all the pros and cons of each player. I do my best to make the right decision. Here is the team that made the cut this time.

Merrill Moses (G)
Chay Lapin (G)
Tony Azevedo
Ryan Bailey
Jeff Powers
Jesse Smith
Tim Hutton
Peter Varrellas
Layne Beaubien
Peter Hudnut
JW Krumpolz
Adam Wright
John Mann
Brain Alexander
Shea Buckner

We are taking 15 players on this trip. We leave on Monday and fly to Croatia first for 4 days of training. Then we fly into Florence and prepare for the tournament. We will open up with Italy, then we play China and Serbia before the cross over begins. We can declare 13 players for each game so we will plan on resting a few different players in each game so that we can evaluate each player.

Our focus has been on front court defense, 5 on 6 and 6 on 5. With two weeks of preparation our expectations are not great. We will certainly do the best we can but our goal for the summer is to win a medal at World Championships which will be in July. This would also qualify us for the Olympics. All the tournaments this year are qualification tournaments. The winner of World League qualifies, the top three from the World Championships and the winner of the Pan Am Games. Lots of great competition this year and a chance for us to grow as a team and begin the process of coming together.

Each day presents a new opportunity to grow and get better. Day by day we will become a team – a family if you will. One day at a time the journey continues…

See you at the pool.

Coach