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
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
posted by Dr. Terry Schroeder at
6:49 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home