Pan Pacific Champions 1/14/12

On Friday we struggled to get excited about a game against the Barbarians (Australia”) and we played with little emotion and just slightly more energy. The game ended in a tie but did not have any impact on the tournament seedings. We rested Tony, Merrill, Jesse and Adam and let some of the younger guys play more minutes. The Barbarians played with a lot of energy as they had something to prove. Each and every one of their athletes is trying to prove that they deserve to be on the “A” team. It was difficult to motivate the guys as we have been swimming hard and lifting weights (we had a very challenging workout the morning of this game). All the guys know that the purpose of this trip is training and we have been pushing them hard. At the best, we looked sluggish in the water as we struggled through the game. We made a few bad mistakes that cost us the win. At one point we missed a penalty throw and then on the corner throw (after the goalie block) we threw the ball right to an Australian player who sprinted down and scored to make it a two goal turn around (we did not score and they scored off of our mistake). Anyway, we had some good swimming back and forth in this game and it was truly if nothing else “good training’’.

Yesterday we matched up again with Australia for the championship of the Pan Pacific Tournament. They had a really nice crowd for the game and obviously we were not the fan favorite. The game was close all of the way and sure enough it ended in a tie and went to overtime. We scored a 6 on 5 with a minute left in the second overtime to bring home the gold in the tournament. Tony Azevedo led the way for our team with 6 goals and Layne Beaubien added 3 goals including the game winner on a 6 on 5. Merrill Moses played very well in the goal and came up with some very big saves. The final score was 11 - 10. Not the defensive effort that I would like to see but overall a good team win.

This turned out to be a really good trip for us. Obviously, winning another tournament is great but more importantly spending time together and beginning the journey to London on the road was actually very good. We had no other distractions and all the focus was on the team with meetings, meals together, games and training. It worked out very well and now we all look forward to getting back home.

Today, we return home and prepare for full time training in Thousand Oaks. We will once again be at Cal Lutheran and Oaks Christian for our training. We have a few months on our own and then in late March we will host Italy, Montenegro and Germany for a 4 team tournament in Thousand Oaks. The year is now full speed ahead. It is going to be exciting and I am looking forward to the journey. The team is healthy and hungry. With our win at Pan Pac’s we now have won the last two tournaments we have played in. Obviously a good habit to develop. While the big boys from Europe have not been in these tournaments it is still a very positive step for us. We need to make winning a habit and as we go into this year we really need to believe that we can beat anyone. We need to expect to win.

I am privileged to have this opportunity and I am looking forward to seeing this group gel even more as we build trust, respect and love together.

See you at the pool.

Coach