Pan Pacific Update 1/9/12

The tournament is under way here in Melbourne. We are traveling with all 18 players who made our training squad. We will eventually have to get that number down to 13 (the final Olympic team). However, for now we are trying to play everyone equally and evaluate what players can do. We started the tournament with a 17 - 1 win over New Zealand. There was no Haka (that is the New Zealand dance that all their rugby teams do). Next up was Japan. They were certainly stronger but could not stay with us. They actually had a few very good players but just did not have the depth. The final score was 13 - 8. We gave up too many goals against them. The defense was not very strong at times. We have a general rule on our team that we don’t want to give up goals from the counter attack and we don’t want to give up goals from the center. Of their five goals, four were off of the counter attack and one was from center. I was a bit upset because our strength really needs to be our defense and if we do not play disciplined and work hard to play by “our rules” we will surely struggle.

Today we will face China at 4:30 pm (Australia time). They are not a bad team. They also have a few very good players but do not have the depth. It is interesting that their coach is Ricardo Azevedo. Ricardo was the coach of Team USA back in 2005 to 2007. His son, Tony is our team captain. The small world of water polo. China is working hard right now to qualify for the Olympic Games. They will battle Japan, and Kazakhstan later this month is Tokyo in their Olympic Qualifier.

After China, we will play Australia, Brazil and then an Australian “B” team over the next three days. It has been a good starting place for us. We all know that we have a ton of work to do over the next seven months and we are ready for it. I have spent the days having individual meetings with the athletes. We have reflected on the past and then talked about individual areas of improvement that each athlete can focus on over the next seven months. A few months ago, when I met with each of them I had them identify a few weaknesses that they would like to improve on. This meeting was about helping them take ownership of those weaknesses and develop action steps to conquer them. The meetings have gone well and being away without any distractions has allowed us the time to sit and talk.

Time to prepare for China.

See you at the pool.

Coach