Saturday, May 5, 2012

A seat at the table 5/5/12

After nine days of training in Serbia and Italy we returned home on Wednesday evening. The long flight home is always a great time to sit, think and reflect a bit about the trip. Not much else to do for twelve hours on a plane… After spending the first three days training in Belgrade we moved to Genoa, Italy and trained with the best professional club team in the world – a team called Pro Recco. This team is loaded with water polo superstars and for us it was a perfect situation. The training was intense and physical. We scrimmaged twice a day and had one official match last Saturday. In the official match, the teams were tied up after three quarters and then Recco pulled away in the fourth quarter to win 11 – 7. We certainly did not get much help from the two Italian referees in the fourth quarter but we had our chances and did not convert. In fact, we missed two penalty shots in the fourth quarter that would have kept the game within one goal. After the game, I watched the fourth quarter on video and these are the thoughts that came to mind for our team. First of all, we can have no excuses. In the fourth quarter, we were looking to blame the officials for making it tough on us. We can not be victims. We are going to get our opportunities in every game and we must be ready to make the best out of each one of those chances. Second, we each have to take responsibility. This obviously goes right along with the first point. Each one of us must do his part to help this team win. No one can hide or blame others. We all our going to make mistakes and when we do we own up to it and move on. We must always first look in the mirror and ask ourselves what I could have done better? Third, we must demand excellence from ourselves and from one another. We are not going to win unless we play at our best. Each game is an opportunity to grow and to give your best to the team. We must also challenge our team mates in every practice and in every game to be their best. Finally, we must expect success! If we don’t expect to win we will never win. We have a great team and as we go into this final stage of preparation, this will be a constant thought and message that I will give to the team. We must expect to be successful and reach our goal. One aspect of coaching that I love is connecting life lessons to sport. There are always so many wonderful life lessons that come up in the course of a season or even a game. It is my job to look for these lessons and help to “teach” the team what can be learned. The message from Recco - No excuses, take responsibility, demand excellence and expect success – certainly not a bad lesson or formula for success in any area of life – from sport to the workplace to family. On the final evening in Italy, our staff (Robert, Marco, Rick and I) was asked to go to a nice dinner with the Pro Recco coaches. Representing Recco at the table was Eraldo Pizzo, a gold medalist on the 1960 Italian Olympic team and Guiseppe Porzio, a gold medalist on the 1992 Italian Olympic team. The conversation was light and fun for the most part, however at one point we were talking about my career and how my Olympic teams in 1984 and 1988 finished with silver medals. Guiseppe paused and simply said “what a shame, you must be so disappointed –you came so close”. It was painful to say the least. As I left that evening I vowed to myself to do everything possible to help this team win the gold in London and earn a seat at the “gold medal” table. Please don’t get me wrong. I am extremely proud of my silver medals, however my Olympic dream has always been about reaching the top of the mountain and winning the gold. We have a great deal of work to do before London and I am thankful for this small piece of inspiration that I took with me from Italy. By the way, the meal was excellent too. With the Olympic draw taking place this weekend, we now know our path to the gold! It is an exciting time. We have only 80 days to go and each and every day is critical to our preparation. See you at the pool. Coach

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