Twelve Sundays 05/26/12

Through the years, I have learned the importance of beginning with the end in mind. Stephen Covey wrote about this principle in the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. In order for our team to be successful, we have to have a crystal clear vision of what it is we want. Then with the end in mind we can create a good plan to make it happen. This truly applies to all areas of life. Whether you are creating a business plan, planning a wedding or training for the Olympic Games you have to have a clear vision and path to your desired result. Counting today, we have just twelve Sundays left before we reach our goal. That is right, only twelve short weeks to go until we have a chance to stand atop the medal podium in London and become the best team ever in the history of USA Water Polo. In today’s article, I will give you a glimpse of what the next twelve Sundays look like for our team. I have laid it out for you week by week to let you know where we will be and what will be happening on that particular Sunday. As I said, I will begin with the end. Twelve Sundays from today is August 12th, 2012. This is the day we make history and become the best team ever in the USA. On this day we will be playing for the gold medal! I can see our team standing atop the medal podium with our national anthem playing loudly. I have goose bumps as I sit and write this. The only question I have is who will we play? Will it be a rematch of Beijing? August 5th, 2012 – today we will have a light training and spend time reviewing video and going over our game plan for Hungary (we will play them on the 6th) We are coming off a big win against Serbia (Aug. 4th) and this will be a good test run with huge back to back games. The coaches work harder than the players on these “off days”. While the players are recovering our time is spent reviewing video, going over scouting reports and preparing for the next game. July 29th, 2012 – this will be the day of our first game of the Olympic tournament. We will play Montenegro and in order for us to have a good outcome we will have to get over the first game jitters. We are prepared and we should be confident. This is will be a very important and tough game. The top four teams from the preliminary round will play in the quarterfinals later in the tournament and we will want to finish as high as we possibly can in order to secure a good match up in the quarters. For the next two weeks we will be playing a big game every other day so whatever the outcome is we need to go home reflect, learn and prepare for the next game. July 22nd, 2012 – today is the day we will move into the Olympic Village. We will have just spent three days training in Croatia and will be looking forward to moving in and getting settled for the remainder of our Olympic journey. This will be our home. It takes a few days to get used to the new surroundings and excitement. There is almost a buzz in the village all the time. You can feel it. My job is to keep the team focused and calm. July 15th, 2012 – A day of rest. We will spend the day with our families before preparing for the final short week of training at home. These workouts will still be strong and sharp. We can not really taper or rest for the Olympic Games. It is a two week long tournament where we have to play at our best throughout. We depart on July 18th and will spend three days training with Croatia before going into London. July 8th, 2012 - this will be a full week of training at home. We will be doing a great deal of work on the 6 on 5 and 5 on 6. This is a part of the game that will determine who wins the medals. We will still be lifting weights (P3) and swimming although both of these will consist of more velocity and explosiveness. The Games are but a few weeks away and we are all feeling a sense of urgency. July 1st, 2012 – Another good solid week of training at home. We will take off on July 4th to celebrate America. It is a great time to remind the guys about the honor of representing USA and being a part of something that is much bigger than them. June 24th, 2012 – We will have returned home from our trip to Kazakhstan and Montenegro the day before. We will take a couple of days off to be with our families and prepare our minds and bodies for our final three weeks of training at home June 17th, 2012 – This is “Gold Medal Sunday” at the World League Super Final in Kazakhstan. This represents another good test for the Olympics. June 10th, 2012 - On this day we arrive in Kazakhstan after flying half way around the world. I understand that it is 22 hours of actual flying time. We will no doubt be exhausted and have to acclimate a few days before we are ready to begin play. World League is a six day tournament with one game every day. Italy, China and Kazakhstan are in our bracket. Croatia, Spain, Australia and Brazil are in the other bracket. June 3rd, 2012 – this is a day to reflect and rest. We will have just completed a week of training with Hungary and Croatia. We will have played each of these teams two times. It is a big decision week also. We have our Olympic Team naming on June 5th. Making the final cuts means little or no sleep for me… May 27th, 2012 – Today we play Hungary at Newport Harbor High School at noon. If you are up early reading this, then jump in your car and drive to Newport to watch the game. It will be a rematch of the 2008 Olympic Games final. We will also have games later in the week. On Thursday, May 31st we play Hungary again at UCLA at 7:00 pm and then on Friday, June 1st, we will play Croatia at 6:30 pm at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena. Please come out and support Team USA. It is a great opportunity to watch some Olympic level water polo right here in our backyard. I hope that this has given you a little perspective about what is going through my mind as I look at our calendar and prepare for this final twelve weeks. Happy Sunday! See you at the pool. Coach