Three Wins 7/30/12

Finally, we get to play our first game.  There is no doubt that this period before that first game are the longest days ever.  The anticipation and excitement get to all of us a bit.  Athletes are already coming into the village wearing medals that they have won.  There is also more noise in the village as some of the athletes are done competing and are up late listening to music or talking with their friends.  The court yards created by the athlete dorms have made for a good echo chamber where voices and noise carry.  One of my jobs during these early days (before we begin) has been to keep the guys calm and confident.  Through experience, I know what these days are like and hopefully I have been able to help the guys handle this period a bit better.  We also have a group of veterans who all know the drill and have helped the younger guys deal with it better. Observing the guys, looking at their eyes, talking with them - I felt like we were in a good place - confident and pretty relaxed. There is no question that all of us feel the pressure. This is a good thing as long as you recognize that this nervousness is normal and healthy.  If any of the guys did not feel a bit nervous, I would be worried about them. It is really just a matter staying in the moment and not letting these nerves get to us.  All of these guys have passed the test of playing well in the biggest games (Olympics, World Championships, Pan American Games) and have learned to control that nervous energy.  They are here for a reason.

We had a good pre game meeting and I felt very confident with our game plan.  The coaching staff has spent hours looking at video and developing a plan to beat Montenegro.  The plan was simple - we win by playing great defense and not allowing their best players to hurt us.  They have one of the best centers in the world and we knew going in that it was going to be a huge task for us to stop him. They also have a couple of great outside shooters and to win this game we were going to have to keep them from having big games.  Looking at the players as we left the meeting room, I felt even more confident.  This group cares so much about each other - they really are a family.  Yes - we have talent but I believe that our closeness and our belief in each other is what is going to make the difference.

As we marched onto the pool deck for the game it was very evident that we had a “home crowd” here in London.  There we dozens of American flags hanging in the crowd.  Thousands of USA water polo fans were in the building and this was certainly going to work for our advantage.  Here is a my brief recap of the game. Montenegro scored first but two minutes later we evened the score at one with a nice goal by Ryan Bailey.  The first quarter ended tied at one.  The low scoring defensive game was exactly what we wanted.  The teams traded goals early in the second quarter before we scored two unanswered goals to take a 4 - 2 lead into half time.  In the third, we actually pulled in front 6 - 3 at one point and had them on the ropes.  However, we all knew that it was far from over. Montenegro scored with less than a minute to go in the quarter to pull within two at 6 - 4.  Just one minute into the fourth quarter they scored again to make it a one goal game.  This is where the true test occurs.  A one goal game - heading into the final five minutes of the game.  How would we respond?  We bounced right back and scored the next goal a minute later and pulled back ahead by two. Montenegro was not done and they would score again to make the score 7 - 6 with two minutes to go.  OK - now I was feeling a bit stressed... but still confident.  With 1:23 left on the clock I called a time out to make a few substitutions and get the guys settled down.  Coming out of the time out, Tony Azevedo scored a huge goal that brought us back up by two.  We seemed to have the game in hand - up by two with less than a minute to play.  Montenegro would come right down and score 11 seconds later and make it a one goal game again with :46 seconds to play.  With a 30 second shot clock we could not hold the ball for the entire time.  We used most of the clock and but were unable to get a shot off and Montenegro would call time out with :17 seconds remaining.  We played great defense and did not allow them to even get a shot off.  Final score USA 8, Montenegro 7.  A big win for Team USA.  Obviously, a great way to begin the Olympic tournament.  Peter Varellas led the team in scoring with 3 goals, Tony Azevedo, Ryan Bailey, Layne Beaubien,  Tim Hutton and Adam Wright each scored one.  Adam had a front tooth dislocated in the first half, came back into the game in the second half and gave us a great spark with a nice goal. Merrill Moses had a great game in the goal to lead the defensive effort.  It was a good team win. We can enjoy the win for a hour or so and then we must move on and begin to prepare for Romania on Tuesday.  Each game is huge and now all focus is on Romania.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the other two wins. Win # 2 - for the first time since we moved into the village we (the coaches) had hot water today and I was able to take a hot shower.  Those cold showers in the morning were getting old and they finally were able to fix our hot water heater.  A hot shower never felt so good.  Win # 3 - we also had fans for our rooms delivered today.  There is no circulating air in the building, so on the days when the sun has ben shining our rooms have been getting very warm.  Now we have some air moving!  Oh yes - the simple things that we take for granted... Obviously, the win in the pool was the one that really matters, however the other two “wins” are much appreciated too.

See you at the pool.

Coach

Pride in yourself, Pride in your Country 7/28/12

There is one moment that definitely stands out at every Olympic Games that I have been a part of.  That moment is when Team USA enters the stadium at Opening Ceremonies.  It is absolutely thrilling to march into a packed stadium and hear the roar of the crowd as your country is announced.  I was so excited about this approaching moment that I had dreams about it for the past few months. Unfortunately, the decision was made to limit the number of coaches that were to march into the stadium with each team.  Water polo was awarded one spot and that was given to the women’s team, meaning that I was not going to have a chance to participate in the Opening.

Over the past few days, as the ceremonies approached, I was a bit depressed with the realization that I would not be walking into the stadium with my team.  I also felt very bad for my staff.  These guys have worked hard to make it to this moment and I would like to briefly honor them here.  My first assistant, Robert Lynn is participating in his third Olympic Games.  He marched in at Sydney as an athlete and he was a big part of our success in Beijing.  Robert is one of the best coaches in the world and I am lucky to have him on my team.  Marco Palazzo, our second assistant is at his first Olympics.  Marco is from Italy and he brings an international dimension to our staff. He played for the Italian national team but was never able to quite make the Olympic team.  He has dreamed since he was a child of marching into the stadium and representing his country.  Marco knows the international players better than anyone on our staff and provides great insight to all of our scouting report.  Rick McKee, our team leader, was a part of staff in Beijing.  He does so many little things behind the scenes and never gets much credit.  We could not be here without him. Dr. Karen Bloch, our team trainer, has kept this team healthy for the entire year.  She is a chiropractor and an athletic trainer and will do very well in the “real world” because she has a great healing touch.  Alex Ash, our strength training coach, has helped to initiate a state of the art strength program called P3.  This is a program that has been developed by Marcus Elliot MD, who works with the highest level athlete in all sports.  I feel that P3 has given us the competitive edge and we are stronger than we have ever been before.  Our video scout is Jack Kocur, who played for me at Pepperdine when we won a national championship.  Jack will be spending some long days here filming and coding game film to help develop scout films on each team.  Finally, we have a team doctor that works with both the men and the women.  Dr. Marcia Whalen has worked with our team and volunteered countless hours to help any and all of the players and coaches that have needed medical attention.  All of these people deserve recognition and I am sad that they will not experience the Opening Ceremonies in the stadium.

I certainly was not going to hang out in the Village and pout about not going to Opening.   My family arrived in London on Thursday and I decided to spend the time watching the Opening Ceremonies with them.  I listened to my Olympic music for much of the day while doing my work.  I was fired up for the Opening when I met up with my girls - Lori, Leanna, Sheridan and Lori’s sister Robin. We headed into town to the P and G family house.  This is a place where the Olympic families can go to meet up, relax, get a meal and watch the events on the big screen.  Proctor and Gamble is the sponsor this year and they have done a fantastic job.  The place decked out in red, white and blue.  Free food, drinks and lots of fun activities for the families.  There is a man cave where men can go and shoot pool, foosball or get pampered with a haircut or a shave.  There is also a big section for the women.  They can get free manicures, pedicures, hair cuts or have someone do their make up.  All the families can make phone calls (for no charge) to anywhere in the world.  The atmosphere is patriotic, fun and relaxed. 

The water polo families (parents and friends) had all decided to meet here and enjoy the   Opening Ceremonies together. Although, I was not with my team I felt that this was the next best thing.  I was with our family which includes all of my players parents, wives and friends. As I settled in to watch the ceremonies next to Lori and my daughters, I was comforted by their presence. When the Ceremonies began, they dropped thousands of red, white and blue balloons from the ceiling.  It was actually very cool.  Usually as the coaches and the athletes line up for Opening Ceremonies they do not get to watch the actual “show”.  Although, not in the stadium, I was able to take it all in with my family.  After a few hours, the “moment” approached when Team USA was to march into the stadium.  I could sense the excitement in the room.  While it was definitely different than being on the field it was still pretty awesome.  As our team marched into the stadium, I was able to find my team on television.  I saw the joy and excitement on their faces.  I felt like I was right their with them.  Memories poured into my mind about past Opening Ceremonies.  Marching into the LA Coliseum in 1984 had to be one of my favorites with the entire crowd chanting USA, USA, USA.  It was powerful.  I felt that same pride here.  In the 1984 Games, the announcer simply said “Pride in yourself and Pride in your Country” as Team USA marched in.  I heard that echo in my mind.  A pride in yourself for making your dream come true and having a chance to play for the gold.  A pride in your country.  There is no doubt that this is bigger than any individual and having the opportunity to represent our great country is a huge honor.  I would also like to add that there is a tremendous pride in your team.  When you work together towards a common goal on a team you become so connected that you want to win for each other and you are very proud of your team mates. 

Even though I was not able to march, I experienced another amazing Opening Ceremonies.  It was actually very nice to be with my family and share that moment together.  Now the real fun begins.  We go back to work today and continue to prepare for our first game on Sunday vs. Montenegro.  I am receiving so many emails wishing the team success.  They are all much appreciated.  Thank you.  I am very excited for this team... I believe that something very special is going to happen in the next two weeks.

See you at the pool

Coach

Fight night and a busy Village 7/25/12

Our last day in Croatia turned out to be very interesting.  Once again, we won the scrimmage and then as things were wrapping up a skirmish broke out.  Both benches cleared and there was a lot of pushing, shoving and yelling going on in the water.  Many of the players were face to face and it was close to being a full on brawl.  The center of the storm was the biggest guy in the water, a Croatian player that stands about 6’8” and weighs in at 260 lbs.  He may be the biggest player in the Olympic Games this year. He was totally ticked off and wanted to fight Merrill (our goalie)  Our players did a good job of shielding Merrill from him until he decided to jump out of the water and run around to the side of the pool.  I had called Merrill to the side of the pool (to get him out of traffic and potential trouble) and the Croatian was coming up behind me ready to jump back in.  I turned just as he was making his move and my reaction was “I don’t care how big you are - you are not getting at my goalie”.  So I planted my feet and grabbed him to keep him from getting back in the water. Truth is if he really wanted to he probably could have just knocked me aside.  Fortunately, I was able to get him to slow down and at least think about it. Shortly thereafter things calmed down and we would make our way to the locker room.  It is always a bit interesting when two teams scrimmage right before the Olympic Games.  There is a great deal of pent up energy, perhaps a competitive fire that is ready to burn and more often than not these types of situations break out - fight night in Croatia... When I was playing on our Olympic team in 1984 we had a huge bench clearing brawl with the Italian team in a “friendly” scrimmage just weeks before the Olympic Games.  I guess that it is just a part of the preparation.  No one wants to feel like they are getting beat so frustrations rise to the surface very quickly.  The best news is that no players were injured and that we left Croatia with some very good training and perhaps a little more confidence.

The next stop on our journey was Budapest, Hungary.  This was about a three hour bus ride from the small town in Croatia to Budapest. As a staff, we had decided to give the team the day off. The reality is that this will more than likely be our final day off over the next three weeks.  The hotel where we would be in Budapest for the next couple of days is right next to the Hungarian National Training Center, a beautiful five pool complex.  The building is loaded with water polo history.  There are marble plaques on the walls recognizing the nine Hungarian Olympic Championship teams.  Pretty impressive stuff.  Amazingly, they have managed to win the past three Olympics games (2000, 2004 and 2008).  This is a streak that needs to be stopped and we are ready to do that.  However, this day was for rest and recovery.  We all enjoyed a day of rest at the hotel where there are some natural mineral hot springs.  Needless to say, we all spent a few hours soaking in the hot mineral baths knowing that in a few short days things will be very intense.

The training was good with Hungary.  We trained twice with them on Monday and once on Tuesday morning.  They really did not want to scrimmage much so we played a good deal of 6 on 5 (more tactical and less stressful on the bodies).  We had one four quarter scrimmage which ended up being a bit of a chess match - both teams kind of making calculated moves and feeling one another out.  They won the first two quarters and we won the last two. In the end, I believe that the final score was a tie.  With our flight out at 7 pm that same evening we all had a few hours of rest before leaving for the airport and heading back into London.

The flight was an easy two and a half hours and we landed in London with the sun setting on the Olympic City. We then boarded a bus that headed for the Olympic Village which will be our home now for the next three weeks. The bus ride was only an hour as all the Olympic lanes are now open.  When we arrived at the Village it was a different scene than when we came in last week.  The security was totally ramped up.  It actually took us over 30 minutes just to get through security and upon entering the Village, we all felt a buzz.  There was a totally different energy as it is no longer a ghost town. The Village will continue to fill up for the next week until it reaches its capacity of about 10,000 inhabitants.  It will be a fun place with athletes from all over the world making new friends as they prepare for their chance to be the best in what they do.  With just two days to go now until Opening Ceremonies we will continue to act as if the gold is ours as we settle into our Olympic home.

I have been trying to give the guys a small message every day.  Something to think about that may make a difference in helping us win the gold.  The message today comes from the movie Invictus.  There was a great scene where Francois Pienaar, the captain of the South African rugby team was talking to President Nelson Mandela.  The message was this - In sports or leadership we are rarely 100%, we always have to play a little “hurt”.  To me this means that we have to perform at our best even when we don’t feel 100%.  Through the course of this eight game Olympic tournament we are all not going to be feeling our best the entire time. Chances are that someone will feel a little hurt. The beauty is that on a team everyone can pick up a bit for each other.  Maybe collectively we are at 95% with one or two players hurting a bit -  the key is that our 95% level has to be better than our opponents.  

See you at the pool 

Coach

Preparing to Summit Mt. Everest 7/20/12

Our journey to London was pretty smooth.  Most of the team was upgraded to business class on the flight out which was great for them. Unfortunately, the coaches were still stuck back in economy, but the reality is that I am glad the players had that opportunity.  Regardless, the nine and a half hours went by very fast.  In fact, I think I slept the entire way - waking up with just forty-five minutes left before landing at Heathrow.  After being processed and getting our credentials at the airport we loaded a bus for what was suppose to be an hour and a half ride to the Olympic Village. Apparently, there was some type of taxi strike and they formed a blockade downtown.  Traffic did not move for quite a while and it took us just over three hours to get to the Village. On a positive note we had good views of Big Ben, Westminster Abby, Buckingham Palace and the London eye (a giant ferris wheel) as we made our way through town.  All the guys stayed in good spirits throughout.  When we finally arrived at the Village it was beautiful - set in a park-like setting with lots of trees and green grass.  Now if they can just get the weather to cooperate.  London has had lots of rain and more is predicted.  As we walked towards our new home in a cold light rain, one of the guys commented “is this the Winter Olympics?” 

The apartments are very nice and Team USA is situated in a very strategic location which is close to the dining hall and the transportation center.  We ate dinner in the dining hall (food was good) and then explored the Village for a bit.  It is very nice but seems empty.  We are here very early and the Village is probably at about 10% of its capacity. Finally, at about 8 pm we had the chance to go to one of the training pools (Eaton Manor) and get in the water.  Nothing better than a good swim to clear your head and shake off some of the effects of jet lag.  After swimming for about an hour and fifteen minutes I called our entire team together for a brief meeting.  This included all players, coaches and staff. I wanted us all to be on the same page about one thing.  That one thing was to win a gold medal.  I simply told them that it is time to “act as if” we have already won the gold.  I encouraged them for the next month to be calm and confident and to have a presence about them that says I am going to win the gold.  I also told them that all of us will be blown away by the magnitude of the events that lie ahead - whether that is opening ceremonies, something in the Village or something else Olympic.  I told them that these moments may feel overwhelming and I encouraged them to take a few deep breaths at these times and get back to our focus of winning that gold. 

After a good nights sleep we took a bus over to Team USA’s processing center.  There were six different stations set up to collect all of our Olympic gear.  The first was Ralph Lauren which is donating all the clothing for Opening and Closing Ceremonies.  The process took awhile considering that every piece of clothing was custom fit to each player.  Some things fit well off the rack and others had to be tailored.  The guys were excited as they loaded up on a whole new wardrobe.  In the end they would get gobs of clothing from Ralph Lauren and Nike, five pairs of shoes, sunglasses, watches, rings and goodie bag full of toiletries and more.  Each athlete left with five bags worth of stuff!  It was amazing.  The coaches made out too.  It feels a little like Christmas.  It is an interesting process that took us about five hours. It also is one of the aha moments where you realize that you have made the team.  Each piece of clothing says somewhere on it “USA Olympic Team”.  There is no escaping the fact that you are now representing your country.  

After returning to the Village, we ate lunch and went back to work.  We had gym time as well as pool time in the competition pool. It was exciting to walk onto the pool deck where we are gong to make history and imagine the place filled with fans.   Our training was good but needless to say the guys were pretty exhausted from the day.  Lots of energy spent on the emotions of processing.  All in all a very good day.  One that I am happy is done with early in the journey and now allows us to get back to work and focus on what we need to do to win that gold.

After a good nights rest we were up early Thursday morning and ready for the next portion of the adventure.  This was a travel day.  Off to Croatia - first a one and a half hour bus ride to the airport (much more reasonable) then a two and a half hour flight to Croatia and then another one hour bus ride to a small town called Varazdin.  This is where the Croatians are spending their final few days training before they go into London.  We arrived and had a late lunch and then two hours later were in the pool scrimmaging the Croatians.  Surprisingly, we did very well and beat them pretty good.  They left upset and I am sure had a long meeting last night with their coach, Radko Rudic. (Radko used to coach Team USA - between 2000 and 2005).  He is well known to most of our guys who trained with him during that time.  He is known as one of the best coaches in the game and his teams have reflected that over the years.  

Training on Friday was definitely a bit different.  The Croatians showed up in full battle mode and after a rough first period in which there were almost two fights, both teams settled down and played a hard fought scrimmage.  The Croatians definitely got the best of us in the morning.  Mental games... we had a meeting a came back and beat them good this evening.  Take that Croatia...  Anyway, obviously these games do not mean much at this time.  There is just a sense that you want the upper hand going into the Games.  We with train with them again tomorrow before we head off to Hungary for a few days of training.  This entails a three hour bus ride to Budapest before we spend our last few days of training outside the Village.  After that we will settle into the routine at the Village and continue to “Act as if” the gold medal is ours....

We are one week away from our first game.  Mt. Everest is now in site and we are preparing to climb to the summit over the course of the next few weeks. 

See you at the pool

Coach

Ready for Blast Off 7/14/12

We just completed our final week of training at home. It was a good week and I am happy with where we are at as a team with two weeks to go before our first game. Throughout the year we have emphasized fundamentals like good body position in the water, strong legs and focused passing. These remain vital for our success; however another set of fundamentals - the “intangibles” may be even more critical. The three intangibles that I want to write about today are trust, responsibility and a positive belief system. I believe that this team is strong in all three areas. A lack of any of these three intangibles could literally sink our team. The heat of the battle is the true test for these intangibles. If we are as strong as I believe that we are than these intangibles will push us towards victory at the Olympic Games.



The first intangible is trust. Relationships are at the heart of any team. These relationships grow and thrive with trust. Everyone likes to talk about team chemistry and how important that is to any team’s success. The truth is that good team chemistry revolves around this trust factor. The players must first care and respect each other enough to want to build this trust. Then in an environment where they spend time together the experiences they share together will help to build this trust. Sometimes these life experiences are difficult (adversity) and other times they are fun and exciting. Most of all it means putting in the time together, sharing a common goal and being willing to be open to respect your team mates and their differences. All of the experiences that we share help to grow trust in each other. As the trust grows the team gets stronger. There is no doubt that we are becoming a better team. The relationships we share are built around trust, respect and love for one another.



The second intangible is responsibility. Each of us (players and coaches) must be able to accept responsibility for his actions. Taking responsibility will build trust and strengthen the chemistry. This is very difficult to master. Often, it is an easier path to blame others and shift the responsibility from ourselves. It is especially easy to blame officials in our subjective game. I struggled with this for years. Our 1984 Olympic team should have won the gold medal. We were ahead 5 – 2 late in the third period in the Olympic final. We were in control of the game, however we finished in a 5 – 5 tie allowing Yugoslavia to claim the gold based on goal differential. The result was difficult to swallow and for years it was easy to blame the officials. As I grew as a person, I came to realize that I had no one to blame but myself. We had our chances to win that game outright. We blew opportunities on our 6 on 5 and we played to protect a lead rather than to win that game. There is a mirror test that works pretty well. Here is the way that this test works. Look in the mirror and ask that person you see if they are doing everything that they can do to make the team better. Ask that person you see what they can do to become better. Everyday we are trying to build on this principle. As we all accept responsibility better we become stronger. Teams that accept responsibility as individuals and collectively as a whole will feel more in control of their own destiny and are more successful.



Finally, one of the most important fundamental intangibles is a positive belief system. Do the athletes believe in themselves? Do they have confidence and truly believe that they can win the gold? There are countless stories in sports about teams that never should have won the World Series, the Super Bowl or the Olympic gold but did because they believed that they could. Many of these teams could not have possibly matched the other team with talent but they still managed to find a way to win. Certainly, one of the biggest factors in building this belief system is to have small successes that build the confidence inside and tell us that our goals are really possible. Our wins last month over Croatia and Hungary certainly gave us a little taste of that success. Also, we have ten players that were a part of our amazing run to the silver medal in Beijing. This team already knows that we can beat anybody in the world. This is a beautiful thing and puts us in a good place to do just that. I certainly believe in this team. I know that we can win the Gold and become the best team ever in USA Water Polo history!



Our fundamentals are strong in and out of the water. It is an exciting time as we are now on the launch pad ready for blast off. We fly to London on Monday and will soon have the opportunity to live out our Olympic dream and win the gold.



See you at the pool.



Coach

Lessons from Dad 7/7/12

This past week we all celebrated our great country’s 236^th birthday.  The team took a day off and spent time with family and friends.  Training has been good but long.  I’ll give you a quick idea of what our days look like - Monday we arrived for training at 7:45 am. After 2 hours in the gym for weights, the guys had a light snack and then went for two more hours in the water.  After refueling, resting and in many cases getting needed therapy they came back at 6 pm for a sport psyche meeting and then spent another 3 hours in the water before we had a team meal on the pool deck.  Our 8 + hour day on Monday was followed by another 3 hour and 45 minute practice on Tuesday.  Needless to say, we are grinding away and trying the best we can to get everything done before we leave for London on July 16^th.

The 4^th of July is always a very nostalgic day for me.  It was a good family day filled with patriotic memories. Here are a few of my favorite “American” moments.  First of all it is hard to beat Opening Ceremonies at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles.  It was an incredible feeling to march into the L.A. Coliseum with over 100,000 spectators all cheering and chanting USA USA USA.  I felt like I was floating off the ground as we walked around the track that day.  I was so proud to be representing our great country. Another moment of great national pride for me has been the numerous occasions that the national anthem has been played for me as an athlete or a coach.  I have experienced this at the World Cup, Pan Am Games and a few other international tournaments. However, my dream and this team’s dream is to stand atop the podium in London, with hand over hearts and hear our glorious anthem played for us.  Finally, one of my favorite patriotic memories occurred during the Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain in 1992. As our team was being introduced for one of our first games, I looked up into the stands and found my mom and dad.  Dad was not hard to spot.  He was wearing a USA flag shirt (with cut off sleeves) and a star spangled head band.  He was so proud of his look that he wore this outfit to every game in Barcelona and eventually added a big American flag that he would wave proudly whenever our team did something well.  It was awesome and this picture of my dad is still one of my greatest memories of a man that was an amazing inspiration to me.

Today, in honor of my father, I would like to share a couple of the most important lessons that I learned from my dad. These are lessons that have shaped my life.

Lesson # 1 – Do your best.  As a talented young age group swimmer, I had my share of wins and loses.  Even when I had suffered a miserable loss, Dad would be there to give me a hug and remind me “you did your best”.  This was a powerful message that resonated deep within me.  I learned that it was OK to lose as long as I had done my best.  No one is going to win every time, we lose once in a while and often times we learn more from losing than we do from winning. The bottom line is that we are to use the gifts that God gave us and in all areas of our lives we should do the best that we possibly can. John Wooden shared this wisdom.  He has been quoted as saying “A man can be no happier than when he knows he has done his best.”  Even though “doing my best” was often translated in my mind to wanting to “be the best”, Dad would often remind me not to compare myself with others but to simply go out and become the best that I possibly can be.

Lesson # 2 – Dare to succeed.  This concept goes hand in hand with lesson # 1.  Dad would always inspire me to dream big dreams and reach for the stars. In fact, my Olympic dream began when I was 9 years old.  I was watching the 1968 Olympic Games on television with my dad.  I remember asking my Dad, “Do you think I could be in the Olympics one day?”  He just looked me in the eyes and said “you can do anything you put your mind too.”  Dad reminded me to stay focused on my dream and never get sidetracked by set backs (loses and failures) along the way.  One of my favorite quotes is from Teddy Roosevelt’s Man in the Arena speech that he gave in 1910. In this speech, he says “the credit belongs to the person who is actually in the arena…who spends oneself in a worthy cause; who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and at worst, if he or she fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”  Basically, get in the arena or pool and go for it!

Lesson # 3 – Be grateful.  This was big for my Dad. He taught us to be thankful for all we had.  Dad would have us make a list of all the “things” we were thankful for.  This has become a habit for me. It is amazing how much better your day goes when you wake up and your first thoughts are positive thoughts about all that you are thankful for.  Too often we think about what we lack instead of what we have.  Try making a list of what you are thankful for and look at that list on a daily basis.  Say thank you more often.  It will change your life.  As I reflect, I am incredibly thankful for my family and the relationship I have with my wife and children.  I am thankful for the friends I have.  I am thankful for the freedoms that I have in this country and the men and women that fought for those freedoms.  I am thankful for the opportunity I have with this team over the next month or so.  And of course, I am thankful for my dad and the valuable lessons he left me with. That’s the short list…

We are down to our final week at home.  Twenty days to go until Opening Ceremonies…

See you at the pool.

Coach