Dr. Terry's Blog

Six months and counting 1/29/12

2012-01-30T07:41:00.001-08:00

January 27, 2012 was significant in that it is exactly six months until the Opening Ceremonies for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England. Wow!!! This is going to go by so fast and I have this incredible sense of urgency.

We just completed our first 10 days of full time training. As always the first few weeks seem to be an adjustment for everyone. We are now training six days per week. We train twice on Monday, Weds and Friday and once per day on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Below is our schedule for those of you that might want to come out and see a practice.

Monday 8 – 10 am – Weights at CLU 10:15 – 11:45 am Pool at CLU
7 – 9:30 pm – Pool at Oaks

Tuesday 8:45 – 11:45 am – Pool at CLU

Wednesday 8 – 10 am – Weights at CLU 10:15 – 11:45 am Pool at CLU
7 – 9:30 pm – Pool at Oaks

Thursday 8:45 – 11:45 am – Pool at CLU

Friday 8 – 10 am – Weights at CLU 10:15 – 11:45 am Pool at CLU
7 – 9:30 pm – Pool at Oaks

Saturday 9:30 – 12 noon Pool at Oaks

• there may be some changes week to week

It seems that I have been hustling around in meetings just trying to get everything settled. There are more and more demands on all the pools in the area and we are having some challenges to secure all the times that we want. I must say that CLU and Oaks have both been awesome in working with us to get us the times and space we need. We are very fortunate to have these two beautiful facilities to utilize.

The players have been readjusting to the schedule also. In this first phase, we are working on building a base of conditioning. This means hard work for everyone. We are lifting very hard with our program at P3 and we are putting in some pretty good mileage in the water. Water polo is a game that requires the greatest conditioning and we are working to make sure that our team is in the best possible shape.

As we go through our training we are faced now with some new challenges. Our team is older and many of our players are older and now married. A few even have children. We are dong our best to make sure that all members of the family feel like they are important part of this journey.
I am excited about our schedule this year. We are having some big games in the USA. In March we will have World Champion, Italy, powerhouse Montenegro and a very good German team here for a 4 Nation tournament in Thousand Oaks.

We will also have a few exhibition games with Italy after this tournament. Then in May we will host the World League Super Finals (May 10 – 13) and Croatia and Hungary later in the month. Looking at our schedule we have succeeded on scheduling 25 – 30 competitive games this year. As we firm up our game locations, I will send that out with one of my next few blogs.

We are fortunate to have so many great supporters out in this area. I would like to acknowledge a few of these people. Jerry Halweg has worked many hours to help us secure “host families” for most of our athletes. We all appreciate what he has done for the team. All of our host families deserve a big thank you too. These families have agreed to host a team member for the next six months. We could not do it without each of these local families. Finally, I am happy to say that we have received a substantial donation that has allowed us to secure housing for the team members that did not have a host family. Thank you to Ospraie and Dwight and Julie Anderson for this donation. All of you are a giant part of our Olympic journey. We appreciate you all.

That is it for now. We have so much to be thankful for and a great deal to be excited about. It is going to be an amazing year. I am looking forward to it. London here we come.

See you at the pool.

Terry

Pan Pacific Champions 1/14/12

2012-01-15T07:28:00.000-08:00

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

Playing better 1/11/12

2012-01-12T08:54:00.000-08:00

We have had a pretty good run over the past few days. We beat China 15 - 4 on Tuesday in a game that was never close. The Chinese seemed out of sorts and a bit confused. I am sure that they are working on a new offense and defense and they seem to be struggling to make it all work. Anyway, it was a blowout. Our guys took control early and just kept the pressure on the Chinese.

Yesterday, we played Australia in front of a nice crowd. This was a close game the entire way. We are playing better and I have to say that I was pleased with our effort. We played solid on defense and allowed only 6 goals. Australia was 3 for 8 on their 6 on 5 and only scored one counter goal. We fought hard for four quarters and ended up in a 6 - 6 tie. The glaring weak area of our game was our 6 on 5. We scored only 3 of 12. Not a good stat and certainly something that must change if we are to get back to the podium. We actually had a 6 on 5 with 10 seconds left in the game and shot the ball over the goal. Overall, I was happy with the way we played. We swam well with the Aussies and we put ourselves in a position to win the game at the end.

Earlier today, we played Brazil and clobbered them. We started a little slow but came on strong and pulled away at the end winning 17 - 5. We have been rotating players throughout the tournament (only allowed to declare 13 per game) and many of the young guys are playing pretty well. Both young goalies - Chay Lapin and Andy Stevens have played well and Shea Buckner, Jeff Tyrell and Janson Wigo have all contributed with some nice goals.

We now play the Barbarians tomorrow. This is basically the Australian “B” team. We will rest some of our veterans as we have already secured a spot in the final against Australia on Saturday. They are expecting a large crowd and it should be a fun environment.

Overall, the trip has been very good for our team. We have had some good meetings to outline expectations and go over schedule and we have had some very good workouts here. The team is getting along very well and as we go through this process over the next 7 months we will need to build on the trust, respect and love that is already present.

I am looking forward to the journey.

See you at the pool.

Coach

Pan Pacific Update 1/9/12

2012-01-09T16:46:00.001-08:00

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

G’day Mate 1/7/12

2012-01-08T12:09:00.000-08:00

Hello from down under and welcome to our Olympic journey. After our win in the Pan Am Games we took a break from team training. The team spent the last few months doing individualized training. Each athlete was given a specific plan that included our weight training program (called P3) and swim conditioning sets. I believe that this break from the normal intensity and work load that is part of our normal day to day routine will benefit us greatly as we get into this year. Not only do the guys (and the coaches) need a physical break but they also need a mental break. I spent the last few months preparing and planning but also trying to bank as much quality family time as possible.

It was a good break and now it is time to get back to work. We arrived in Australia on Wednesday morning and after checking into the hotel went directly to the pool in Bondi Beach for a match. It was an awesome setting for a game. This pool is built into the cliff on the far end of Bondi and there are multiple levels for the fans to sit and watch. It was a packed house. The waves crash over the pool on the ocean side and the environment was great. They had movie stars there and all kinds of news media. Water polo needs more games and promotion like this. The Aussies did a wonderful job of putting on a good show and promoting our sport.

The game itself was OK. We did not have extremely high expectations. After all, we had not actually played water polo for over two months. Our guys have been swimming but actually playing the game is totally different. We are not in bad shape - just not in water polo shape yet. We will get there soon enough. I believe that the final score was 9 - 7.

On Thursday and Friday night we also had test matches and ended up losing both of those by a few goals too. I am really not too worried about where we are at right now. Australia has been training hard together for the past four weeks and they are in a better place than us right now. I am confident that even as this trip goes on we will get better and better.

Yesterday we flew to Melbourne, which is where we will play in the Pan Pacific tournament all this week. This morning we open up with New Zealand, then we play Japan, China, Brasil and Australia “A” and “B”. It should be good training. We will be lifting weights and swim conditioning during the week too. So we will get into water polo shape pretty fast.

We are now less than seven months away from London and the Olympic Games. Just over 200 days to go... Wow. It is exciting and yet it is a bit scary. The Olympic journey is an exciting one and yet it will be challenging too. It is a very difficult year to keep balance in your life. That is much more of factor now for all of us. So many of our guys are now married. A few have kids. I know that my family is my # 1 priority and I want to make sure that none of our guys get totally disconnected with their families as we go through the year. We need to figure out ways to keep the families involved and the support system strong for all of our guys.

Lori and I recently went to a USOC conference that was entitled “Team is Family, Family is Team”. It was very good. The coaches and their spouses were invited and it was a great way to help the coaches and the spouses look ahead to the joy as well as the stresses that this Olympic year will surely bring into our lives. We were also encouraged to create a plan, stay connected and as balanced as possible through it all. Lori and I both felt it was a very valuable experience. I would like to carry that forward to our team and build in a few family activities along the way to make sure that the wives and families feel like they are a part of our journey. Obviously, they are a vital part of our success.

There is much to do in this Olympic year and that is one of the factors that makes it scary and overwhelming. The key is going to be to take it one day at a time. I need to stay in the moment and enjoy each step of this fantastic journey.

Time to prepare for our game against New Zealand.... Hopefully, we don’t get hypnotized by the Haka...

See you at the pool,

Coach

Pan Am Gold

2011-10-30T19:26:00.000-07:00

Last night, we won the gold by beating Canada 7 - 3 in the final match. This means that we are officially in the Olympic Games next summer in London. Our defense made the difference in this game. Merrill Moses led the way, playing another great game for us. He made 10 saves, including a one on nobody break away and 4 saves on the 6 on 5. Our perimeter defense was excellent also as we made 9 field blocks. This is the most we have had in any one game in a long time. The Canadians were very frustrated, especially on 6 on 5 where they went 0/8. Our five man defense did a great job of shutting them down.

Offensively, we did what we needed to do. The Canadians played very physical and yet were only called for 3 exclusions. We scored 2/3 of our extra man situations. Tony Azevedo was back in the water, playing his first game of this tournament. His presence and leadership are critical for us. He scored 3 goals and made two assists. Peter Hudnut, Jeff Powers, Tim Hutton and Jesse Smith also scored for us. Our centers were frustrated and it seemed that the officials just were not going to pay us off at all. We made 11 good entry passes and only drew 2 exclusions at center. (This is extremely rare; normally one would expect to see about 50% of your good entry passes result in an exclusion).

I was happy with the game. It is the defense that must excel in these big games and that is what we relied on last night. Lori flew in just for the game and made it with a couple of hours to spare. It was awesome having her there supporting me and the team. After the game, we had a great team dinner which was hosted by the Varellas family. It was great being together as a team with all the family members that traveled down. Everyone had a great meal and enjoyed the time together. It is so important for a team to celebrate the successes along the way.

We return home today and then have a few months to take a bit of a break. The guys will be training on their own. They are all on a specific weight training program with a group called P3, which is showing very good results. They will also be swimming 3 times per week to keep their fitness level up. The break is important both physically and mentally. I want them all to come back ready and hungry to make a push towards that gold medal in London. We are now within 9 months of Opening Ceremonies in London. Wow! Time will fly as we prepare and get ready for the Games.

Thank you to everyone for your support. Your emails, thoughts and prayers are all appreciated. We need it all to be successful next summer. One of our big goals over the next few months is to find housing for the team when we go into full time training in January. If anyone out there has a solution; an empty house, guest homes, granny flats, or reduced cost apartments, please let me know. We have a few months to figure it out.

See you at the pool.

Coach
tschroeder@usawaterpolo.org

An interesting perspective

2011-10-29T08:38:00.000-07:00

After training tonight, we went over and supported our women’s team in their quest for the gold and an Olympic berth. They also played Canada. After being down 7 - 3 in the third quarter our USA team rallied to tie the score at 8 and send the game into overtime. Neither team scored in OT which meant the game headed to a penalty shootout. The format for a shootout is that each team picks five players and then each player gets their turn (one team and then the next). After each player has taken their penalty shot a winner is determined. If the score is still tied then the teams alternate (with the same five players taking shots) until a winner is determined. After each team had taken 20 shots the score was still tied. Finally, Canada missed after a USA make and the game was over. Our women won the gold! Very exciting game and pretty amazing that there were so many penalty throws converted in a row. Congrats to our women’s team.

Tomorrow is our turn to play for a gold and hopefully, it will be the same result without the excitement of a penalty shoot out. I was watching both coaches suffer throughout the shootout...

Somehow on the way home, Rick and I ended up in the bus with the Brazilian women’s water polo team. They had just won their first bronze medal at the Pan Ams ever. These girls were so excited. They were playing loud music, dancing and singing and just screaming in delight. It occurred to me how I have felt after winning the silver medal at the Olympics as a player and as a coach. I also have won one silver, along with 4 golds at the Pan Ams in the past. It is amazing how when you don’t win the gold you go away in pain with a silver medal while when you win the bronze you are happy and excited with a medal. I remember that feeling from Beijing also when we won the silver and Serbia won the bronze and they we super excited and we were bummed.

Anyway, tomorrow is a day for us to shine and win the gold. We have been gradually getting better throughout the tournament and tomorrow Tony should be back in the pool with us. This will definitely make us stronger. We are prepared and ready to play at our best in this final game. Ready to take home the gold and qualify for London.

After the women’s game tonight, Rick and I stayed to watch the medal ceremony for the women. I just wanted to hear our national anthem being played so that I could go to bed with those positive thoughts, humming our countries anthem as I drift off.

See you at the pool tomorrow.

Coach

Pan Am Update - Semi - finals

2011-10-28T08:41:00.000-07:00

Today we moved one step closer to qualifying for the Olympic Games in London. We played a much more complete game today and dominated Cuba in the process. We took a 6 - 0 lead into the half and had them very frustrated. The third quarter we pulled back on the throttle a bit and went into the fourth quarter ahead 8 - 2. We finished strong and outscored the Cubans 4 - 0 in the fourth quarter to win the game 12- 2. Jeff Powers led the way with three goals, Brian Alexander and Jesse Smith both had two each and Layne Beaubien, JW Krumpolz, Peter Varellas, Ryan Bailey and Tim Hutton each had one. Merrill Moses played exceptionally well in the goal, allowing a good shooting Cuban team just two goals.

In the other semi-final, Canada outlasted Brazil in a very physical game in which I thought that the officials lost control. There were many crazy calls and the Brazilians had every chance to win the game but gave it away.

Tomorrow our women play Canada for the gold and a berth in the Olympic Games and then on Saturday we will get our chance.

The village has quieted down in the past few days. It is probably about 40% capacity of what it was over last weekend. As athletes finish they usually are on a plane the following day for home. This keeps the village under control and obviously cuts down the cost of housing and feeding the athletes for extra days.

It was another beautiful day here in Guadalajara. Of course, every day that you win is great. The weather has been perfect for the games. It has been consistently in the high 70’s and is expected to stay that way throughout the weekend.

I am excited about tomorrow. We are having a light workout in the morning and then heading to a hotel for a nice brunch. I am salivating already just thinking about it. A meal outside the village...

By the way, I had a real treat tonight. After our game, I came back and one of our volleyball parents at Oaks arranged for me to be able to watch our league final game vs. La Reina tonight. The marvels of technology. I watched the entire game live on skype. It was awesome being away from home and being able to watch my daughter play. Her team won too so it was a good day all around.

See you at the pool.

Coach

Pan Am Games - Game 3 Argentina

2011-10-26T07:41:00.000-07:00

Another win for Team USA. We played much better but did not shoot the ball very well. We made the Argentine goalie look good. We won 13 - 6 in a very physical game. The officials let this one get too rough. There was one fight and a few other punches thrown. Our guys did a good job of holding back and controlling their emotions. One of the Argentine players was excluded from the game which gave us a man advantage for 4 minutes. We were up 10 - 5 at the time and scored the next 3 goals to seal the game. We actually had 29 shots on goal (which is a lot) and could have easily won by 12 goals but were not sharp on our shooting.

Tomorrow is an off day for the competition. We will have light training in the morning and then do another training in the afternoon. They guys are beginning to feel better with the altitude but I am not sure that we are 100% yet. A few of the guys have been sick (head colds and mild cases of Montezuma’s revenge) which certainly does not help. Tony still has not played yet. He is much better and should be good to go for the semis and finals. If we felt like we needed him in the last couple of games he could have played but we decided to hold him out and make sure he was 100% for the last two games.

Village food has become scary. Peanut butter and jelly are scarce. All the guys are now stopping by the coaches room for their “fix”. There is more snack type food showing up in the USA team rooms. There is a small place that Rick and I found tonight in the International zone that served sushi tonight. Although the thought of raw fish here did not sit well with me, we found some vegetable fried rice that was to die for. It was a feast. Hopefully, that place will be around. It may be another staple....

The weather has been superb. The days are beautiful. Bright blue skies, in the upper 70’s with a slight breeze. It has been nice. Even though we are playing indoors, the staff has been able to come back and get some exercise in during the late afternoons. The gyms has quieted down some and there is plenty of space without sweaty boxers sparring all around or wrestlers trying to make weight in their sweatsuits, dripping with sweat. After some work in the gym we have been able to take a nice peaceful swim in the late afternoon in the village pool. It has been heavenly... Very relaxing and a good way to spend some time with the staff as we make our game plan for the next day.

Many of the parents and wives are here now. In town to watch the semis and finals. It is nice to have some Americans cheering when we do something well. It is still a very anti American group in the stands. They are cheering wildly for the other team - no matter who it has been. I am missing my family. Getting reports from home about soccer and volleyball for my two girls. Can’t wait to get back and see them play. Lori is coming down on Saturday, just in time to see the finals. It will be nice to have her here for that.

Time to focus on getting these guys ready to play at their highest level. All games went as scheduled today, so we will play Cuba in the semi-finals on Thursday at 3:30 pm here. Canada will play Brazil in the other semi-final. Two win away from that Olympic berth.

Send your positive thoughts to us over the next few days. We can use all the support we can get. We know we have many back home supporting us and we thank you for all the positive emails and notes that are coming in. Keep them coming. The team appreciates them all.

See you at the pool.

Coach

Pan Am Update 11/24/11

2011-10-25T07:32:00.000-07:00

Today we played a scrappy Brazilian team that did not roll over easy. They were able to slow down our offense and keep the game close but that is all. We were never behind and we played just well enough to win. Honestly, I was disappointed in our effort today. We took Brazil lightly and that is always dangerous. I have no one to blame but myself. They guys were not ready to play mentally. We were up 2 - 0 and 4 - 1 but kept allowing Brazil to hang close. At the end of three quarters we were up 5 - 4. At that point, Ryan Bailey stepped up and scored two nice goals in a row to help us put them away. Tim Hutton also had two goals in the game and Peter Varellas, Layne Beaubien, JW Krumpolz and Jeff Powers each scored one. Merrill Moses went the distance in the goal today.

We had a long meeting tonight and spoke about our focus and our intensity. We did not play with any urgency and that is something that we need to get back. It is amazing how there really is such a small difference between winning and losing. If you don’t come with your best stuff then you give the other team a chance, no matter how much better you are then them. The other negative about today’s game is that we gave Canada some hope. And in sports as in life, hope tends to go a long way.

Tomorrow is a new day and a time to change the tide. We will face Argentina, who gave Brazil a good battle. You can bet that we will come ready to play. A win tomorrow puts us in the semi’s against Cuba who lost today to Canada 15 - 10. The semi’s will be played on Thursday with the final on Saturday. We are three wins away from that Olympic berth that we came here to win.

See you at the pool.

Coach

Pan Ams update

2011-10-24T10:07:00.000-07:00

We played our first game yesterday against Venezuela. The guys came out supercharged and we were up 6 - 0 in the first quarter and 12 - 0 in the second quarter before we went into cruise control. The defense looked very sharp with very few balls even reaching the goal. We made some good field blocks and kept Venezuela very frustrated. The final score was 16 - 3.

It was a good first game for us. Considering that Tony Azevedo did not play because of a muscle strain that has been bothering him for the past few days, the team did very well. The offense was led by Tim Hutton who scored four goals and Ryan Bailey who scored three. Chay Lapin played the second half of the game in the goal and did well.

I was very impressed with the competition venue. It is indoors with seating capacity greater than the facility in Beijing. There was a very nice crowd yesterday - most of them cheering loudly for Venezuela. Looks to be a pretty anti-American crowd. Should make it interesting as the games get tougher.

Today, we play Brazil which should be a better test for us. This is a game that will require us to play all four quarters. Brazil should be one of the top four teams here. I have included a link which is showing all games live on a web cast. I understand that the quality is very good. Here is the link...
http://deportesus.terra.com/road-to-2012/2011-pan-american-guadalajara/live/3/#3
Today and tomorrow our game will be played at 2:30 pm here which is 12:30 pm at home. Tune in and keep track of team USA. We are on a mission to qualify for the Olympics.

There are a total of eight teams in the tournament. As I mentioned Brazil and ourselves are the top two on our side. The other bracket also has two pretty strong teams in Canada and Cuba. These two teams also play today and this should make for a good game.

I am glad to be competing. It will be exciting as we go through the next week here.

The village is at full capacity now. Swimming just ended and track and field is just beginning so I think that this is about as full as it is going to get. More and more athletes are finishing up so the evenings are getting a little louder. There was a lot of late night activity last night which is a bit distracting. We need to keep our guys focused on the job that we have to do.

Village food is getting old. It is not easy serving so many athletes and the food is a little plain. Not much taste. We are all relying more and more on peanut butter and jelly. Good thing that there is a Wal-Mart right down the street.

It is a beautiful day here in Guadalajara. The evenings are getting colder. Last night was in the 40’s but the days have been in the high 70’s. Very pretty here. Looks like a good day to beat Brazil and move one step closer to qualifying.

See you at the pool.

Coach

Pan Am Games update 11/20/11

2011-10-21T07:18:00.000-07:00

Team USA is training hard and getting acclimated to the altitude. The first few days were a bit tough but the guys seem to be doing pretty well now. The village is busy. I have heard that this is the second largest sporting event in the world next to the Olympics. The lines in the dining hall are pretty bad at peak times. Some times it is like Disneyland with 45 minute waits. The food has been adequate. The fresh fruits and vegetables are the best. They have some great papaya and watermelon... Some good juices too. The fresh guava juice has been my favorite.

The guys are all healthy and excited to begin. The days before competition are always the toughest. Too much time... on one hand you don’t want to sit around and do nothing but on the other hand you don’t want to run around and expand too much energy doing anything silly. The guys have been meeting up with some of their friends that have been classmates or that they have come to know at the Olympics or other international competition. We have had training both at the village gym, which is really nice but also very crowded and at the practice pool. The only bad thing about the practice pool is that it is a solid 45 minutes away bus. Which means that you are riding in a bus for as long as you are in the pool. We don’t get to have any time in the competition pool until Saturday when we get one hour.

We scrimmaged against Brazil yesterday and did pretty well. The altitude was still a bit of a factor and we did not look sharp but that will come together over the next few days. Tomorrow we have practice time with Mexico and hope to scrimmage one more time before the tournament begins.

Our tournament begins on Sunday with Venezuela. They replaced Trinidad and Tobago who dropped out at the last minute. We don’t know much about Venezuela but then again we did not know much about Trinidad and Tobago. Our second match is against Brazil who is seeded third in the tournament. After scrimmaging them the other day it is obvious that they have some really good outside shooters. Our final game of the preliminary round will be against Argentina. After that it is semi-finals and finals. The finals are nine days away.

Time to get to bed and get some rest. One day closer to competition.

See you at the pool.

Coach

Pan Ams 2011

2011-10-18T07:38:00.000-07:00

After having eight weeks at home together, Team USA is back on the road in Guadalajara, Mexico. It has been a busy but exciting time for the team. We have not had this much time together since 2008. The reason for this is that most of our guys go to Europe and play professionally and we don’t see them until May or so. At that point we have a few short weeks to prepare for our summer. This year is different. All of the players have agreed to stay home and train together through Pan Ams and into next year for the Olympic Games. We have been able to do this because so many people have stepped up and helped support us. We had a fundraiser and we will have one more in March of next year. The money raised at these fundraisers will go directly towards the athletes to help pay for food and housing.

I can tell you that I am super excited about having the whole team together for this entire year. This is the only way that we are going to win a gold medal next year. The team has been working super hard to get ready for this first step towards London. The Pan Am Games is our Olympic qualifier. We need to win a gold medal here to qualify for the Olympics next year. We are ready to do it.

We traveled to Houston on Sunday. This was the city chosen to process and outfit all the athletes as they traveled to Guadalajara. We flew out of LAX early on Sunday. Processing and outfitting took about an hour and a half. Our team planned a nice dinner in town and we all enjoyed some great Texas steak ( a few of the guys ate fish). After a short night sleep we were off and running again. With a large group of athletes processing yesterday (there were two full buses that left for the airport) we had to load up at 6:30 and head to the airport. Lots of lines and waiting around but we finally arrived in Guadalajara around 1:30 pm. The drive to the village was another 40 minutes and by the time we made it to our rooms it was almost 3 pm.

Although, we missed our training time at the practice pool, we got a great workout in at the gym and swam for about 45 minutes at the pool in the village. Tomorrow we will travel to the training pool twice (once in the morning and once in the afternoon). Back to work....

We all know that we have a job to do here and we are ready to do it. The schedule has us starting on October 23rd and the finals are October 29th. We will have a total of five games and we expect to win them all. We will not take anyone lightly. We are on a mission to dominate these games and come home with a gold medal and qualify for the Olympics.

Here is the Pan American Games team.

Merrill Moses
Peter Varellas
Peter Hudnut
Jeff Powers
Adam Wright
Brian Alexander
Layne Beaubien
Tony Azevedo
Ryan Bailey
Tim Hutton
Jesse Smith
JW Krumpoltz
Chay Lapin

I will keep you all posted as to how our training and preparation is going as we get closer to competition. That’s it for now.

See you at the pool.

Coach

Shanghai - Work to Do

2011-07-31T07:31:00.000-07:00

7/31/11

Tomorrow we pack up and leave Shanghai. We all leave with a feeling of “we are so close” and yet we come home with a 6th place finish. We battled Spain in the 5th place game and ended up losing 12-11. After falling behind 4 - 0 in the first quarter we managed to win each of the last three quarters but could not make up the deficit of the first quarter. For whatever reason, our guys seemed to be sleeping in the first quarter. Our defense was not as strong and Merrill did not have his best game. Throughout the tournament the pieces looked very good at times but in the end when the team had to be the strongest to win a tight game we were not where we needed to be.

In my opinion, the biggest factor is time together. Many of these other teams are training together so much more during the year. Once again, we had a total of four weeks together to prepare for this tournament. Just not enough time as a team.

I am looking forward to this next year. All of our guys have agreed to stay home and train as a team. As I mentioned in an earlier email we have to raise some funds to make this happen and we will be having a major fundraiser for the team. We are working on a date in late September. All the funds raised in this event will go directly to the athletes for training expenses for next year. This is vital to our success. Stay tuned for details.

As for now, we come home and have a few weeks off before we resume training for the Pan Am Games. We will actually have about 6 weeks of good time together to prepare for the Pan Ams. This now becomes super important for us. We need to win the Pan Ams in order to qualify for the Olympic Games. Otherwise, we will have to qualify in the per Olympic tournament which is a dog fight. The guys know what is on the line and we have to get to business and prepare for the Pan Ams.

I believe that each of our guys knows that they have to be 100% committed now to the national team program. We improved a great deal here over the two weeks. We came together and grew up. We realized that perhaps we have been in cruise control a bit and if we are going to be serious about winning the Olympic Gold nobody can cruise in this next year. No great goal comes without a big sacrifice. We are prepared to lay it on the line and go for it.

Italy actually defeated Serbia last night in overtime to win the gold here. Croatia won the bronze with Hungary fourth. Those are the teams that are in front of us right now. We know what we have to do and now it is just a matter of taking this day by day and putting the work in together.

I was reading John Maxwell’s Laws of Teamwork and there is a great quote that applies to our team. It says that “as the challenge escalates, the need for teamwork elevates”. That is where we are -as we move forward we need to learn to rely on each other to a greater degree. This is the only way that we have a chance to win the gold next year.

See you at the pool.

Coach

Shanghai - Turning the Tide

2011-07-28T20:22:00.000-07:00

7/29/11

Another solid effort by our team. This time we did not let Germany jump on us early. Instead, we took a commanding 4 - 1 lead and played a great first half. We actually went up 8 - 4 at the half. The best part of what was going on in the game for us was our 6 on 5. We scored our first seven 6 on 5’s and this was a big part of our early lead. We were confident, aggressive and yet we were patient and smart. We worked the ball around very well and made great choices as we broke down the defense. The Germans made a big charge in the third and fourth quarter as we lost a bit of momentum. In the end we hung on for an exciting 9 - 8 victory.

One of the best elements of this game was that we actually had seven different players score for us. Ryan Bailey led the way with 2 goals and Peter Varrellas, Peter Hudnut, Adam Wright, Brian Alexander, Jeff Powers and Layne Beaubien all scored to secure the win. Merrill played another great game in the cage. It was a good team effort.

We will need another one tomorrow as we will face off with Spain for 5th place. They are a tough team and also feel like they have something to prove here. The other match ups for the final day are as follows. Italy beat Croatia and will play Serbia for the gold. The Hungary/Serbia game was pretty amazing. Hungary had the lead for the entire game and then Serbia tied it late in the game and sent the game to over time where they prevailed. So Hungary and Croatia will play for the bronze.

The message here for our guys is to finish strong. We have come together a great deal in this tournament. Improving in many areas as the tournament has progressed. It has been nice to watch. We all know that we have a great deal of work to do when we get home. We will go home with the sense that we are close to the summit. We all need to be committed through this next year and see how far we can go as a team. I believe that the Olympic Gold is within reach.

See you at the pool.

Coach

A Battle Lost

2011-07-26T20:22:00.000-07:00

7/27/11

Hungary vs. USA turned out to be a great battle that was fought hard down to the very end. After taking a commanding 5 - 2 lead, Hungary fought back to tie the game at 5 and then take the lead. From there the momentum of the game seemed to swing back and forth. We would catch them and tie the game and have a chance to take the lead but never again regained the lead. The tempo was in our favor. We actually beat them 6 on 6. Our defense was paying very strong. We came to play and played one of our best games since the Olympic Games in Beijing.

The underlying story of the game was the 6 on 5 and 5 on 6. They scored 5 out of 11 and also had a penalty shot and we scored only 3 out of 11. Often times in these big games that is where the games are won and lost. And yesterday this proved to be our downfall. In fact, in the fourth quarter we had four 6 on 5 opportunities. We scored on only one. The Hungarian goalie made a few very nice saves to shut us down. It was tough and to make matters worse on two of our power play opportunities, Hungary came down and scored on the very next possession to make these in effect two goals turn arounds.

The final score was 9 - 8 with Hungary moving on to the semifinals with Croatia, Serbia and Italy. We go into the 5th - 8th bracket and once again play against Germany on Thursday here.

As I reflect on the game there are many positives - we definitely played well enough to win in many areas. Our 6 on 6 defense was very strong. We had good intensity and Merrill played a great game in the goal for us. However, we made some individual one on one mistakes where we took bad exclusions (kick outs) and gave them a few easy goals. They even had a one-on-nobody break away when we took a quick shot immediately off an ejection foul and their team captain Biros broke away by himself. Our little mistakes hurt us big as they usually do against a good experienced team. Our 5 man defense was actually pretty good too. Hungary scored 5 out of 11 times and we had them somewhat frustrated on their man up opportunities. The real weak spot that sticks out is our 6 on 5. As I have said in the past the 6 on 5 is the true mark of how well your team is working together. We scored only 3 out of 11 of our power plays. This is not a good percentage and granted some of our failure is due to Hungary’s great 5 man defense. They move in and out on defense better than anyone in the world. Much of our failure in my opinion is just lack of time together. In the last few non Olympic years, we have only had 3-4 weeks training time together because of the European schedules that most all of our players play.

This year will be different. All the players have agreed to stay home and spend the next year training together. Actually, the opening ceremonies in London are one year from today! In order to make this happen we are going to have to raise some funds to help the players out. We will be having a major fundraiser in late September where all the funds raised will go directly to the athletes for training expenses. This will be critical to our success next summer. As you can all see we are close to the top but to climb to the summit is going to take a lot of hard work and time together. When we return to Thousand Oaks and resume our training at CLU (our training base is California Lutheran University) we will be working hard towards the Pan American Games which is now our next opportunity to qualify for the London Olympics. The Pan Ams will be in October of this year and we need to win the gold to qualify. Obviously, we have lots of work to do before then.

For now, we need to focus on finishing strong here. Germany tomorrow and then if we win we have the winner of Monte Negro and Spain for 5th place on Saturday.

Time to get back to work and start preparing for Germany. Lots of video to watch and figure out how we are going to win tomorrow.

See you at the pool.

Coach

Shanghai - Playing with Pride

2011-07-24T20:28:00.000-07:00

7/25/11

Last night we came to play. The team was excited to prove that that are ready to play at a high level are in Shanghai. We stressed defense and talked about playing tough man to man defense for 30 seconds (the entire shot clock). Our goal was to allow them no more then 4 goals. We came out with great intensity and totally dominated the Canadians in all aspects of the game. At the end of the first period, we were ahead 5 - 2 and at half it was 11 - 2. We went on to beat them 17 - 4.

It was a game when almost everything we did worked. Our defense frustrated the Canadians the entire game. They really had trouble doing much of anything. This is a key for us as we now advance to the quarter finals against Hungary. The Hungarians advanced first in their bracket. They had a tough bracket which included Monte Negro and Spain. They beat Monte Negro 10 - 9 in the first game of the tournament and then beat Spain 12 - 11 to win their bracket and earn the bye that all first place finishers in the preliminary rounds earns.

In Beijing, the winners of pool play also received byes. Both teams (USA and Hungary) that received byes ended up advancing to the finals. The point being is that in a long tournament like this that extra day off is a big advantage. If we look at it this way Hungary may have the advantage. However, for us we are just now working our way back into our game. The team feels pretty good about where we are. They are excited about playing defense again - which is something that has been missing over the past year or so. In fact, last year we gave up an average of 10.5 goals per game. In contrast, during the Olympic Games, we gave up an average of 6 goals per game prior to the finals when Hungary beat us in a shoot out. Our energy level is good. We were able to use all of our players pretty equally over the past few games so no one should be too tired. The hotel situation has worked in our favor, where we have not had to drive all over town two times per day for training. We have limited that to one off site and one training on site. The point is that we should not be too broken down going into this quarter final match. We should be ready.

Hungary came to our game as a team and watched us play. They are a pretty cocky bunch and they have certainly earned that to a degree. This is a team that has won the past three Olympic Gold Medals. They are good for sure but they are beatable. This will actually be our first real meaningful match against the Hungarians since the gold medal game in Beijing. I am excited. A birth to the London Olympic Games is at stake (it appears that Serbia will make the top four which means that all four teams in the top four will earn bids to the Games - because Serbia is already qualified).

How do we beat Hungary? We have to be committed to playing our best defense. They have a team of sharp shooters. Lots of guys that can score the ball. We can not get into a shootout with them and expect to beat them. Our best game is a low scoring game where defense is dominate. We want to make them score 6 on 6 from the perimeter. We need Merrill to have a big game and we can’t give them any cheap goals - we need to make them earn everything they get. We can do this. It certainly will not be easy but it is not suppose to be. This is a team we need to beat if we are to have a chance to win a gold medal in London. There is no doubt that they will be in the final rounds in London. It is time to play with pride on defense. If we can hold them to 6-7 goals we can definitely beat them.

Today we will begin to focus in on what we need to do to beat these guys. We will be reviewing video for a good part of the day and we will also have one training later today where we will work on some tactics that will be key to our strategy to win. Game time tomorrow is 2 pm.

See you at the pool.

Coach

Testing the Waters

2011-07-24T07:16:00.000-07:00

7/24/11

Friday Team USA was able to get some frustrations out with a lopsided 20 - 3 win over South Africa. It may have been “just what the doctor ordered” to get us some positive energy going. In our training yesterday, the team was more focused and seemed more hungry. There is certainly a lot of work to do when we return home but at this point all we can do is take it one game at a time while we are here and put in our best effort. You never know what will happen in sports... that is why we play the game. If you believe that you have a chance and go out and give it your best than you have a chance to win each and every time you go out there.

Today we have a very important match up against Canada. There are two reasons that this game is critical for us. First and foremost, every game now is an elimination game. The winner today advances to the top eight and the loser goes to 9th - 12th. So it is time to play our best. Canada actually wanted this match up with us. They feel like they are closing the gap between us and they have something to prove. This is a dangerous scenario for us. We can not for one second think that this game is going to be easy. We have to come to play at the top of our game. If we do that we will take care of business and keep our hopes alive to medal in this tournament. The second critical reason for doing well in this game is that Canada is our chief rival in the Pan Am Games in October. If we do not qualify here then the Pan Ams become our qualifier for the Olympic Games in London. Today’s game is important for us to send Canada a message and take all hope away from them as we go forward.

We have a relaxed morning with breakfast and then a stretcher at the hotel pool. The hotel has really worked out nicely here. They have a great gym and pool and we have been able to utilize these facilities without having to drive all over town for our trainings. The food has been great and the fact that we are situated on the side of the river away from the busy part of town is great for keeping the team focused. Also, the competition pool is really only 10-15 minutes away from the hotel so that has been awesome too. All in all, it has been one of the better hotels I have ever stayed in on any USA Water Polo trip.

Today we will test the waters again and see if all the meetings and talking about playing with pride and intensity have hit the mark. This will be a truer test to see if we are ready for the big boys or not. Game time 4:50 pm. I am excited about seeing if we can win some games here. Four games to go counting today (cross over, quarter finals, semi finals and finals). All we have to do is win our next four games and we will be the champs! (: For now, we will just focus all of our energy on winning this game today. It really is all the matters right now. We have something to prove and today is the day to do it.

See you at the pool,

Coach

Not Quite the Start We Wanted

2011-07-20T16:04:00.000-07:00

7/20/11

Tonight we played Italy. We battled and fought but in the end just did not have what it takes to win the game. We came out much better but were still down 2-1 at the end of the first quarter. At the half, it was 4 - 2 Italy. We played the third quarter poorly and lost that quarter 3 - 1 to make the score 7 - 4 going into the fourth. Unfortunately, we gave up too may bad goals with mental errors. While it was a better effort, we are just not clicking right now.

Where do we stand? We play South Africa on Friday. Definitely a team we should handle well. They are also 0 - 2 and have given up 31 goals to date. We will beat them and finish 3rd in our bracket. This will cross us over with the number 2 team in the C bracket which is Canada. The winner of that game advances to the quarter finals more than likely to face Hungary. We have our work cut out for us. We have to find our groove. Part of our problem is definitely conditioning and part of it is just we need more time together. My sense is that we will improve each and every game here.

My overall opinion is that we have a group of veteran players that have not put the time or energy into getting themselves into the best possible shape. They have become slightly complacent and it does not take much to be off your game. We will work hard to find ourselves in this tournament. That is all we can do right now and hopefully we have a few games to gain some confidence and strength before we go into the quarterfinals next week. It is a long tournament and a lot can happen. We have not been working like the team we once were but we will find it. I am certain of it.

Tonight our bright spots were our 5 man defense. We held Italy to 3 out of 9 power plays which is pretty good for the 5 man. On the other side of that was our 6 on 5 which was a measly 3 out of 10. We also gave up some pretty soft goals. As our offense struggles a bit we need to find a way to keep teams from scoring so many goals

We have some work to do here. No fun for anyone when you lose your first two games. The mood is pretty blue. Hopefully, we can right the ship and gain some confidence as we go forward here. Our goal is to get better every game.

Another gray day in Shanghai. We had some thunder showers today but overall it was a pretty good day. Except for loosing of course. The swimmers came in today and made quite a stir. Everyone wants to see Michael Phelps. Lots of media in the hotel tonight.

Ok - that is about it for tonight. I am checking out and hitting the sack. Better days ahead.

See you at the pool.

Coach

Shanghai - Poor start

2011-07-18T15:20:00.000-07:00

7/19/11

For whatever reason, we came out last night very lethargic and played through the first quarter like we were asleep. Germany on the other hand came out like they had something to prove and before we knew it we were down 5 - 0. Not the start that I had imagined. At that point, we became fired up and tried to make a run at them. We fought hard and actually played two quarters of water polo that were as good as I have seen from this team in the past few summers. Early in the fourth quarter we earned a penalty throw and had a chance to tie the game at 7. Unfortunately, Tony Azevedo’s shot was blocked and although we continued to fight could not ever come all the way back. Germany scored to go up by two and then we scored to make it 8 - 7. We had another great chance to tie it up but missed on a 6 on 5. Germany scored once more from the perimeter to win 9 - 7.

Definitely not the way we had envisioned the tournament beginning. This is a team we can beat and we played poorly for two quarters and handed them the game. Disappointing to say the least. We had a long meeting last night after the game. I asked the guys to think hard about how we played and try to figure out what is going on with starting the game out so poorly. If you remember, in Florence most of our games we were down 3 or 4 to 0 before we started to play. There are definitely some mental focus issues going on. My biggest concern is that we don’t seem hungry. We are not playing with urgency like there is something to prove. We played with very little intensity the first quarter. We as a team need to find that and get back to playing this game with passion. Having some fun together and of course, winning some games.

We have a light weight workout this morning and then a swim down. This afternoon we will go to an outside pool for training and begin our preparation for Italy. We need to get back to playing with some pride and intensity on defense. Lots to work on and obviously much room for improvement. We need to find ourselves again.

A new day today... Time to get to work.

See you at the pool.

Terry

Restless in Shanghai

2011-07-17T15:21:00.000-07:00

7/17/11

I have had a bit of trouble adjusting to the time change here. Perhaps it is the 15 hour difference between here and California but I am usually a pretty good sleeper no matter where we are in the world. I have found myself up before the crack of dawn and feeling a bit restless. My sense is that I am excited for this Championship to begin. The days before the big event are normally the toughest. The waiting game. There is a very positive vibe happening on the team. Lots of laughter and good energy. I think we are going to ready to play some high level games here. Can we win this thing? Yes we can... no question. In our meeting tonight, I mentioned that we were one of 8 teams that had a real chance to win this thing. I then asked them, Why not us? Why not now? What separates the team that wins the big tournament with the team that finishes just out of the medals? The answer is that usually very little separates the winning team from the rest. Everything just has to come together at the right time. Just maybe, this is our time.

We are training lightly - mostly going over some tactical last minute details. Unfortunately, we have had some unwanted spies at our trainings. It seems that at most of our trainings either Germany or Italy have been scheduled to come in immediately after us for their training. The bad part is that they show up 30 minutes early and just sit around and watch our training. This has made it tough for us to work on anything very specific in our preparation for either one of these teams. The guys have taken it all pretty well. They have laughed at the thought that these other teams are so desperate to find out what we are working on that they are planning their days around coming in early to scout us in practice. We are tapering down and getting our bodies feeling good.

Many of the teams (including Germany and Italy) went to Singapore for a pre World Championships tournament. We were invited but decided not to go because we wanted to spend our time at home preparing on our own. I think we made the right decision as it seems all the teams that went came down with some kind of intestinal bug and most of the teams have players that are still feeling a bit sick.

Tomorrow is game day. We will have a pretty casual day. Up at 8:30, 10 am swim at the pool and then some down time before our meeting at 3:45. From there we head over to the pool. Game time is at 6:20 tomorrow. We (the coaches) are going to show up in our new matching suits - fresh from the fabric market here in Shanghai. This is something that I have wanted to do for quite some time - bring a little more class to the pool deck. It should be interesting to see how everyone reacts. We just have to win and the culture may be changed forever.

Should be fun. I believe that we are ready. Once this tournament begins my restlessness should ease up.

See you at the pool.

Terry

Shanghai

2011-07-13T09:06:00.000-07:00

7/13/11

We arrived safely in Shanghai tonight. I feel we are ready to do something special. We have been training very hard for the past few weeks at home and the guys have been working hard. We had some excellent trainings at home. Good physical conditioning in the pool and the gym, with a good balance of team tactics. We have placed a big emphasis on team defense, 6 on 5 and 5 on 6. If we are going to win a medal here, these areas of our game will be big keys.

When we left practice on Sunday, I left the team with a thought. Perhaps it is a mantra that they will buy into as we go forward (at least that is my goal with it). The idea or thought was to be the “best ever” team in USA Water Polo history. The guys are well aware of our teams in the 80’s that won two Olympic silvers (1984 and 1988). That team never won a medal at the World Championships. In fact, no USA team has won a medal at the World Championships. So if this team is going to take on that challenge of becoming the “best ever” than it starts now with a medal here in Shanghai.

The other accomplishment that would put them in the category as being the best team in USA Water Polo history, would be to win the gold medal next summer in London. So that is our challenge - to win a medal here and to win the gold next year.

In 2008, we all were well aware of our mantra which simply said “Back to the Podium”. Here we are four years later - looking to make a statement that would certainly leave a legacy behind for this team.

I am excited about these games. The hotel is wonderful, food seems great. We just need to get some rest now and get our bodies ready for the task in front of us. Our first game against Germany lies just 5 days away. They will be very tough - no doubt.

Time for some rest.... We will see you at the pool!

Coach

Not ready for prime time

2011-06-27T18:55:00.000-07:00

6/27/11

My coach's intuition proved to be right in that we just did not have it against Croatia. We played a decent first half. In fact, we went 4 for 4 on our first four extra man opportunities. This was a great positive step. The problem is that every time we scored we would give up a goal immediately at the other end. So at half we were down 6-4.

Croatia just pulled away in the second half as we began to wear down. We were 0 for 6 on our extra man in the second half and only managed to score one goal as Croatia went on to win 11 - 5. Once again, I was disappointed in our defense which gave up too many easy goals.

In the gold medal game, Serbia was just too much. They defeated Italy 7-6 in a great battle. This means that Serbia is the first team to qualify for the Olympic Games next year.

Our goal in the tournament was to finish in the top four. We knew coming in that we were not where we needed to be. Few of our guys have been finishing up school or work commitments and now should be free to dedicate their time to training and getting ready to begin our climb to the top of the mountain.

We sit right now ranked 4th in the World. We come home today and have a few days off before we begin training for the World Championships that are in Shanghai, China July 16th - 30th. The top three teams in this tournament qualify for the Olympic Games in London. Our bracket is not easy. We will open up with Italy on July 16th and then play Germany and South Africa. The top three teams in each bracket advance to top 16, play with the winner getting a bye into the top 8.

We have a lot to work on when we get back. All parts of our game are a bit off. We have to step up our conditioning and at the same time work in tactics so we are prepared for all situations. The task is great.

I do feel as though the reality check we had this week was good for us. The guys know fully that we need to work hard to catch up to these other teams. They also know and feel that all the pieces are there for us. They are not all connected yet. They are certainly not synchronized as they need to be to become the team we all know we can be. This takes time and I am confident that we will get there. Will we be ready and fully prepared for the Worlds? I can tell you that we are going to do our best to prepare this team and get them ready to compete at the highest level. I believe that we can do it.

Time will tell... as any mountain climber will tell you - the journey to the top is one step at a time. This is our plan. To stay the course and stay in the moment. One day at a time. Each of us giving our best to challenge one another to become better individually and as a team.

The journey goes on and even though we are not where we want to be - we are on the road and prime time is just around the corner. Good things are going to happen...

See you at the pool.

Coach

Respect

2011-06-27T07:29:00.000-07:00

6/26/11

Last night we lost to Serbia 8 - 5. Definitely a better game than our first game against them. We played hard but are really struggling. Seems like the timing is off and we are not working together very well. Once again, we were destroyed on the 6 on 5 and 5 on 6. They scored 6 out of 9 times that they were up a man and we did not score on 7 attempts on our 6 on 5. That is about as bad as it gets. We have a lot of work to do in the next few weeks to get ourselves ready for the World Championships.

We did close the gap a little on the Serbs but they still have our number. I feel in a way that they do not really respect us. It is interesting to look at history. In February of 2008, we went to Belgrade and trained with the Serbians for 8 days. They kicked our butts night after night. Slowly over the course of that year we closed the gap with that team and just a month before the Olympics we played them in the finals of the World League tournament. We lost 7 - 4 but all the guys walked away from that game knowing we could beat that team. Serbia also knew that they had a worthy opponent. We had gained their respect (finally). In the Olympics, we played them in the first round and lost 4 - 2. The gap was getting smaller... and then in the semi finals we played them and finally beat them 10 - 5. It was a huge win and it kind of shocked the water polo world.

Over the past few years, Serbia has once again established their dominance over us. We have played them 5 times since 2008 and lost every time. What hurts the most is that they don’t seem to respect us again. I look down at their bench during our math with them and see players laughing. We make a big play and celebrate a bit (as a team) and they laugh at us. It makes my competitive blood boil and I hope it does the same for our guys. In my mind, Serbia is playing at about 95% capacity. They may improve but not much. On the other hand, we are at about 75 - 80%. We have a lot of room for improvement.

In the other semi final, Italy defeated Croatia in a shoot out to advance to the final. That means that we will play Croatia in the bronze medal game tonight at 7 pm. It is significant in that over the past three years we have consistently been in the medal round but have failed to win a medal. We have finished fourth on numerous occasions.

Croatia will be tough. They are big and strong. I think our guys feel pretty good about our chances but I am a little concerned that we don’t have enough gas left in the tank...

We seem worn down as I look them in the eyes this morning - I don’t see what I want to see. I worried.

We shall see.

See you at the pool.

Coach

Signs of Life

2011-06-25T07:24:00.000-07:00

6/25/11

Our quarter final match up was going to be a battle - we knew that going in. We also knew that unless we began to play with heart and some emotion we were in for another slaughter. This game started out pretty badly. Monte Negro scored on two out of three of the first possessions. When the first quarter ended, we were lucky to be down 3 - 0. It could have been a lot worse.

Then something happened... I could sense that the team began to find their heart. They started to battle and each possession suddenly became important. There was a different feeling on the bench and in the water. Truly, this is the reason I still coach. The feeling of team. When everyone begins to see the bigger picture. It is not about them individually but rather about the team. It becomes a matter of wanting it for your team mates as much or more than for yourself. It becomes a brotherhood - a family if you will. Wow! It is coming back...

The truth is that this is a process and it just does not happen. It is in the works and it is part of our journey. Slowly we fought back in the game and eventually tied the game up at 3 apiece. Then it was a back and forth battle with each team taking the lead before giving one up. Merrill Moses played great in the cage after the first quarter and he kept us alive. With 30 seconds to play we were down 6 - 5. We drew an exclusion and Tony Azevedo scored a nice outside shot to tie the game with 8 seconds left. That is how the game ended. In World League (unlike the Olympics or the World Championships) when the teams are tied you go directly to a penalty shootout. Each team picks five players to take penalty throws. The teams alternate shooting. Monte Negro missed on the first one and Tony made his to put us up 1-0. They made their next one and Adam Wright made his to make it 2-1 us. Once again they made theirs, but Brian Alexander missed his - so it was 2-2. Both teams made the next (Peter Varrellas scored for us). 3-3 with one shooter to go on each team. Monte Negro missed the next shot leaving Ryan Bailey up for us. If it makes it game over we win - if he misses the shooters keep going until there is a winner. Ryan came up big and made his shot.

This is a huge step for us. We have not been too successful at the penalty shootouts in the past. In fact, last year at World League, we lost to Monte Negro in the quarter finals.
It was a great step in the right direction for us.

Today we will face off with Serbia once again in the semi finals. To me this game is about respect. Over the last few years, Serbia has once again had our number. They are the best team in the world but I feel like they don’t really respect us. This was the case before the 2008 games and it really was not until about a month before the Olympics that that began to feel like maybe would could create a problem for them. After Thursday’s game they were kind of laughing at our inability to score on our extra man. I don’t blame them really as we were pretty pathetic but it is time to make them start thinking that maybe we could be a thorn for them again....

Moving forward... We are in the final four and playing for a medal. Win tonight and we play for gold. Lose and we play for bronze.

See you at the pool.
Coach

The heat is on....

2011-06-23T14:28:00.000-07:00

6/23/11

Yesterday we faced off with China in the preliminary round of the WL Super Final. China is definitely not one of the stronger teams in the world. We handled them pretty easy with a 13 - 6 win. The toughest part of the game was standing/sitting on the pool deck for a 4 pm game. The temperature was in the 90’s and I am sure the pool deck was hotter than that. I wish I could say that I have been working on my tan but I am afraid that I am just becoming more and more of a lobster. Cooking in the sun.

Today we faced Serbia in a 5:30 pm game. I think the temps were a little cooler but the angle of the sun made it difficult to withstand. It was like staring into a heat lamp for an hour. I was cooking... The team played with more energy than we played with against Italy and in many areas of the game we were vastly improved. Unfortunately, in one area we were terrible - that was our 6 on 5. We actually played well enough to earn 15 exclusions - which is really a high number. The sad part was that we only scored 3 out of 15 opportunities. That is a 20% conversion rate. Which on any level is very poor. If I had to give us a grade I would say that we played overall at a B+ level but our 6 on 5 was a D -. Not good at all. Almost embarrassing. Perhaps that is why I was sweating so badly. The sun was brutal no doubt but what was happening in the pool was not good. We ended up loosing the game 11 - 5. Serbia is the best team in the world right now and they looked very strong.

Just to give you an idea. At the Olympic Games in Beijing we scored about 55% of our 6 on 5 opportunities. If we scored this same percentage in this game, we would have had five more goals and the score would have been 11 - 10 and then who know what would have happened.

In my opinion, which is based on years of playing and coaching the 6 on 5 is one area where it takes time to play together and be successful. It is truly a measure of how your team is doing as a team. It takes good chemistry to make it all work and right now we have a bunch of individuals trying to find their place on the team. Am I worried? Maybe a little because of the some of the guys overall fitness level. However, this is a team that believes that we can beat anyone. They are realistic and know that we have a lot of work to do to get where we want to be and in my opinion, they are willing to do that work over the next 13 months.

The nice part about the way this tournament is set up is that the preliminary round (the first three games) are only for seeding into the quarter finals. So tomorrow we begin a brand new tournament. We will play Monte Negro at 4 pm with the winner going to the semi finals to face Croatia. Hopefully, we can get our guys to be ready tomorrow.

I am excited. This trip has gone fast. Just a three day tournament left to play. Anyone, can still win the tournament. Most would consider us a long shot but you never know. We will see what our guys have in the tank.

More heat tomorrow...

See you at the pool.

Coach

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

2011-06-21T16:45:00.000-07:00

Let me begin with the good. Last night was very cool. They bussed us all down to the Duomo in the city center and had a brilliant opening ceremonies there. The created a parade of athletes that marched from the Duomo to the Piazza della Signoria. There they held the opening ceremonies for the tournament. Many vans lined the parade route and the biggest surprise to me was just how many Americans showed up to support our team. In fact, when they lined up all the athletes from all of the countries in the Piazza della Signoria, a live band performed the national anthem of each country. When they came to our anthem, a boisterous American contingent sang out loud to the music. Many of the guys said they felt goose bumps during the anthem. It was pretty emotional and moving. After the anthems they took us inside to the room of 500 where the town hall is. The mayor welcomed us and wished us good luck. It was certainly the best opening ceremonies that I have been to outside of the Olympic Games.

Now let me get to the bad and ugly. Unfortunately, we had our first game tonight and our team forgot to show up. That is how it seemed from the bench anyway. Italy came out on fire and we could never match their energy. We were down 8 - 1 at one point before we woke up and fought back a little. The final score was 10 - 4. Honestly, it was a bit embarrassing - I guess as the coach I take on a great deal of that responsibility for getting the guys ready to perform. We have been training hard but honestly - we were beat on all fronts tonight. They were better than us offensively and defensively. They looked crisp and full of energy where we were flat. I guess the reality of it all is this is where we are right now. We are in pre-season form - where we can step up every once in a while but we can not play consistently at a high level. I can not really think of any real highlights. We were flat out bad tonight. Perhaps the worst I have witnessed as their coach.

The good thing about this tournament is that we are still very much alive. This first round is only for seeding into the quarter finals. Tomorrow we will play China at 4 pm and then Thursday we will play the reigning world champions Serbia. After that the quarter final match ups are determined by how you finished in your bracket. If you win your pool you will play fourth place in the other bracket. If you finish second you would play third place in the other bracket, third place second and fourth plays first. So everyone is still very much alive.

Tomorrow morning it is back to the pool and try to get the guys going in the right direction. The climb to the summit looks pretty high from here. However, I feel like we can make this happen. It is early and we have been training hard. The Italians are peaking for this tournament. No excuses just the reality. We know that we are going to get better and better. Lots of work to do.

Miles to go before we sleep....

See you at the pool.

Coach

On to Florence

2011-06-20T06:49:00.000-07:00

6/19/11

The day began today with me wishing all the dads on the trip a Happy Father’s Day. Besides the coaches and staff (Robert, Rick, Kyle and Pat and myself), we now have two dads on the team. Jesse Smith and Adam Wright are both proud dads. Jesse has a little boy and Adam a little girl. Pretty cool. Our family is growing. I am a little bummed being away for Father’s Day - it is a special day meant to be celebrated with family. However, I know that my family supports what I am doing and they are a big part of this team. I also feel like besides my own two beautiful daughters, I have 15 sons (the team). I am blessed.

Yesterday was a day of travel as we trained in the morning (weights and pool time), then ended the training with a run/swim/run in the Adriatic. Our time in Rijeka was very good. Training was just what we needed. Intense, hard and competitive against one of the best teams in the world. On the final day, we won the two quarter scrimmage in the morning and then tied the game scrimmage at night. Both teams were working hard. The food was excellent and the hotel was perfect. Going to bed at night with the full moon over the Adriatic was spectacular.

After a two hour bus ride, we caught a short flight to Rome (from Trieste) and then another short flight to Florence. We were met at the hotel by the organizing committee who promptly loaded us onto a prison bus (they must have got a good deal on the bus) for our ride to the hotel. The problem with this bus was that is had no room for luggage. I guess when you think about it the prisoners usually travel pretty light... So we packed all of our luggage onto the bus and crammed into the remaining seats for a bus ride to our hotel - which we were told was just around the corner. 25 minutes later we arrived at the Sheraton Florence hot, sweaty and hungry. I guess that don’t worry too much about keeping the prisoners cool either...

After checking in and changing clothes we went straight to dinner for our first meal in Florence. Expectations were high - especially with our experience in Rijeka and past history with Italy in general. Unfortunately, we were let down. The meal consisted of salad and cheese with pasta and red sauce. My assistant coach, Marco officially proclaimed that the sauce was Ragu. Now Marco is an excellent cook and he was embarrassed. Needless to say, we have been battling the kitchen since we got here. Marco is on top of it. Where everything seemed to flow in Croatia, everything has been a bit of a battle here. Even to the point of getting water at dinner (seriously).

I am not sure when this happened but Italy used to be one of the best places in the world to travel with great hospitality and exceptional food. I am sorry to say that over the past few years, we have had better food and better hospitality in Serbia and Croatia. The world is changing...

Tonight, we trained with China and scrimmaged them for two quarters. It was very one-sided. At one point we were ahead 8 - 0 and then we went on a little bit of cruise control. Anyway, like our scrimmages in Croatia - this was just a scrimmage that really does not mean anything.

We had a good team (players and coaches only) meeting tonight - just a bit of a reality check as to where we are on this journey towards London next year. Certainly a long ways to go but headed in the right direction. The bottom line is no body is in their best shape right now. We are gradually building. Our strength training program is new. We are working with a new group that is based up in Santa Barbara. It is called P3 and I will discuss this in another blog. I will tell you now that we feel that this will give us the competitive edge as we march towards the Games next year. We have also been pushing the condition pretty hard in the water. Swimming and doing a lot of jump training (in the water) which I will also talk about more later. In my opinion, this jump training may be the difference between winning a medal and not winning a medal next year. The bottom line is that we are building with the goal 13 months away.

Tomorrow, we will do weights and swim in the morning and then head back to the hotel for some lunch and rest before the opening ceremonies of the tournament which will take place in the town center next to the Duomo. It should be a nice night. Two days before the tournament begins.

Preparing for competition...

See you at the pool.

Coach

Training Hard

2011-06-17T08:44:00.000-07:00

6/17/11

We have spent the last few days training very hard. We have lifted weights in the morning followed by swim conditioning, passing, shooting and then some scrimmage with Croatia. The scrimmages have been close as we have been getting stronger and working out the jet lag. This morning we played 2 quarters and at the end of that it was 3-2 us. Our defense looks to be shaping up and doing better. Merrill and Chay Lapin have been playing well in the cage, which always helps the defense look stronger. The fact that we are winning quarters is positive, no doubt but these are just scrimmages. And I am sure there is some cat and mouse being played on both sides. We have used all players equally except for Tony Azevedo, who has not yet played at all because he has been sick. Tonight we play one more time and then tomorrow we have training on our own in the morning before we take off for Florence.

Everything has been great here. The hotel, food, and weather have all made for a perfect training environment. Of course, it helps that Croatia is one of the best teams in the world. Rijeka is a great city and the evenings have been magical. Two nights ago, we witnessed a total lunar eclipse out over the Adriatic Sea. It was spectacular! Then last night as the full moon was rising it was a deep red color, then after an hour it was orange. Wow - I have never seen anything like it.

The coaching staff and team are all getting along very well. There is a good vibe. There is seriousness when we train but then there is always lots of laughter on bus on the way home from the pool. It is good to hear the guys laughing together. The bonds of these friendships will last these guys a lifetime. I have a sense that good things are in store as we go thru this next 13 months together.

After we travel tomorrow, we have two days in Florence before the tournament begins. On Tuesday, we will open the tournament up with the host team Italy. It is interesting how many times we get to open with the host team. Our guys have down well with this arrangement. We have beaten Australia in Melbourne in the 2007 World Championships, China in Beijing for the Olympic Games and Italy in Rome for the 2009 World Championships. Let’s see if we can keep that string going.

Time to head back to the pool for training.

See you at the pool.

Coach

On the Road

2011-06-15T09:46:00.000-07:00

6/15/11

We left at 9 pm on Monday evening head to Europe for training and our first opportunity to qualify for the Olympics. After an 11 hour flight to Munich, Germany, then a three hour layover, we flew another hour and a half to Trieste, Italy. As we flew into Trieste the full moon was glowing over the Mediterranean Sea. What an glorious sight... Wow.
After landing we jumped on a bus and then travelled another two hours to Rijeka, Croatia. We finally arrived at our hotel at 1:30 am on Wednesday morning. What a journey. The guys were in pretty good spirits and all went right to bed.

This morning we woke up to the beautiful Croatian coastline. It is amazing to me to think that I visited this city in 1979 for the first water polo world cup. I remember the pool sitting up on the hillside looking down over the Adriatic. After a nice breakfast at the hotel we headed over to the pool (after waiting an extra 15 minutes for Ryan Bailey and Jeff Powers who apparently slept right through there wake up call and missed breakfast). Anyway, the pool is about a 20 minute bus ride.

We arrived at the newly rebuilt pool and were blown away. Apparently the city of Rijeka has pumped 44 million Euro into redoing the pool. There are four pools. Two indoor 50 meter pool with a retractable roof and one outdoor 50 meter pool and a diving pool. Incredible. There are cafes attached to the pool building and it is a place where families hang out and enjoy the water sports. After we swam a good long stretch we all decided to walk down and play catch in the Adriatic which is about a five minute walk down the hill. I have attached a picture that is the view from the pool deck. More pictures will follow. Not bad.

We returned for lunch and after a nice nap we will head over to the pool for training with Croatia. All is well. Everyone is healthy.

As for me personally, I am catching up on my sleep. So far I have logged 7 hours on the first flight, 1 hour on the second flight and almost 2 hours on the bus. Then I slept till 9 am this morning so that is another 7.5 and then a 2 hour nap this afternoon. So that is a total of about 20 hours sleep out of the first 36 hours on the road. Not bad. I think that I am catching up.

Off to the pool.

Coach

Men's Team Update 6/9/11

2011-06-09T09:07:00.000-07:00

Last week was difficult. I found myself scrabbling to keep up. I was running from practice to the office and then back to practice. It is always difficult to shift gears and get into a new schedule. All the free time that I used to have in the middle of the day was literally gone. Evenings hanging out with Lori and the girls was gone too. I am aware of this imbalance and will work hard to keep all areas in a good place – especially family. We actually had a night off last night and it was nice to relax and spend some good quality family time. Balance will be a key word over the next 14 months. It will be challenging but I am sure it can be done.

Practices have actually been going pretty well. The staff and players all seem to be getting along very well. There is a good energy in the pool and on the deck. Everyone has been working very hard. The younger players have been pushing the older players. It is good. There is a healthy competition for spots on the roster. We actually have three Junior team players training with us. Those players are Brett Bonani, Spencer Hamby and John Sibley. They are all doing very well. All three have been holding their own and gaining some valuable experience.

We have a total of 24 athletes in the water – which is a lot. In the end, we will have to choose just 13 to make the final Olympic team. On Monday, I had to name the team for the World League Super Final in Italy. This is never an easy task. I struggle with cuts. It is my least favorite part of being the head coach. Each athlete that is training with us expects to be a part of the team that is named. If they did not feel that way then they probably would not be out in the water with us. So when I have to talk to them individually and them that they are not going on this trip – it is very difficult -to say the least. It hurts me to do this. This first cut was especially difficult. I pride myself with trying to create an environment where each athlete feels that they were given a fair chance at making the team. In this case, we only had a week together before I had to name the team that was going to World League. This is very difficult and honestly much of the decision is based on last years performance combined with what I saw last week in practice. Is it fair? All I know is that I don’t take it lightly. I mull over it for hours and look at all the pros and cons of each player. I do my best to make the right decision. Here is the team that made the cut this time.

Merrill Moses (G)
Chay Lapin (G)
Tony Azevedo
Ryan Bailey
Jeff Powers
Jesse Smith
Tim Hutton
Peter Varrellas
Layne Beaubien
Peter Hudnut
JW Krumpolz
Adam Wright
John Mann
Brain Alexander
Shea Buckner

We are taking 15 players on this trip. We leave on Monday and fly to Croatia first for 4 days of training. Then we fly into Florence and prepare for the tournament. We will open up with Italy, then we play China and Serbia before the cross over begins. We can declare 13 players for each game so we will plan on resting a few different players in each game so that we can evaluate each player.

Our focus has been on front court defense, 5 on 6 and 6 on 5. With two weeks of preparation our expectations are not great. We will certainly do the best we can but our goal for the summer is to win a medal at World Championships which will be in July. This would also qualify us for the Olympics. All the tournaments this year are qualification tournaments. The winner of World League qualifies, the top three from the World Championships and the winner of the Pan Am Games. Lots of great competition this year and a chance for us to grow as a team and begin the process of coming together.

Each day presents a new opportunity to grow and get better. Day by day we will become a team – a family if you will. One day at a time the journey continues…

See you at the pool.

Coach

The Journey Begins

2011-05-31T08:32:00.000-07:00

Just about four years ago to the day, I stood in front of my new team. I had just been named the new head coach for a team that had been through three coaches in the last three years. It was pretty rough. I felt a great deal of distrust in that room and I knew that had good reason for it. This group had been through a lot. They were pretty dysfunctional, however, they shared one thing – they were hungry. Starved really for someone to care for them and help them become a team. My message then was “Let’s get back to the podium”. It seemed like a long shot but slowly but surely they bought into the idea and it became our vision.

Tonight I stood in front of many of the same athletes and addressed them for the first time this year. In the audience tonight were 11 out of 13 of the players that were part of our historic medal run in 2008. While many of the players are the same, this is a different group. We know what it means to be a family and we believe that we can beat any team on any given night. These are two huge factors as we look at these next 14 months.

Over the past two years, we found out that it is more difficult to stay on top than it is to get there. We are not going to surprise anyone anymore. Every team we play is going to be prepared to play their best game against us because we are now one of the best teams in the world. Perhaps we have slipped a bit. We are currently ranked fourth in the world and last summer we were roughed up pretty badly by Croatia and Serbia.

My message to the team tonight was that I am honored to be their coach and I look at it as a privilege to be part of Team USA. Yes there is sacrifice but I believe in their ability as individuals and as a team. We have the opportunity to make a run at the gold medal in 2012. What is it going to take? Commitment by all and a willingness to let Robert and I coach them and ultimately push them to become better.

We have made the decision to have all the athletes stay at home for this next year. This means that none of our players will be going overseas next year to play professionally. It means that we will have a great amount of time together over the next fourteen months. This will not be easy and then again it is not suppose to be. We are in it together and we will ride the difficult times and the good times together. Through it all we will become closer and respect and understand each other better. We now have 20 athletes in our camp and we will eventually have to cut this number down to 13. That is the number that will make the Olympic team.

It is an exciting time. Looking ahead to London, it is somewhat overwhelming. There is a huge task ahead with much work to be done. It will be difficult to keep everything in life balanced. I am concerned about being able to do this - balancing family, my office and coaching. We all (including myself) need to stay in the moment and focus on doing our best and giving our best one day at a time. If we can do this and challenge each other in the process to become better we can make this dream happen.

William Arthur Ward once wrote that “The price of excellence is discipline. The cost of mediocrity is disappointment.”

We must be disciplined in this task. This will be one of the biggest keys to our success.

The journey has officially begun…

See you at the pool.
Coach

Summer’s over

2010-08-04T08:50:00.000-07:00

Not quite the finish that we had hoped for... We ended up losing the last two games to finish fourth. In the semi-final we played Croatia and battled in a close game that we just could not finish. Going down the stretch Croatia once again scored the big 6 on 5 goals that we just did not seem to be able to score. It was an interesting game as we were only up a man 6 times - compared to the night before against Romania when everything was an exclusion - it seemed like we could not do anything to get an exclusion against Croatia. In fact, we only had one chance in the final quarter as Croatia earned three in the final quarter. The final score was 11 - 9.

In the bronze medal game we played Spain for the third time on the trip. They jumped on us early and scored three unanswered goals before we woke up and started to play. We tied pulled back to within one in the fourth quarter but just seemed to run out of gas as we could not close the gap. The final score was 12 - 9. My biggest disappointment in this tournament was our defense which averaged giving up 12 goals per game. This is a big contrast to the Beijing Olympics where are defense was so strong and we were giving up just 6 goals a game.

Our 4th place finish does qualify us for the World Championships next year in Shanghai and for the second year in a row we will be ranked in the top four. I really believed that the team was going to come through and win a medal at a couple of these tournaments this year. Serbia looked good. They won both the World League and the World Cup. In fact, at the World Cup in Romania they beat Croatia 13 - 7 in the final.

Our defense was disappointing and our 6 on 5 was not that great either. We definitely have some things to work on as we get ready for next summer. We can qualify for the Olympics in London one of three ways next summer. The first would be to win World League in late June. The second would be to win a medal (top three) in Shanghai at the World Championships and the third was is to win the Pan American Games which are in Guadalajara, Mexico next October.

There were many frustrations on the trip but all in all it was a time for us to go through some tough times and grow together. I had some great one on one meetings with many of the guys and I will continue to meet with the team when I return from Europe. I felt like we learned some things about each other and we will continue to grow. This is a process and we need to integrate some of the younger players into our system fast. Many of these younger players are behind - mainly just in getting experience in big games.

Sorry I was not too consistent with my blogs this summer. Now that we have passed the two year mark to London, I will try to be better about that as we go forward.

Thank you for all of your support and see you at the pool soon.

Coach

Significant date in Olympic History

2010-07-29T16:18:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was the 30 year anniversary of the 1980 Olympic Games and also 2 year countdown to London. I wanted to share this essay by Anita DeFrantz with you. It is worth the read.

The Team with No Result
By Anita L. DeFrantz

Our nation does not know us as Olympians. Our sublime moments of exertion and of triumph do not exist. We have no memories and you have no memories of us. We forever are the team with no result. We are the 1980 United States Olympic Team.

After 25 years, I have come to understand the deep feeling of loss. There were 500 athletes on the 1980 United States Olympic Team. For 219 members of that team, the 1980 Olympic Games was their one chance to compete in the Olympic Games. And those 219 would never march in an Opening Ceremony parade. They would never experience the boundless joy of being welcomed because they represented our nation. Two hundred nineteen US athletes would never live in an Olympic Village where men and women representing every size shape and color of humanity live in peace and respect.

I had the opportunity to experience all of this as a member of the 1976 US Olympic Rowing Team. I know what the others missed.

We had all done the work, paid the price, made the life decisions that would bring us to the Olympic Games, yet we were denied access to the culminating event.

Our team was composed of private citizens who had found a way to finance their dream. The dream was one step from reality. Not one penny of public money, federal, state or local funding supported us as we trained and prepared for our final examination at the Olympic Games. This was a time before sponsorship was allowed for athletes in training. We all had made our own way to become members of the United States Olympic Team.

Our reward? We were given our uniforms. We had a parade in Washington DC although nobody really knew why. It was a ride in a trolley car from the Capitol down Pennsylvania Avenue a couple of blocks and back. We had a picnic at the White House. The cost of our visit to the White House was charged to the United States Olympic Committee.

My friends ask why I can’t get over it. Why it is so hard for me to let go? I have the privilege of working at the LA84 Foundation, which is the legacy of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. My daily work is focused on youth and sport on the field of play and in understanding the role of sport in society.

As a member of the International Olympic Committee, I continue to volunteer for the Olympic movement at the highest level. I serve my sport, rowing, as the vice president of FISA, the international federation.

But the feeling of loss remains palpable. And athletes throughout the world who had been forced to stay home share this sense of loss.

It was at the inaugural USOC Olympic Assembly, April 2005 that I finally understood why I continue to feel the loss.

The program began with a video presentation of scenes from the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. The smiles of athletes and the wondrous show of mutual respect and fair play that is the basis of the Olympic Games delighted the audience.

Later in the program, another video was shown. This time, it was of the 1980 Olympic Winter Games. As always, I experienced an overwhelming rush of emotion and pride. These were my contemporaries.
I had chills as I watched those vignettes of stories that I know so well. And we, who had prepared for the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games to be held that summer, were to be their twins. Our stories would be told just six months later. Then, a flash of understanding hit me.
There were no videos, no pictures. Nothing could be shown to the Olympic Family or to our nation recounting the efforts of the 1980 United States Olympic Team. We are the United States Olympic Team with no result.

When we search our memories to recall the summer of 1980, there are no pictures of competition and joy where the 1980 Olympic Games should be stored. I realized that for every American that memory is missing. The situation is the same for athletes and citizens from other countries that forced their athletes to stay at home. We have all suffered a loss of something very personal from our history.

It is impossible to change the past. My hope is that the 1980 Olympic Team will stand as a barrier against the use of athletes’ efforts outside the sports venues. We know that the only effect is to leave us all without a result.

Perspective.... I told the guys there are a lot of things that we can not control but the one thing that we can control is how we prepare. To win that gold medal will take 100% commitment by everyone. That gold medal seems a ways off right now after the last two days of competition. We were crushed by Serbia 17 - 9 and then lost today 9 - 7 to Croatia. Tomorrow we play Romania and now all the games are must win. With three wins we can still win the tournament. It seems like a long shot but there are signs that we are coming back to life and getting on track.

Romania will be tough here at home. They have had a big crowd here every night and tomorrow will be no different. We will have to be 2-3 goals better than them to win.

I will keep you posted.

See you at the pool.

Coach

World Cup 2010

2010-07-27T15:05:00.000-07:00

Oh my -yesterday felt like we might have well of traveled all the way home and back. It was a 14 hour day of travel. We were up at 4:30 am and finally arrived in Oradea, Romania at 6:30 pm. We flew from Catania, Italy to Rome (only about an hour flight), then were delayed for over 2 hours before we flew to Budapest, Hungary. By the time the luggage ordeal had ended - yes once again 3 people lost their luggage- we had spent another hour in the airport in Budapest. Then we boarded a bus and headed for Romania. No one had really eaten so we made a quick pit stop for some Hungarian fast food. Guslaz and Guslaz Hungarian fast food. No lie - That is what the name of the restaurant. Actually, either we were all very Hungary (get it) and it was pretty good. Grilled meat and other stuff... We then boarded back on the bus for the rest of the 3 and 1/2 hour bus ride to Oradea. Oh yeah, I forgot our little border dilemma. After they took our passports - they did not want to give them back until we gave them a signed water polo ball. Wow - what a day.

Needless to say, the guys were a little burned out. We had dinner and then a short meeting. Unfortunately for me - we had to break the news to the three guys who are traveling with us but did not make the final thirteen for the Fina Cup. Not fun. Something that I thought about long and hard and talked to Ryan and Robert about for the past two days before finally telling the team. It was not as bad as making the final Olympic cuts but I had that same knot in my stomach that I get when I have to make cuts. Anyway, Brian Alexander, Shea Buckner and JW Krumpholz did not make it this time. It was rough and after making the announcement the coaches spent the next hour or so talking with the three players that we cut.

Today we had to get ourselves up early for our pre-game swim at 8 am. Oh - I forgot to mention that we moved time zones and we lost another hour so we are now 10 hours ahead of back home and we all got one less hour sleep. We also drew the first game of the tournament against China at 3 pm. So we had a short day to prepare and get our selves ready to play. I can tell you as the coach - I was tired when game time rolled around - it had been a rough day of travel and the body felt a little weary.

The guys actual played pretty well considering. We jumped on Chine early and cruised to a 10 - 6 win. In the other game in our bracket Croatia beat Serbia tonight 10 - 7. We play Serbia tomorrow at 6:30 pm. It will be a good test to see where we are at. Time to get some rest and prepare for tomorrow.

See you at the pool.

Coach

Siracusa-- Experiencing Team

2010-07-22T15:35:00.000-07:00

I think that one of the difficult things for most people to understand is how a team is formed. Many may think that it should be easy. Just put a group together and tell them all about what it takes to be a team - snap your fingers a few times - and there you go - you have a team. This may be true on paper and sometimes it does come together fairly easy but most often it takes time. To truly become a team you have to experience it - the highs and the lows. The wins the loses. It is much easier to come together and feel good about each other when things are going well and you are winning. The true test is in the adversity.

Do the difficult times pull you apart or bring you together. Either can happen. It is often times easier to get pulled apart in the difficult times but these are the biggest opportunities for growth for any team. The challenges can help the individual team members understand each other better. Every team must get to a point where the individual team members understand and respect the differences that exist. Respecting and caring for each other are cornerstones to team chemistry. When the team members respect each other trust begins to build. This is another cornerstone that must be present for any team to be successful.

As we look back onto World League and our 5th place finish, we are all a bit disappointed. The reality is that we did not play at the top of our game. Our 6 on 5 was not good. We struggled to finish on the counter attack and most disturbing was our shot blocking on our front court defense. I think that we have become a little lazy on defense knowing that Merrill is in the goal and he is playing very well. This needs to change. We have to take pride in how we play defense. We have to take pride in our shot blocking. We have to be the best defensive team in the world in order for us to reach that ultimate goal of Olympic gold.

We are now in Siracusa, Italy playing in the second tournament in a row over here in Europe. We opened up last night with Canada and we stuffed them pretty good. We won 11- 6 and we were able to rest most of our top guys. This is really a training tournament and the goal is to play many of our younger players as much as possible. Get these younger guys some good experience and keep everyone healthy heading into next week and the World Cup.

The guys are a little angry about there performance in World League and we have set our sites on winning the World Cup. We can do it. We are growing. There is healthy talk about coming together and getting on the same page. We are living it and breathing it everyday. We eat together, train together and have meetings to discuss and talk about things. We are virtually together 24/7 for a three week period. Believe me with the heat we have been experiencing over here we all smell the same - pretty bad.

Today we play Kazakistan. This is a team that we have not played since the 2004 Olympic Games. They are mix of older players that used to play for Russia and some pretty young players. They lost to Germany yesterday 12 - 9. The will be decent but we should be able to take care of business. We are going to try to rest a few of our key guys - Tony and Jesse will both be sitting out this game.

We actually have 10 games left on this trip in the next 11 days. With the day off a day of travel. This could prove to be a great team building experience or it could be a disaster. We (the coaches) have to find the right balance of keeping the guys fit and ready for the World Cup without breaking them down this week. It will be interesting to see how it works out. I am confident that good things are happening here. The “team” is building. The personality of this team will evolve and grow as we go through this next two year period into London and the 2012 games. It is a journey and I am blessed to be experiencing the process with the guys.

See you at the pool.

Coach

Some Rough Spots on the Road

2010-07-17T07:13:00.000-07:00

We played a solid game on Thursday against Montenegro. Unfortunately, we could not close it out. After taking a two goal lead with two and a half minutes to play in the game, we allowed Montenegro to tie the score. The game ended in a 7 - 7 tie and went directly into a penalty shootout (World League rules). We lost in the shootout which sets up a quarterfinal game against Croatia.

The bottom line in the Montenegro game was that we had our chances but did not finish. We were 2 out of 11 on our 6 on 5 opportunities. This is very bad and shows that we are not yet working together at the highest level. The 6 on 5 is part of the game that requires the most team work. We also seemed a little tentative - especially after we missed our fist couple.

On the bright side our 5 man defense was strong only allowing the Montenegrans to score 3 out of 11. Unfortunately they scored on their last two to tie the game. On the most crucial 6 on 5’s we did not stop them. We still have some growing to do...

Yesterday we played Croatia in the quarterfinals. It was ugly. Right from the beginning it was apparent that we were not mentally ready. The loss against Montenegro had taken it’s toll on us. I need to examine what I could have done better to properly prepare the guys. We were flat and just a little slow on everything. At one point we were down by 5 goals. I guess on a positive note we did continue to fight but it was two little too late and we lost 13-11. The officials also allowed the Croatians to grab and hold quite a bit and it was tough for us to drive and move.

So now we are in the 5-8th place bracket. The best we can do is 5th and we have to get the guys focused to do that. We play China today and then probably Spain again on Sunday. Lots of water polo still to play.

This team has come a long way and one bad game will not set us back. We will rebound and find our groove again. It is a journey for us and all of us need to continue to grow in that journey. We have the pieces here it is really just all about putting those pieces together and forming a team that is ready to lay it on the line for each other.

We are close and I am confident that we will get there. The guys have experienced what being on a authentic team feels like and they all want that back. For now we have to get focused on beating China today and then making sure that we get fifth in this tournament.

See you at the pool.

Coach

Winning and the "Red Devil"

2010-07-15T16:45:00.000-07:00

Our opening match here in Nis was against Spain. Over the past few years since I have been the head coach they have had our number and have beaten us when it really mattered. Last year they beat us in Rome at the World Championships in the semi-finals. This time we played very well - especially on defense and came out on top with a convincing 7 - 3 win. Our 5 man defense was great - we only gave up one goal on Spain’s 10 extra man opportunities. That is a great team stat and one that could win us the tournament here if we can keep it up. It was a good team win and a good way to start off the tournament.

Yesterday we played China. The biggest challenge of the day was not actually playing China but digesting the lunch that we had eaten. It was your typical mystery meat - although a bit more mysterious than usual. It was red in color, round, greasy and tasted a bit like sausage??? but it definitely had a mixture of flavors. We named it the “red devil” sausage (see attached picture) for what it did to your stomach. I am pretty sure that it might have been a play by the Chinese to get us all sick. I had a few bites and my stomach was unsettled. Many of the guys ate the entire meal and 30 minutes later were running to the toilet with diarrhea. A few were even vomiting. Not good for a pre-game meal. Anyway, after a slow start we beat China 10 - 5. No more of the red devil.

This sets up a big game tonight against Montenegro. A win gives up first in our bracket and a cross over game on Friday against South Africa. A loss would mean a cross over game on Friday against Croatia. So this is a big one. I believe that our guys are ready. We are playing good defensively and Merrill is playing very strong in the goal.

Serbia played Croatia last night with a rowdy pro Serbia crowd. The Croatians were booed out of the stadium and ended up losing by one. A good intense game that sets the tone for tonight’s game. It should be fun.

Two games down and fifteen to go...

See you at the pool.

Coach

Summer 2010

2010-07-13T09:56:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Nis, Serbia last night after a long day of travel. Ten hours on the plane from LAX to Munich, another two hours to Belgrade and then a three hour bus ride from Belgrade to Nis. Everyone was pretty hungry after we arrived in Belgrade so we stopped for dinner (or at least a quick snack) at a local gas station. These gas stations seem to be the hot spots on the road to Nis. We passed by numerous gas stations that were crowded with locals enjoying a late night snack - so we joined them at one and loaded up with sandwiches and waters and before we climbed back on the bus for the long ride. We finally arrived in Nis at 1:45 am. It was a long day of travel to say the least.

Fortunately, most of the guys are pretty experienced travelers and like me slept most of the way. I think I logged 8 hours sleep on the first flight, an hour on the second and another 2 on the bus before sleeping soundly through the night.

Our hotel is brand new and sits atop a hill overlooking the city of Nis. The pool is about 15 minutes away via bus and is a nice facility with indoor and outdoor pools. The views from the hotel are beautiful and there was a wonderful sunset last night. The food has been very good. Although, it is a lot of meat and potatoes. That seems to be the main staple here and you are not always sure about what kind of meat you are eating. I have learned through the years not to ask... It tasted pretty good so what the heck - just go with it.

Tomorrow we begin the World League Super Final here in Nis. We will play 6 games beginning with Spain. The brackets look like this. We play Spain, China and Montenegro. On the other side is Croatia, Serbia, Australia and South Africa.

This is how the summer breaks down. We are here for a week for World League, then we travel to Italy for a week for a training tournament in Siracusa, then it is onto Romania for the World Cup. We actually have 17 games in the next 21 days. It will be a great test for us physically and emotionally. This first tournament is the most important as far as our result. It has been designated our Operation Gold marker so the results will determine to some degree how much funding we get next year from the USOC. This is our biggest tournament of the summer.

I believe that we have prepared better this summer for this short season. The guys all came back in late May, early June and we had about 5 weeks with everyone home to prepare and bring a team together. We seem to be in better shape this year but the true test is still ahead of us.

We now have only nine Olympians active on the team this summer. They are Merrrill Moses, Tony Azevedo, Ryan Bailey, Adam Wright, Jesse Smith, Jeff Powers, Tim Hutton, Peter Varrellas and JW Krumpholz. This is our core group. These guys will be the leaders and will help bring some of the younger players along. We actually decided to travel with 16 players due to the demanding schedule. Here is the group that fills out our roster. Brain Alexander, Shea Buckner, Mike Sharf, Andy Stevens, Thomas Hopkins, Jeff Tyrell and Tommy Corcoran. I like our team. There seems to be a good feeling both in the pool and out. I believe that we will have a good summer.

If we play together we will come home with a couple of medals this summer.

It is all about being a team and that is yet to be determined. The great baseball player Jackie Robinson who was the first to break the color barrier in professional baseball was quoted as saying that “The true impact of your life is how you impact the life”s of others”. I feel that this is at the heart of what a team is all about. Can our best players bring along our less experienced players. Can we make each other better. This will be our test this summer.

We will find out beginning tomorrow. It is exciting and a little scary. You never really know until you are tested against another team. I believe that we are ready. I sense a good summer ahead.

Stay tuned for more....

See you at the pool.

Coach Schroeder

Work To Do

2009-08-02T16:15:00.000-07:00

Here is the bottom line – we are close. We are definitely one of the best teams in the world. Now we have to climb that last mountain to get to the top. We lost to Croatia last night 8 – 6. It is always disappointing to lose and once again we had our chances to win this game. Yeah at the end you could say that we had some terrible calls and that was the difference but the bottom line is that we did not get the job done when it counted. We had some critical 6 on 5 opportunities and we wasted them. In the last two games, we lost the 4th quarter and basically it came down to one stat. We missed on the most important 6 on 5’s while our opponents made theirs.

We end up taking 4th place in this world tournament. Not bad but a little disappointing after we started out so well. While it is nice to be in that top tier if we want to climb to the top we will have to work hard. There are parts of our game that we need to get much better at in order to become the best team. We need to continue to build each of our player’s individual skills while we strengthen the team concept. We have a core group of players that understand what it takes and are willing to go to work to make this happen. I believe that in the next year or two we will emerge as the world’s best.

I am honored to be a part of this team. They are a special group of young men. As we close another chapter and wind down another year together I want to thank all of you for your support and encouragement. Thank you for being a part of our journey. Stay tuned because there are some good chapters ahead. There is much work to do.

See you at the pool.

Coach

A Tough Loss

2009-07-31T10:13:00.000-07:00

Spain 7 USA 6

We battled Spain for four quarters last night but fell a little short. We just seemed slightly out of sorts. Perhaps it was Spain’s defense that kept us off balance or perhaps we were just a bit timid and not attacking with confidence. We never seemed to get into a good flow. We especially had trouble with our 6 on 5. In the end we only scored 2 out of 6 of our man advantage situations. There were also some shaky calls (2 critical no calls at the end of the game) made by the officials – but that is water polo. We certainly had our chances to win but fell short. Although we will not realize our ultimate goal of winning the World Championships we are still very much alive in our hunt for the USA Men’s first medal in the Worlds.

This was a frustrating game with the officials letting the teams play (wrestle, hold and grab) with very few calls. We earned 6 exclusions and Spain earned 6. The big difference in the game was that they scored 4 out of their 6 man advantage situations and we scored 2. The game went back and forth with the score being tied for the majority of the time. We were either tied or up by one for most of the first half and then the score was tied or Spain was up by one most of the second half. We had some really good opportunities at the end of the game to send it to overtime but either did not get the calls or could not get the ball in the net.

Now the goal is to get everyone over the loss and begin to focus on our next opponent. In the other semi-final Serbia defeated Croatia 12 – 11 in a game that had 33 exclusions (remember ours had 12). Amazingly that is almost 3 times the number of exclusions as our game. This one should be a very physical game. The Croatians like to press hard and grab and hold even more than the Spaniards so we will have our work cut out for us.

We tend to match up pretty well with the Croatians. In fact, in the last few major championships that we have met up with Croatia - we have a perfect 4- 0 record. This includes world championships and Olympic Games. So we should have confidence on our side. It is always interesting as a coach to see how your team bounces back from difficult losses too. We will come out and be flat or will we come out and be excited and ready to win a bronze medal. I guess that is our job as coaches to get them fired up and realize what a great opportunity we still have in front of us.

Tonight we will study game film from Croatia. The coaching staff just spent 4 hours reviewing film and we feel like we our formulating a good game plan. Once again, I believe that this game will come down to 6 on 5 and 5 on 6. In fact, as we were watching game film it seemed to us that the Croatians did not mind taking the exclusion. They will press hard and then take the exclusion when the ball goes to center and then rely on their 5 man defense. In order to beat them, we need to break the press and get the ball into our centers and then score on our 6 on 5. It is a simple plan but in truth this is what we need to do tomorrow. We will need all of our energy against these guys. They are big and physical.

Game time tomorrow is scheduled for 4 pm here in Rome. So we are back in the heat of the day. The game will be on back on at 7 am on www.universalsports.com Tune in and cheer us on as we try to make history and become the first USA men’s team to win a medal at the worlds. We are ready.

See you at the pool.

Coach

The Final Four

2009-07-29T13:16:00.000-07:00

The team continues to do well here in Italy. We struggled early against the Germans but our team defense really played well for four quarters. After trailing early, we fought back to tie the score at 2 and that is where the first half ended. I told the team at half that we were playing tight. I think that the German goalie (one of the best in the world) was in their heads. I also told them that I thought the way the officials were calling the game that we were going to have to score some naturals goals.

We came out in the second half and played very well. Jesse Smith started the scoring off and then Ryan Bailey, Jeff Powers and JW Krumpholtz all scored natural goals in the third quarter to open the game up. It was a great quarter as our defense continued to dominate the Germans. We started the third quarter up 7 – 3 and ended up winning 8 – 5. One bad stat for the game was our 6 on 5 which was 3 for 10 for the game. Not too good and definitely an area that we will have to improve on in order to win the next two games.

Merrill played a very solid game in the cage. You can see his confidence growing as the tournament goes on. As he gets better the defense in front of him seems to get better. Yesterday it was as if they were all working together. Coach K defined defense in his book Gold Standards as “five guys attacking as one”. Yesterday we were seven guys attacking as one. It was awesome to watch.

Today is an off day – so we had a light training at noon and then we will watch video for tomorrow’s game and go to training again tonight. We will match up with Spain in the semi final game on Thursday night. Everyone said that the game time will not be changed so we are set to play at 9:00 pm here in Italy (noon back home). The other quarter final winners were Serbia and Croatia. Serbia beat Hungary in overtime and Croatia beat Romania 7 – 5. So Serbia and Croatia will face off in the first semi final tomorrow night.

I have received so many emails from back home - wishing us luck and congratulating us after each win. These are much appreciated - keep them coming. We need all of your positive thoughts and energy coming our way. What is exciting is that I believe we have not played our best yet. I feel like we are peaking at the right time. We really have not had too much production from our centers. Bailey has been sick and JW is just beginning to find his timing and power again. Our 6 on 5 can definitely be more efficient also. 3 for 10 will not get the job done. What is great is that we are finding ways to win. If one area of our game is not working right then we have been able to adapt and find other ways to be successful. Overall our defense has been strong and we seem to be getting more confident as the tournament goes on. So here we go into the final four. We learned some valuable lessons last year as a team and I believe that this will be another factor that is on our side. WE CAN WIN THIS TOURNAMENT.

See you at the pool.
Coach

An Interesting Weekend

2009-07-27T08:25:00.000-07:00

I was totally premature with my picks from last Friday’s games. First of all, Canada surprised everyone and beat Germany 5 – 4 to finish second in their bracket. This pushed Germany into third place in that bracket and set up an elimination game between Germany and Montenegro. Montenegro was the heavy favorite – especially after seeing Germany lose to Canada. Well – anyone can beat anyone and Germany played a great game and beat Montenegro 9 – 8 in overtime. Both teams had to lay it out on the line and both were physically spent after the game. That was good to see as we were resting up and preparing for our next game.

As it was last year in Beijing, I believe this extra day off in this type of tournament is huge. We resting physically and mentally and at this point everyone is healthy. Although, Ryan Bailey is still recovering from the virus that knocked him down last week. We should be at full power for our game tomorrow night against Germany.

The game is scheduled for 9 pm here in Rome so it should be on back home at 12 noon. Many have emailed and asked if I like the match up with Germany better than Montenegro. I think that we are going to be ready no matter whom we played next. We have had trouble with Montenegro lately. They have beaten us 2 times in the last month and seemed to have been really playing well during the World League finals earlier this month. Germany would appear to be a better match up for us but they present some problems too. The biggest potential problem is they have one of the best and most experienced goalies in the world. Their goalie is 42 years old. He retired after the Olympics last year and is making a comeback here at this tournament. He has been around a long time. In fact, I played against him in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. He was playing for Russia at the time. He is good but in my opinion, Merrill is even better. Either way a great performance by a goalie can make the difference in this type of game.

The Germans are big and physical and they do a lot of grabbing and holding which will slow us down if we play into that style. We need to be mobile, swim and keep them off balance. They don’t have a real strong center game so we should be able to press them out. They do have some of the best outside shooters in the world so we will need to be on top of our game on defense. It should be a very good game and I know that we are all very excited about playing again. I do believe that we are the better team. We need to bring our best game and continue to play with good fundamentals. 6 on 5 and 5 on 6 will be a big key. We need to be aggressive and confident against this goalie.

We had a very good meeting with Peter Haberl our sports psychologist. We talked about Germany and the potential danger of taking them lightly or getting intimidated by the German goalie. It is rewarding to see these guys share their thoughts and concerns with each other. That is the beauty of team. Everyone is there for each other and as we go through these tournaments we lean on each other more and more. It is coming together and we are ready for the next challenge.

Training has been going well. We have a video meeting tonight to go over game film and then one easy pre game loosen out in the middle of the day before we battle. I hope you all can watch the game and cheer loud as we attempt to get back to the final four with a win tomorrow. I am excited and I know the guys are too. Our dream is to become World Champions. William Shakespeare once said “Dreams are but thoughts until their effects be tried.” We will be tested and tried and we will find out this week if we have what it takes to make that dream come true.

See you at the pool.

Coach

Hard Fought Battle

2009-07-24T16:00:00.000-07:00

Today was another good test for us as a team. Last night Ryan Bailey came down with a fever. We immediately went into isolation mode and separated Jeff Powers from Ryan. Hopefully, this bug does not run through the team. Ryan did not feel much better this morning and the team doctor recommended that we hold him out. She believes that he might have strep throat. Yikes…

During our pre game meeting today, I reminded the guys that in order for us to become champions we will have to overcome the obstacles that are placed in our way. I told them that many of the greatest moments in sports have been teams or individuals that have overcome great obstacles to win big games. I told them about one of my favorite examples of this. During the 80’s the Lakers were facing a game 7in the playoffs without their big center Kareem Abdul Jabar. He had sprained his ankle and was out. It did not look good for the Lakers who seemed to be overmatched without a big man. However, behind Magic Johnson the team rallied and overcame what seemed to be great odds to win the NBA Championship. It was pretty amazing.

At game time, Ryan came to me and said he wanted to give it a go and see what he could do to help the team. He started and actually scored the first goal of the game. Overall, we were definitely off a little today. We did not have the same intensity or energy. Perhaps it was Romania’s scrappy defense or maybe we were just off today but it was a battle. The Romanian’s took a 2 – 1 lead after the first quarter. We came back and scored the next two goals to go ahead 3 – 2 at the half. On the break, I reminded the team that even when the offense is struggling, we need to stay focused on our defense. Win every series on defense was our goal.

We came out with some good energy in the second half and scored the first goal to go ahead 4 – 2. Romania was not done as they fought back and scored two in a row to tie the score at 4. We battled back and forth and ultimately took control of the game down the stretch. Layne Beaubien had three goals for us today to lead the team and Tony Azevedo scored a big goal near the end to seal the win. Jesse Smith, Justin Johnson and Ryan Bailey also scored. We won 7 – 5 to advance first in our bracket and earn an extra day off. We will not play again until Tuesday, when we will match up with the winner of the Montenegro/Canada game. It will be nice having some down time both physically and mentally it will be a nice break. We will have a light training tomorrow and then get back to work focusing in on our game plan for Montenegro (the likely winner against Canada) on Tuesday.

I received a great compliment from Jesse Smith after the game today. He told me that in the past we have surely lost this type of game. We were off and struggling but we stayed together and battled for the win. He then said “Thanks for helping us to find that confidence in ourselves and win”. These are the rewards that make coaching so special. To be a part of these guys lives and to help them grow as a team and hopefully as individuals as we go through our journey together. As I have said before, I have grown from this experience too. It is incredible.

Tomorrow is exciting in that my family arrives. Sheridan has been very cute on the phone – screaming in excitement with the news of each victory. They are excited to come and support the team and of course take in the sites of Rome while they are here. Sheridan has also been asking about Merrill all the time. She is his biggest fan.

Rick's wife, Brenda and Ryan’s wife, Rebecca also arrive tomorrow. Merrill’s parents come in and perhaps a few others. Our family grows over here and hopefully we are ready to give them some excitement as we make a run to become World Champions. It certainly will not be easy but it can be done. Here is my quote for the day “Whether you think you can or you can’t you are probably right”. We believe that we can do this. Send all your positive thoughts our way. We are half way there. Three wins away from gold.

See you at the pool.

Coach

Staying Focused

2009-07-22T14:45:00.000-07:00

Today we faced a Macedonia team that we knew we should beat. These games can be difficult because many times when you take your opponent lightly – it turns out to be a battle. So the key today was to come out with some fire in our eyes and stay focused for four quarters. The team did well. They came out on fire again (similar to Monday night) and before we knew it we were in control with a 5 – 0 lead. It has been a long time since we have had a lead like that on anyone. We continued to dominate play and led 8 – 2 at the half and 11 – 4 after three quarters. The final score was USA 13 – Macedonia 6.

Two games – two wins. Winning is definitely fun. Everyone is happy and the momentum is building. Tomorrow we train in the afternoon and then on Friday at 12:10we will face Romania. Romania defeated Italy tonight 6 – 5 so we know we are in for a battle. They have a very good left handed center and a very good left handed outside shooter. The winner of the game on Friday will win our bracket and will have the extra day off again. This means that with a win on Friday against Romania we would not play again until Tuesday. This is huge in a tournament like this where endurance becomes a factor. Last summer, we took advantage of the extra day off by resting up and then coming out in the semi-final game against Serbia and blasting them out of the pool.

Obviously, the team is playing well and the guys seem to be coming together more everyday. They are family and as a coach that is what you want. Today after the game the entire team took the time to hang out with a group of high school players that have been traveling around Europe. The kids and their families were overjoyed. It was nice the see the guys willing to give back and connect with some up and coming young players.

It was very hot and humid over here today. I went over this morning with Ryan Brown and we watched Croatia beat Montenegro 11 – 4. It was surprisingly lopsided. Even though the game was at 10:50 am it was very hot and not much fun to be in the stands. Our game was at 5:00 pm and the sun was still blistering hot. There is no shade on the deck so 12:10 on Friday should be an oven.

There have been a few other surprises too. Spain beat Serbia 11 – 9 and Germany tied Hungary 7 – 7. There are four teams that are 2 – 0 (two of them in our bracket). USA, Romania, Croatia and Spain. Obviously, this is where we wanted to be. We are in control of our own destiny. A win on Friday means we are top 8 and two wins away from a medal. Three wins away from the gold.

It is time to call it a night and get some sleep. We have some game film to break down tomorrow and then an afternoon training session. All that matters now is Romania. One game at a time – one possession at a time. Keep the focus – keep the edge. So far we are playing like champions and living our standards.

See you at the pool.
Coach

Passing the First Test

2009-07-21T16:16:00.000-07:00

The guys came through with flying colors last night. We came out with great energy and took at 3 – 1 lead. We built that lead to 5 - 3 at the half. The Italians made a run and actually tied the came at 6 all in the fourth. We immediately scored two quick goals and took control of the game. It was nice to see the guys be able to stay together and work hard to regain the momentum. The bottom line – we came into a tough environment and did a great job. I was very proud of the team. It was a nice team win. Although our scoring was not as balanced as it has been in some big games in the past, it was definitely a team win. Our defense held the Italians to 8 goals and we gave up a cheap one with 7 seconds left in the game. Merrill played great in the goal and Tony led the team with 4 goals, Layne had 3, Jesse 1 and Peter V. had 1.

This was a very emotional game with lots of energy from a sold out stadium. Now our job as coaches is to bring them back to earth and make sure we stay focused on the task at hand. Tomorrow we play Macedonia. We really don’t know much about them as we have only seen them play one game here in this tournament. They are made up of a bunch of old Serbian, Croatian and Montenegrin players. This is a team that actually beat Greece last year to knock them out of the World Championships. They can be dangerous. Yesterday they lost 6 – 4 to Romania and they did not look so good. However, I am sure they will be fired up to play us. We need to stay focused as we are now totally in control of our bracket. We play Macedonia tomorrow and then Romania on Friday. Two wins means that we automatically advance to the top 8 and get two extra days off which as we saw last year in Beijing is a huge advantage.

We had a light training today and went over some game film for tomorrow. Game time tomorrow is at 5:00 pm. The real key for us is to stay focused and to be consistent – if we can play with the same energy and team work we played with last night then we can beat anyone. I have attached a few pictures from last night’s game. Keep on cheering for us. Go USA.

See you at the pool.

Coach

I received an email from a friend today with a great quote from Lou Holtz (one of the best football coaches ever). The quote read “I can’t believe that God put us on this earth to be ordinary”. Have an extraordinary day!

Ready or Not

2009-07-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

I guess no matter what as a coach you always have a little doubt as to whether or not you have done everything that you could have done to get your team ready. In Beijing, I had a good meltdown prior to our first game with China. I was very nervous and felt like I was going to faint. It was not until I went down on my knees in the locker room and handed it all over to God that I finally felt a comfort of knowing that their was nothing else I could do. I felt a comfort that stayed with me the rest of the tournament.

So here I am on day one finding myself a bit nervous again. In reality, we have had just three weeks together as a team to prepare for this tournament. We have had to balance conditioning and tactics and use our time as wisely as possible. We did our best not to waste any workouts. It feels like we had to rush through a great deal in a short amount of time. So I am a bit more nervous feeling like we have not prepared as well as we could have if we would have had more time. I guess that is the would of, should of, could of - that no one can really afford to get into. Like my Dad taught me years ago – you go out and you give it your best shot and then you should be satisfied. I am confident that our staff has done that. We have done our best to prepare these guys in the amount of time that we had.

In our meetings I have reminded the guys of what we went through last year. I have encouraged them to use that as an anchor – to help them to feel a comfort in knowing that we can do this. We can perform at our best in the biggest stage. We did that last summer and now I am asking them to do that again. That is what tonight is about and that is what this entire tournament is about. Testing yourself and your team to see how far you can go. I know very well and the guys know that if we play our game we will do well. It seems simple. There are many factors that we can not control – like the officials and the crowd and the late busses or the changes in schedules but we can control our play. We must stay together and play as a team - especially on defense. This must be the heart of our team. Our team goal is to give up 6 goals or less per game in this tournament. We all know that we can do that. It is a realistic goal – we must play to win every possession. We must shot block in the field and give Merrill some help. I am excited.

Over the past few weeks we have developed our own set of standards. These are not team rules but they are standards on how we want to live and how we want to play. Game time is the biggest test of these standards. We must hold each other accountable for what we (the players) have come up with as their championship standards. Right now it is on paper - but our actions will be the biggest litmus test to how well we play by these standards. If we stick together and stick to these we will do very well here. There is no question in my mind. Here are a few of the standards that we have set for ourselves.
• No excuses – we have what it takes to win.
• Great Defense – no one wants to play against us because the way we play defense.
• Sacrifice – the team wins not the individual
• Care – we have each other’s back
• Family – no one is closer

This is a sampling of what the guys put on paper as their “championship standards”. Like I said, if we play this way everything will be fine. In a few short hours we will find out how ready we are. For me – I think that this blog as helped to alleviate some of the stress of being a coach. It allows me to tell our story and let it go. I am confident that we will do well but don’t think for one second that I won’t say my prayers again today and ask God to guide us through another fun adventure. It is time to create a new chapter in this book of life. Do we have it in us to become world champions or even win a medal? We will all find out over the next couple of weeks. I am looking forward to the tournament getting started. Buckle your seatbelt and hang on because I believe it will be a great adventure.

See you at the pool.

Coach

P.S. Todays game is being televised on universalsports.com @ 11:35

Italian Home Cooking

2009-07-18T17:43:00.000-07:00

It was an interesting day here in Rome. Tony Azevedo (our team captain) was awakened by a knocking on his hotel door at 5 am. It turned out to be four police officers who said that there were some problems with immigration and Tony would have to go down to the police station with them. As it turned out, he talked them out of going with them at 5 am and agreed to go down to the police station after our morning training. Obviously, when I found out about this I was a bit concerned and upset.

Our training was set for 9 – 11 am at the competition pool. The first hour was with Germany and then we were to be on our own for the second hour. Our bus arrived at 8:45 and when we arrived at the pool we were informed that they had had changed our training time and we were now suppose to be in from 8:30 – 10:30 with only one hour in the competition pool and the other hour in the warm up pool. Apparently our host had been called last night at 10 pm but had never informed us of any changes.

After practice, Tony went down to the police station with Ryan Brown and the head of the USA delegation here. As it turned out - they had Tony sign a piece of paper that appeared to be some bogus document and he was done. It appears that they are doing whatever they can do throw us off balance. I think the guys rolled with it pretty good and if anything they all are saying that they would expect no less from the Italians. I believe that we are maturing. We are becoming mentally tougher. In the past this is the stuff that would have really got under our skin. It nice to see the guys just brush it off.

Training went well today. We also had training on our own tonight at a pool just outside the city and we spent the time walking through our 5 man defense. Once again, the 6 on 5 and the 5 man defense (man down) will be big keys as we get into this tournament.

Today was our first look at the competition venue. It was very impressive. They put a temporary pool inside a tennis stadium. The water polo venue seats 5,000 spectators and it is very nicely done. I have attached a couple of pictures so that you can get an idea of what it looks like. Regardless of all the home cooking (changes in schedule, etc.) going on it was exciting to be at the pool and visualize what it will be like on Monday night when we play Italy. When I close my eyes I can see a lot of Italian fans going home disappointed that evening. Anyway, we will see what they have up their sleeve for tomorrow.

To close out a good day we watched the USA vs. Italy game from the Olympics last summer. It was fun to watch and it definitely reminded us all of what a special experience we went through together last year. Here we are one year later – working together to create another great team experience. Look out world - here we come.

See you at the pool.

Coach

P.S. The food has been pretty darn good here – so not all the home cooking is bad.

The Heat Is On

2009-07-17T08:44:00.001-07:00

Wow – it has been hot! We have been melting the training facility in Montenegro. Yesterday it was 107 degrees when humidity was factored in. I had to soak myself in the water every 15 minutes or so just to be able to coach from the pool deck. We had two good trainings yesterday. The heat has definitely been a factor with the team. You can’t help but feel somewhat drained. I know that all of us coaches feel it and we have been mostly just standing around so I can’t imagine how the players are feeling. Regardless, we have been doing better in training. We had good scrimmages against both Montenegro and Spain and gave them a little more to think about before leaving town.

This morning we got up early (4:30 am) and headed for the airport. Our flight was at 6:30. Even though Rome is not too far away, there is no easy way to get there. We had to fly Podorica to Belgrade and then Belgrade to Rome. By the time we arrived at the hotel it was almost noon. We were able to get right in for lunch but unfortunately our rooms were not ready. The hotel was jammed with people from a Princess cruise that were in no hurry to get out of their rooms. Finally, after waiting around for a few hours everyone was able to get in their rooms and relax. We gave the team the day off – to recover and do some team bonding. They are going to go out for a nice dinner in town tonight.

Rick and I took the opportunity to drive around town and take a look at some of our training venues and try to figure out where we are going to do weights and what the pools are like so that we won’t have any surprises in the next few days. Three days to go before our first game with Italy. Even though it is a bit cooler here in Rome I think that many of the guys are beginning to feel the heat. There seems to be a little more pressure – perhaps it is self imposed now that they have a silver medal in their pocket. I feel like one of my biggest jobs is to keep the pressure off them as much as possible. There is no doubt that the team is one of the favorites. Everyone wants to train or scrimmage with us. Tomorrow we have been asked to train with the German team. They have a time slot right before ours in the competition pool so we will actually get two hours straight of training. This is so much better in my opinion, instead of running all over town – our two main venues are 20 – 45 minutes away depending on traffic. Many of our scheduled training times are for one hour which seems silly. You spend more time driving around then actually in the pool. So combining times and saving a drive to and from a training session sounds pretty good to me.

We were very fortunate in Beijing to have a dedicated training facility. If you remember - the USOC had rented out Beijing Normal University for the USA team so we only had to schedule our training times around the women’s team and we were able to do two hour blocks which significantly cut down on the tiresome drives around town in a bus. Here we will have to rely a little on combining workouts with other teams and seeing if we can get one good workout in rather than two shorter ones with much more driving time.

I think that the team dinner will be really good for the guys tonight. Then need just some fun time together. Time to relax and talk among themselves and find that inner confidence or peace that being on a united team brings to you. I told the guys last night in our meeting that our success in this tournament will come down to how we handle the stressful situations. Can we be calm in a storm? When we are down a goal or two can we stick together and rely on each other to fight on and win as a team or do we break apart and begin to play like individuals. The true measure of our team will be not how we perform in the times when we are winning but how we perform in the times when we are down. All great teams are tested and I truly believe that we are a great team and that we will find a way to become stronger in these situations.

It is exciting. The “team” has two weeks left in our lifetime together. The reason I say this is that every team is different. Last year’s team was made up of a few different players and next year will be different too. This “team” has these two weeks together and then we are done. Can we create some wonderful memories over the next two weeks that will surely last a lifetime? I believe that we can and we will!

See you at the pool!

Coach

Training

2009-07-14T16:58:00.000-07:00

Today was a typical training day for us. We began the day with weights and cardio work in the gym at 9:00 am. Next, we had about an hour on our own before we scrimmaged four quarters with Spain. It was good training and it gave us a chance to play against a team that will play a similar style of game to Italy. The scrimmage went well. It was close and it was obvious that we did not quite have our legs yet. The first 2 – 3 days are always difficult and I believe each day now we will get stronger and stronger.

After lunch the guys settled in for an afternoon nap. Typically this is a 2 – 3 hour rest period. Then came a light snack and back to the pool. In the evening we had about an hour and a half on our own and then we scrimmaged against Montenegro. After jumping on them 6 – 0 we cruised to a 12 - 6 win in 2 plus quarters. The guys looked like they were starting to feel better this evening. It was a good confidence builder and hopefully, we will build on this as we go forward. The final part of the day consisted of dinner and then relaxing before getting a good night’s sleep.

All in all it is a pretty normal day in our water polo life. Eat, sleep and play water polo. Tomorrow will be much the same. We will scrimmage with Spain in the morning and Montenegro in the afternoon. It is great training for us and it is preparing us well for Rome. We now are 6 days away from our first match at the Championships. It is getting more and more exciting as the anticipation builds.

The best news of the day was that our luggage arrived. Most everyone received their bags this morning before training and Tony finally received his this afternoon. It was a bit interesting that not only did we smell better but we also played better this afternoon.

Things are looking up. See you at the pool.

Coach

Another Adventure

2009-07-13T16:45:00.000-07:00

We are off on our final trip off the summer – the World Championships. We left LAX on Saturday and finally arrived in Montenegro on Sunday night around 8 pm. It was a long day of travel with stops in Frankfurt and Belgrade. Unfortunately, most of our bags are still in one of those cities. My chiropractic table made it but none of my clothes. So as I write this I am going on three days with the same clothes. I guess it just adds to the adventure. Half the team is wearing the same outfit everyday. We were told our bags would probably get here today but no such luck. It just so happen that today was Montenegro’s Independence Day. Apparently, not too many people were working today - maybe tomorrow.

It is a bit interesting that we have witnessed a small part of that Montenegrin history. Three years ago we were here training with Serbia-Montenegro when we learned that the countries were going to split while we were in town. It was strange – we practiced in the evening with the Serbia-Montenegro team and then the next morning we showed up for practice and it was just Montenegro. The worst part about it was that they did not skip a beat. They had brought in about 7 new players and were just as good as the night before. What an incredible wealth of water polo players this region produces. Anyway, we were here on there first Independence Day and now helped them celebrate their third birthday.

So you ask – what did we do today to celebrate? Well the Montenegrin’s had that one figured out. They scheduled an official game with us for tonight – to help them celebrate! Here is how the day played out. After training in the morning we immediately boarded a bus and were driven to lunch. We arrived at a beautiful winery for an extended lunch and wine tasting. We had a short tour of the winery which is called July 13th and is the largest winery in Europe. After the tour, we sat down for lunch (with the entire Montenegrin team and delegation) and after a few speeches from the mayor and a few other dignitaries we had a very nice lunch. I knew we were in a bit of trouble right when we sat down and saw that each setting had 5 wine glasses in front of it. Actually, the winery is one of the team’s sponsor’s and it was pretty good wine. Probably would have made more sense to have the event after the game though. Anyways, we came back to the hotel and had about a four hour nap before the game. Not exactly ideal but the game was a bit of a set up anyway.

We were told prior to the game that one of their old players was retiring and that one minute into the game they would stop the game and have a little ceremony for him. I had seen this before in my playing days so I warned the guys that we would probably get an exclusion on their first possession and then after that player scored they would stop the game and have a ceremony. As if that was not enough, one of the officials was also retiring after the match so each player and coach was kissing the referee prior to the game. Obviously, we knew it was going to be a tough game to win but never the less, we were prepared to battle. Sure enough, on our first defensive possession, we were excluded and they worked the ball around to the big lefty who was set to retire. Merrill made a great save and we kept on playing. On the very next possession Jesse scored a nice outside shot and we were in their heads a little. A few possessions later Montenegro earned a second exclusion. Once again, they worked the ball to their lefty who shot and scored on a ball that was deflected. The game was immediately stopped and after a five minute ceremony in which the player received a great standing ovation - he left the pool and retired. They really know how to honor a player over here! Play resumed and although we played pretty well we just did not have the gas to keep up with them tonight. We were obviously a bit fatigued after our long day of travel and the officials were not going to give up too much help tonight. Montenegro ended up winning the game 12 – 9. It was good training and the reality is that we are getting ready for one week from now. That is when we will square off with Italy in the first game of the World Championships.

That is all for tonight. I will be checking in frequently over the next three weeks. What will tomorrow bring? Bring on the adventure – we are ready. I can once again sense a great swell building and we are coming together as we share these great experiences together. We are learning to be champions.

See you at the pool!

Coach

Excellence

2009-07-06T09:23:00.001-07:00

I am happy to report that I normally don’t get to watch a great deal of television. However, this weekend Leanna was home sick with the flu and in between catching up on paperwork I watched some of the sports. It was a good weekend to watch a couple of the best athletes in the world competing on the world stage. Roger Federer broke Pete Sampras’ record and won an epic battle with Andy Roddick at Wimbledon. Tiger Woods won the AT&T National and Lance Armstrong stayed in the hunt at the Tour de France.

As I sat and watched these “greats” perform, I could not help but think about the hours of hard work that they have put in to reach the top. As I watched each of these athletes you could almost see and feel excellence ooze from their persona. It was inspiring to say the least.

This week we begin our final week of training at home in preparation for the World Championships in Rome. Our first game is now less than 2 weeks away. At practice tonight, I will remind our team about the habits of a champion that together help each of us to become more “Excellence Oriented”. This is when your usual way of doing things is to wake up and focus on being your best - everyday. I truly believe that there is a champion within each of us. In order to become that champion, we need to develop strong habits that become a way a life and help us to become the very best that we can become.

Our goal now is to become a World Champion. We will need each of our guys to be 100% in this mode of being the best – excellence oriented. Each and every day, Robert, Ryan and I try to get the best out of our team. We try to challenge them to become better. We ask them to push themselves day after day. Over the past two weeks at home we have focused on a balancing conditioning and tactics. Many of our guys have felt kind of beat up and broken down as we have pushed them to the edge. This is what we want – to help them find the best within themselves. We will need each and every one of our guys to be at their best when we get to Rome. We have never medaled at the World Championships so this is a great opportunity for us rewrite the history books of USA Water Polo.

We can all learn from the best and this weekend was a great inspiration for me. I want this for our guys. I want them to be champions and I know that this is what they want too. Some of our veterans have stayed around for another crack at being the best. We came close last year in Beijing and now that they have tasted success they want more. I am excited for them and look forward to seeing them perform on their world stage.

Excellence is all around us!

See you at the pool.

Coach

The Medal Round-Super Final

2009-06-23T08:29:00.000-07:00

With Friday’s win against Australia we guaranteed ourselves two good games and two chances to win a medal. This is where we want to finish all tournaments - in the hunt for a medal. We find ourselves in the final four with three teams all from former Yugoslavia. It is pretty amazing that there are so many great players coming out of this area. Wow. We need to make sure that we break this final four up some.

Saturday we matched up with Montenegro in the semi-finals. The game did not start out well and we quickly found ourselves behind 3 – 0. We fought back hard and midway through the second period we were down 3 – 2. Unfortunately, we gave up two unanswered goals again and we went down 5 – 2. This was a lead that we never really overcame. We once again seemed out of sync and not really firing on all pistons. Our 6 on 5 looked rusty as we scored only 2 out of 8. I would have to say that Montenegro looked like they were in peak form. They were well conditioned and played well together as a team. What was amazing to me is that as well as Montenegro played and as poorly as we played with two minutes to go in the game we scored a goal to cut the lead 9 – 7. We were very much right in the game. We were unable to score again and Montenegro finished with a goal from center to make the final 10 – 7. It was a fun environment. 4,000 rowdy fans all screaming for their home team. Actually, it was a great opportunity to play in front of this kind of crowd. When we go to Rome next month, our first game will be against Italy in front of 5,000 Italian fans.

In the other semi-final Croatia beat Serbia 7 – 5 in a hard fought battle. This set up the gold medal match with Montenegro playing Croatia and the bronze medal game with us getting a rematch against Serbia.

In our pre-game meeting for Serbia, I reminded the team about some of our principles that we lived by last year. One was a commitment to each other. This meant sacrificing part of ourselves for the good of the team. We certainly want to utilize each of our player’s personal strength. However, we have to match this with the role we are asking them to play on this team. We also spoke about playing defense with more energy and awareness – especially since we have only been back together for a few weeks. Our goal was to make every series on defense count. We can’t afford to give up cheap or easy goals against a team like this. A low scoring game would favor us. We needed to control the tempo of the game for four quarters.

At the pool for warm up, I liked what I saw in our player’s eyes. They looked confident and hungry. As the game progressed we seemed to be in control. We either led or were tied for the majority of the game. Our defense was playing very well and we were not giving the Serbs anything in their front court offense. We did have some miscues on our offensive end that cost us as we gave up four counter attack goals. We set the tempo and kept the Serbs off balance. However, when it came down to it we could not score the critical 6 on 5 or penalty shot in the fourth quarter and Serbia pulled ahead at the end with two late goals to win 9 – 7.

Even though the score did not come out in our favor, I liked what I saw with our team in this game. We played under control and there was definitely a resemblance to the way we played in Beijing. Merrill played great in the cage, recording 15 saves and the defense did a pretty good job of funneling the ball to him. The game was a good step in the right direction. The past two weeks have been good. We have played five games with Serbia, played Montenegro, Italy and Australia. We have also had some good training. Now it is time to head back home and prepare for the World Championships. We have about 17 days of training at home. Not much time but I believe that it will be enough. It will be nice to be on our own and focus on our tactics, fundamentals and conditioning. We need to keep everyone healthy while challenging each one of the guys to work hard and push themselves to their limit.

We will once again be training at Cal Lutheran University in the mornings from 9 – 12:30 and at Oaks Christian HS in the evenings from 7 – 9:30 pm. Practices are open, so feel free to come by and say hello. The team is really looking forward to getting back to the Thousand Oaks community. Many of the guys are returning to their host families. They all appreciate the support they received last year from our community and look forward to seeing many of the familiar faces again.

Here we go again – the final push towards our goal. We are aiming for that gold medal at World Championships. It will be intense, exciting and somewhat exhausting all at the same time. Thanks for sharing it with us. Going for the gold.

See you at the pool.

Coach

The Final Four

2009-06-19T14:46:00.001-07:00

We beat Australia today 10 – 6. It was not our best game but it was good enough. The real story was our defense, led by Merrill Moses with 15 saves in the cage. We also recorded 7 field blocks and had a fair number of steals. The play was still a bit sloppy but part of that was the officiating which was very erratic. There was really no flow to the game. The officials called 3 double kick outs in one quarter alone. Our 6 on 5 was adequate and we totally shut down the Australians on their extra man. I believe that they were 1 for 10 on their extra man. We did have some casualties - Ryan Bailey woke up from his nap this afternoon with a severe tendonitis in his right arm. He was unable to play and John Mann has a bit of a whiplash. Overall, we seem a little out of condition. We definitely wore down pretty quickly. Anyways, we are working hard to get everyone rested and healthy by tomorrow.

Attached is the picture of the stadium here in Podgorica. There will be 4,000 screaming crazy Montenegrin fans filling this place tomorrow. I am sure that they will have drums beating while they chant their fight songs and have a good time. We might be lucky to have 5 cheering for us. It will be a great experience for our guys. In fact, I am sure when we play Italy a month from now in Rome at the World Championships; the situation will not be much different. At this point we are two games away from a championship here. It will certainly not be easy.

Montenegro is playing with a great deal of confidence and they will be very difficult to beat at home. However, I think that we match up pretty well with them. We have always played well against them and I don’t expect it to be any different tomorrow. The keys for tomorrow are as follows:

1. Defense first. Hold Montenegro to 6 goals. This is s huge task. They have many weapons and we will have to play our best defensive game of the tournament.
2. Play under control - keep the turnovers down to a minimum – we can’t get in a run and gun type game with these guys. Control the tempo
3. Score our 6 on 5 opportunities. I have no doubt that we will get our chances on the extra man (probably 10 – 12). We need to score 7 – 8 of our extra man to win.

Can we beat them? YES. I believe we can. The guys have all told me that they now believe that they can win every game they play. This is a giant step for us. I am looking forward to the challenge and I know the team is too.

For now it is time for a good night’s sleep. See you tomorrow at the pool.

Coach

Disrespect

2009-06-18T15:32:00.000-07:00

Just a few days ago, I told you about one of the best experiences I have ever had as a player or as a coach with our national anthem. Today, was possibly the worst experience. As our Star Spangled Banner was played prior to the start of the game, a loud and rowdy group of Serbian fans began to whistle and boo as they held up banners that referred back to their civil war. I have attached a picture which was taken of the banners by our team leader. It was extremely disrespectful and made me very upset. They whistled and booed so loud that you could hardly hear our anthem.

At the opening sprint, I would have to say that my blood pressure was high and my face was red with anger. Unfortunately, the game did not go much better. After playing reasonably well in the first period we kind of fell apart and got out of our rhythm. We committed 7 offensive fouls and turned the ball over on numerous bad passes. We were out of sync and the time away from each other looked like it was getting the best of us. Our sloppy play definitely fed into the Serbian’s strength. The countered us hard and if it wasn’t for a good game by Merrill Moses, the score could have been very lopsided.

As it turned out we hung around and with about two minutes left scored a goal to bring the score to 9 – 7 in favor of Serbia. Unfortunately, we gave up a goal on the very next possession and Serbia went on to win 10 – 7. The story of the game was really our uncharacteristic sloppy play. We gave up 2 goals from their center and 3 goals on their counter attack. These are two of our cardinal rules. We do not give up goals on the counter and we do not give up goals from center. I would have to say that this was one of the uglier games that we have played as a team since I began coaching 2 years ago. It was not pretty and we will have to change the way we play in order to have a successful outcome here. We are still very much in the tournament, in fact we could still win the whole tournament.

Tomorrow, we begin play in the elimination round. We will play Australia in what is essentially the quarterfinals. The winner will move on to face Montenegro on Saturday in the semis. Australia actually gave Montenegro a pretty good game tonight. They ended up losing by a score of 6 – 4 but had numerous opportunities to make the game even closer. The bottom line is that we need to get back to doing the simple things well. This needs to begin with good defense and good legs. We were pushed around a little tonight and the Serbs pressure forced our sloppy play. We made numerous passing errors and our 6 on 5 was not strong. We were 3 for 8 on our extra man attempts.

Everyone is disappointed. We are not used to losing so we all had our heads down a bit. Tomorrow we will rally the troops and get back on a winning track. Go USA!

We can do this…

See you at the pool.

Coach

The Stage is Set

2009-06-17T15:35:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since we had a game that we as coaches could actually relax a little. It was nice to be able to smile and laugh on the bench. We dominated the game from the beginning and pretty much had our way with an over matched Japanese team. After leading 7 – 0 at the half we went on to win 14 – 3. Another game where are defense was the story and on offense we had a very balanced attack. In fact, tonight we did even better than last night – 10 different players scored.

After our game, we stayed around and watched the Croatia vs. Montenegro game. The stadium was packed with 4,000 screaming Montenegrin fans. Every one of them seemed to hate the Croatian team. They had drums and noise makers and were singing and dancing for most of the match. It was a very fun water polo environment. If all goes well, we will be playing in that environment in a few nights. The whole team stayed and watched as Montenegro beat up on Croatia 12 – 7. It was good for the guys to see.

So here is the story. We play Serbia tomorrow night in the final game of the preliminary round. A win would put us in a cross over game with South Africa on Friday night. A loss will put us into a cross over game with Australia. We are playing well but tomorrow will be a good test. Serbia beat Italy today 6 – 3. They have a few players here that were not in the States last week when we played, but then so do we. I like our chances.

It would be very nice to play South Africa in the quarterfinals. They are the weakest team here and it would be beneficial to have essentially a day of rest before the semis and finals. The truth is that either way we will get some great competition before the week is out.

One of our hosts (our translator) was talking to me this morning and he passed on the fact that we were the talk of all the other coaches last night. The word was that we beat the Italians and made it look easy. The other coaches were saying that it looked like we were playing at about 60% and yet we were in control of the game from start to finish. As I told our host, “now all we have to do is get our guys to play at 100%”. This is nice water polo gossip and it is nice to hear that we are still turning heads. The real test will be in the pool as the tournament progresses. There are big games ahead and tomorrow is the first of many.

See you at the pool.

Coach

World League Super Final - Day 1

2009-06-16T13:27:00.000-07:00

In our pre-game meeting today we set a goal of holding each of our opponents to 6 goals or less in this tournament. I stressed the fact that we must play defense first. We know that if our defense is strong we will be in every game. I also talked about making winning a habit. Getting back to the podium last year was a huge step for us – but now that we are an Olympic medal winner we are a target. Every team will show up wanting to play their best game against us. We are now a target. It is harder to stay at the top than to get to the top. This is our challenge. We as a team need to get used to winning - we need to get used to being in contention to win every tournament that we play. Essentially, success is a habit and I want our team to develop this habit.

We came out and played a solid four quarters today. The Italians stuck around and made it difficult but in the end we accomplished our goal and won 10 – 6. Even better from a coaches perspective is that we had 9 different players score today. Jesse Smith led the team with two goals, and Tony Azevedo, Peter Varrellas, Ryan Bailey, Jeff Powers, Justin Johnson, JW Krumpholz, Tim Hutton and Brian Alexander all scored. As a coach, this is a nice thing to see. It was a total team effort.

This was an important game for another reason too. Next month, when we travel to Rome for the World Championships we will face Italy in our first match. So it was important today to send them a message. They are a team that plays with a great deal of emotion and if you let them feel that they have a chance they are much tougher. I am sure that they will give us a battle in Rome but for today – we definitely got the best of them.

On a side note. We played a 4:20 pm today. Game time temperature was about 95 degrees and extremely humid. The benches also faced the afternoon sun which made it almost unbearable. We did not have ice on the bench and all the water that they brought for us was luke warm at best. I know that I left the game pretty dehydrated and all I did was stand in the sun for an hour. We will be better prepared over the next few days. We are sending Rick out to get an ice chest so that we can have ice and cold water on the bench.

Tomorrow we will face Japan at 7:00 pm. The Japanese lost today to Serbia 12 – 6 after being tied at the half. They are relatively small but fast. It should be a decent game but I will be surprised if we don’t over power them.

It feels good to be back with the team. I am enjoying being back on the deck with our guys. They are a joy to work with and the rewards have been great for me.

See you at the pool.

Coach

A New Chapter

2009-06-15T16:13:00.000-07:00

I want to begin this new chapter with a story that transpired last week during our week of training with Serbia. We were playing Serbia at Stanford in the third game of a three game series. We had lost one game and tied the second. Both games were very competitive and the training had been very good. If you remember from last year when we went to Serbia, we were crushed by them and we never really challenged them. This week was different. Every scrimmage was competitive and we definitely knew that we belonged in the same pool with them. Anyway, back to the story. The stadium was packed with an estimated crowd of 2,500 water polo fans. After the introductions they played the Serbian national anthem and then it came time for the Star Spangled Banner. Unfortunately, they seemed to be having problems with the stereo system. There was a bit of an uncomfortable minute and then a few fans in the front row began singing our anthem. After a few seconds the rest of the crowd joined in and sang our beautiful national anthem. I have to say that in all my years of playing and coaching and hearing our anthem being played for us this was the most moving and meaningful of all. It gave me goose bumps and brought tears to my eyes at the same time. Our players and coaches gave the fans a great round of applause and then it was time to play.

The game was a good one. We played a solid game on offense but gave them too many easy goals off of rebounds and slam dunks from the post on their extra man. Our defense was not great but I am sure it will get better and better as we spend more time together. Midway through the fourth quarter we were down by two and it did not look too good. We made a nice run down the stretch and tied the game with a minute and a half to go. We actually had a great opportunity in the last 30 seconds but we missed on an extra man attempt. The game ended in a 13 – 13 tie. We have come a long way and matching the Serbs offensive power is no easy task. This was definitely a good week of training for us and without Tony and Tim many of our other guys really stepped up. As we move forward in this quadrennial, I will not forget the powerful rendition of our Star Spangled Banner. It was a moving experience. Perhaps the only better rendition will be played for us in London when we stand up on the gold medal platform.

It is time to get to work on that dream. Here we are in Montenegro getting ready for the World League Super Finals. We arrived two days ago and have been training at a beautiful new $ 5 million Euro facility here in the capital of Montenegro called Podgorica. This is a nice little city with a huge love for water polo. The pool complex (2 pools and room for 4,000 screaming fans) was built in 100 days. They opened the pool 4 days ago with a scrimmage between the Montenegro “A” and “B” team. The scrimmage drew a crowd of 3,000 people. Needless to say, these games will be well attended. We are in the A group with Italy, Japan and Serbia. The B group is Montenegro, Croatia, Australia and South Africa. Tomorrow we open up with Italy in the first game of the tournament.

I am excited about the tournament. We have 10 out of 13 of our Olympians back in the pool. Tony Azevedo and Tim Hutton have joined us here for the tournament. Their European club teams played until early June so we decided to just to meet them over here in Europe. For the rest of the team, it was a long trip over here. We flew through Frankfurt, Belgrade and then into Prodgorica. Many of the guys arrived feeling a little sick. Ryan Bailey has been in his room for 2 days. He saw a local doctor today that thinks he may have the swine flu. Anyway, he came out of his cave (room) today and swam a little. He said that he felt better so we will see how he wakes up tomorrow. Jesse Smith is also feeling a little under the weather and John Mann is feeling pretty beat up. Hopefully, we will wake up and be ready to go tomorrow.

I am reading Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s book, called The Gold Standard, it is the story of the 2008 USA Olympic Basketball team. He has some great team building ideas and thoughts that will definitely come in handy for us as grow together over the next four years. One of the “gold standards” that he talks about is “No excuses” which was also a big part of the team we became last year. Tomorrow will become another test of this standard. We may not be at our best - but I believe we are good enough to still beat Italy. The rest of the preliminary round has us facing Japan and then Serbia.

Off to bed to dream about the “miracles” to come.

See you at the pool.

Coach

Here we go...

2009-05-27T08:37:00.000-07:00

5/26/09

Day one full time training. It is time to get back to work and see if we can get this team ready for World Championships this summer. Over the past few weeks, our top players have been arriving back from Europe as their perspective club seasons end. It has been exciting to see the guys again. It seems like Beijing was a long time ago.

It is time to get to work and set some new goals with these guys. Back to the Podium does not work anymore. Our goal is to do something that USA Men’s Water Polo has never done and that begins this summer. The World Championships in Rome represent the first opportunity for us to raise the bar. We have never won a medal in the World Championships. Our goal is not only to win a medal but to win the GOLD. Once everyone has returned from Europe, we will have 10 out of 13 players from our Olympic Team that have committed to play this summer. Brandon Brooks, Rick Merlo and Peter Hudnut have all decided to either retire or take the summer off. They will be missed and we have some big shoes to fill.

There is opportunity within our team for a few new players to come on board and make a name for themselves. Training will be exciting as there will be tough competition for spots on the team. This week we will be training with the World University Games team. These players have been selected over the past few months and represent the best of our college ranks. They will be a good training partner and we will finish off the week with two games against this team. The first will be Saturday (May 30th ) at Oaks Christian HS at 4:00 pm and the second will be Sunday (May 31st) at Corona Del Mar HS at 6:00 pm. If you are around and want to see some high quality water polo please come out and support the team.

Next week, we will be going up north to train with Serbia. We will have three friendly ( I hope they’re friendly) matches. The first will be June 4th at UOP at 7:00 pm, the second at Cal at 3:00 pm on June 6th, and the final match at Stanford at 2:00 pm on June 7th. Once again, tell your friends and let’s try to get some good crowds out there for these games. This will represent a rematch of the semi-final game in Beijing.

The summer will go by very fast as we will play the World League Finals in Monte Negro in the middle of June and come back home to train for two and a half weeks before we go to Rome for the World Championships.

See you at the pool!

Coach

The Habits of a Champion

2009-05-12T09:15:00.000-07:00

It is just about time to jump back in the pool and get things rolling again for the 2009 season. So far we have been training with a group that is comprised of a few Olympians and then a bunch of Olympic hopefuls. Training has been good but I am excited for the entire team to be back and begin our quest for a medal at the World Championships this summer. Lately, I have been reflecting on all the important lessons I have learned from water polo. This sport has helped me to develop good habits - habits that I would call “Habits of a Champion. Our team developed many of these habits last summer and these are tendencies and patterns that I hope to continue to build as we move towards London and 2012. To me these are habits of champions in all areas of life, not just water polo. No matter what you do, good habits will make you successful while bad habits will lead you down a path of failure and destruction. Habits are either your best of servants or worst of masters.

What exactly is a habit?

Webster’s Dictionary defines a “habit” as a tendency to perform a certain action or behave in a certain way. The usual way of doing things.

Habits make up our life. If we choose to develop good habits, I believe that we can be successful in any arena. If we develop bad habits then we will be burdened by the ball and chain that drags us down and keeps us from becoming a champion. It really is a choice and each of us needs to look carefully at their own life and decide which habits they want to nourish and which habits should be replaced. It takes some work but it is simply a matter of practice and repetition. First you make your habits and then they make you. Each of us has tremendous potential and it really is sad how many fall short of who they might become. Abraham Maslow once wrote “The story of the human race is the story of men and women selling themselves short.” The average person settles for far less than he or she is capable of achieving. I am convinced that created good habits are the way to bring out the best in each one of us. I hope that this list of habits helps inspire you to reach new heights in your life.

Here is my list of habits that I feel will help you become a champion.

1. Self Discipline – This is the mother of all habits. Self discipline is the ability to make yourself do what should be done, when it should be done, whether you feel like it or not. It is very difficult to build any good habits without self discipline. Self discipline is the key to self mastery. Every act of self discipline strengthens every other discipline and will help you to build the other habits that are important for becoming a champion.

2. Positive Self Talk – The things that you say to yourself will direct your life. If you wake up and say to yourself “I don’t feel well” or something like this you are probably not going to have a very good day. If you wake up and tell yourself “it is going to be a great day” then your day will more than likely be much better. Listen to what you are saying to yourself all day long. Are you building yourself up and or are you tearing yourself down. Your inner voice is very powerful. Be positive – tell yourself you are going to become a champion.

3. Attitude of Gratitude – I would highly recommend that you all work on developing this attitude. Be thankful. Here is an exercise for developing this habit. Write down what you are thankful for – Use 3 columns (1) Things (2) People (3) Other. (Other = freedom, opportunity, friendship, love, intelligence, abilities, health, talents, peace, faith, God, experiences, kindness) Read the list over 4 times a day – you will become more appreciative. Being thankful when practiced regularly becomes a habit. Being thankful and saying thanks are two habits of people who have discovered what it means to succeed in life.

4. Being Goal Oriented – Before you make anything happen in your life you have to have direction. Goals give you direction, they will help you develop a vision for your life. Successful people write down their goals and they review that list regularly. Create a vision for your life. When you are constantly thinking about where you want to go and what you want to achieve you will have a much better chance of making that happen.

5. A willingness to take action/risk – Dreams and goals are important but without action they are empty. Having vision and taking action on those goals will help you to find success in all you do. Most of us fall short of ever reaching our potential. Coupling goals with proper action will help you to close this gap. Are you afraid of failure? The champions are the ones that are willing to take the risk and put themselves in a position to take that winning shot. They are the ones that are willing to challenge themselves to get out of that comfort zone and see how much better they can be everyday.

6. Have a strong desire to learn and to grow – Recently, I read a story about John Wooden, who is now 97 years old. He admits that he is slowing down and losing some of his physical and mental capabilities, however he says “ I still like to read and I am going to continue to learn and grow for as long as I live. No matter what my capabilities are I want to wake up each day and do the best I can. I can not do that if I don’t continue to grow and learn.” We need to challenge ourselves to grow. If you are not getting better in life you are getting worse. You never just stand still. Champions are always learning and growing.

7. A willingness to accept responsibility – Being able to accept responsibility for your own mistakes helps you own the mistakes and allows you to grow. Those that play “the blame game” will never rise to the top and become a true champion. Champions don’t blame others – they realize that we all make mistakes and humbly accept their weaknesses and work to overcome them by getting better themselves.

8. Live by the Golden Rule – Treat others in the way that you would like to be treated. This really is “golden”. It is a simple secret of life – what you give you will receive. If you are giving love you will receive more love. If you are giving friendship you will have more friends. If you are a better team player you will be on a better team. A true champion understands the importance of living by the golden rule.

9. Good Time management – Either you master your time or your time becomes your master. Do you use your time wisely? Do you spend too much time with unimportant activities and then run out of time for the real important concerns in your life. Time management is about being able to prioritize and keep the big picture in mind. What is really important in your life? We need to prioritize and make sure that we spend our time first with the activities that will help us reach our goals. Think about how many hours the average American spends watching TV? Spending your time wisely is a critical habit that will help you to improve and reach your true potential in life. .

10. Live in the Moment – Karch Kirary the greatest volleyball player who ever lived was once asked by a fan “how did you prepare for the Olympic Gold Medal?” Karch’s answer was beautiful. He simply said, “I did not prepare for the gold medal, I always prepared for the next point.”. To become a champion in whatever you are doing you need to stay in the moment. I once had an athlete that I coached a Pepperdine, who was one of the best pure athletes I have ever worked with. He never really went as far as he could have gone as an athlete. Why? This particular player could not let go of the last play. He would make a mistake and then he would be stuck thinking about the mistake (a bad pass, or a missed shot) and then this would impact the next play. He would usually get worse and worse as the game went on. He could not stay in the moment. Do you carry baggage around from mistakes in the past? Or have you learned to use those mistakes as learning opportunities that you can use in the present. Staying in the moment will help you to become the champion that is inside you.

Together these habits will help you to become more “Excellence Oriented”. This is when your usual way of doing things is to wake up and focus on being your best everyday. I truly believe that there is a champion within each of us. In order to become that champion we need to develop strong habits that become a way a life and help us to become the very best that we can become. Your purpose in life should be to accomplish every goal that you can possibly set for yourself. Success is the ability to live your life the way you want to live it. Good habits will help you accomplish this.

Here is the key - our habits will determine who we become in life. And it is just as easy to develop good habits as it is to develop bad habits. Developing habits is simply a matter of practice and repetition. Become aware of your tendencies to behave or perform in a certain way. If you are not satisfied with these tendencies then make a commitment to change. Work to change one habit at a time. This takes a little more focus and effort in the beginning but over time it will become your usual way of doing things. Don’t cheat yourself out of becoming the person that you can become. I truly believe that there is a champion within each of us. Whether it is an Olympic Gold medal, a higher paying job or simply a better relationship that you want - these habits of a champion will help you get what you want out of life. Please feel free to email me with your feedbacks or comments. Enjoy.

See you at the pool.

Coach
Terry Schroeder D.C.
USA Water Polo – Men’s National Team Coach

Expectations vs. Reality

2009-03-13T08:52:00.000-07:00

We just recently returned home from Germany and Hungary with Team USA. It was billed as a training trip and the reality of it is that is exactly what the trip was. However, it was difficult as a coach and I am sure for most of the players to not expect to do well.

We trained with the German team for five days. Each training session we would scrimmage with an emphasis on extra man. The training was good. Overall, we had a pretty young group with only five Olympians present (Merrill Moses, Peter Hudnut, Rick Merlo, JW Krumpholtz and Peter Verralles). We dominated the scrimmages but unfortunately when it was time for our one official match the Germans got the best of us and won the game 10 – 6. The game was very close most of the way but our lack of playing together really showed up on our 6 on 5 opportunities (we scored 3 out of 12).

On to Hungary we went to face the Olympic champions and the bronze medal team, Serbia. The final team in the tournament was Romania. After a two hour bus ride to the airport, a two hour flight and then another two hour bus ride to Eger we arrived the evening before the tournament. We lost Merrill and Peter Verralles but gained Ryan Bailey and Jesse Smith. First up in the tournament was Serbia and a rematch of the Olympic semi-final game. My expectations were secretly high. I thought that maybe we could pull off another win against these guys. The reality of the game was this. We had not trained together since the Olympics while Serbia has been going full out since about one month after the games. Serbia has all but two of their national team players playing with Partizan in Belgrade (so they have essentially been training as a team since September). In the mean time we have had our college season and players spread out all over Europe. We brought together a team almost like you would pull together a team for a weekend softball game. Do we have a left fielder? Call Jesse…

We matched them pretty well for the first half, trailing 6 – 4. The third quarter was the turning point. We missed some critical 6 on 5’s and a few other good scoring opportunities. Even so, we still trailed by two going into the 4th quarter. We just seemed to run out of gas in the 4th quarter and Serbia pulled away and ended up winning by 5. So much for expectations…

Next up was Romania. We controlled the tempo and scoreboard for all but the last two minutes of the game. It was one of those frustrating games where we had so many chances to put the game away but just missed too many scoring opportunities. At the end, Romania was able to creep back into the game and go ahead for the first time in the game with a minute to go. We lost 8 – 7. Another loss and another reality check.

The final game of the tournament was a rematch of the Olympic Gold medal game. Peter Hudnut had to fly home for a business school interview on Monday morning so we were down one Olympian. We came out flat and really struggled on our 6 on 5. On the other side, everything went for the Hungarians and before we knew it we were down 7 – 0. The final score was 12 – 4 Hungary. Not good and far below my expectations.

Reflecting on the trip – the reality is that this was a “training” trip for us. If you look back to one year ago (Feb. 08) we went to Serbia and were totally blown out of the water for 9 days straight. This is not an excuse - we have a great deal of work to do before the world championships in July if we hope to get back on the medal stand. This was a good wake up call for us and hopefully it will motivate us to get to work.

We won a silver medal last year. That is history. We need to put that behind us now and get to work on our goal for this year. The USA Men’s team has never won a medal in the World Championships. That is right “NEVER”. We can do this – we can win a medal and I believe that we can win a gold this summer. We certainly are not going to surprise anyone. We are one of the favorites now and everyone will be out to get us. So now it is time to begin the journey and climb another mountain.

In order to do this, we need your support once again. The team will be out in the Thousand Oaks area with full time training beginning in May.

See you at the pool.
Coach

Interview by USA Waterpolo

2009-01-22T11:38:00.000-08:00

1. Now that it has had a few months to settle in and you look back on what was accomplished in 2008, a true return to the podium, has it fully sunk in what an accomplishment and it was, and what are some of your great memories from the last year?

I feel incredibly blessed to have been a part of the 2008 Olympic Team. What these guys accomplished was amazing to say the least. I am very proud to say that I had a role in helping them to get back to the podium. This was a team effort. My staff did an incredible job and we would not have won a medal without Robert, Ryan and Rick. Every one of the guys contributed and played a vital role in our success. It was a magical journey.

Some of my best memories from this past year revolve around some of the people that helped us so much and do not get much credit. An ex water polo player named Abbey Frankl who provided dinner for the team one time per week while we were training. These meals were a time to come together away from the pool, relax and enjoy each others company. I believe that these team meals had a lot to do with us becoming a team. So many people in the Conejo Valley embraced our team. Our friends at CLU and Oaks Christian allowed us to train full time at no cost and they deserve a huge thank you for their part in helping our team.

As far as memories from the Games there are many – for me just being back on the pool deck at the Olympic Games was a dream come true. It was an honor to represent the USA again. Opening Ceremonies was a great memory. I spent some time walking in with Kobe and that was fun. Our Serbian Semi final game was certainly one of the best memories of the games. To see how far the team had come and to dominate the Serbs in a game that meant so much was unbelievable. I can still close my eyes and see the guys in the water pumping their fists after scoring a goal. I can see Merrill at his best just toying with some of the best shooters in the world. It is a fun memory. Of course, the gold medal game is a great memory too. The atmosphere of an Olympic final is something that I have now experienced on three separate occasions and there is not much that compares to it in life. I cried in the stands when the guys received their medals. I felt like a proud parent.

2. It must be a great feeling to have returned the United States men to among the world's best, is there a new found pressure to make sure the program stays there? How do you plan to keep the USA at the top?

It is a great feeling to see the Men back on the medal stand for the first time in 20 years. There is no question that now we are one of the targets. Once you are among the best - everyone will look to knock you down. There are now about ten teams that are all pretty close. On any given day any of these teams can knock off one of the “better” teams.

Our plan is to stick with what helped us to be successful. Build strong fundamentals and continue to build an unwavering commitment to team. It will be a huge challenge to stay in the top three for the next four years but that will be our goal.

3. While it is still several months away what kind of team do you see shaping up for the World Championships in Rome? A good deal of returners from Beijing or perhaps some new faces?

I believe that most of our team from Beijing would like to stay together and compete in the World Championships. They all feel that we have something to prove. We have never won a medal at the world championships so this is a big motivating factor for us. This team would like to make history.
We may have a few Olympians that do not return and perhaps some of the up and coming younger players will earn a spot on the team. We will bring our best possible group to Rome and try to win the gold.

4. In preparation for that event Team USA has tentatively planned common training both here and abroad, can you talk a little bit about what steps you'll take to get the team ready for Rome and who you might be practicing against?

We will follow the same strategy that worked for us in 2008. I would like to train and compete against the best teams in the world as often as possible. In March we will travel to Germany for a week of training with the Germans and then we will fly to Hungary for a four nation tournament that includes Hungary, Serbia, Romania and the USA.

In May we will have common training in the USA with Monte Negro and then in early June we will host Serbia for one week. Next up comes the World League Finals in Monte Negro where we will certainly face some of the best teams in the world.

Finally, before we go to Rome for the Worlds we will travel to Monte Negro for common training and our final tune up.

5. It is just the start of a new Olympic quadrennial but in a long term sense do you forsee Team USA continuing what has been built upon in 2008, come 2012 in London, England?

My goal as long as I am involved will be to keep this team in the top three in the world. As I stated earlier we will continue to build strong fundamentals. We also need to strengthen our pipeline and I look forward to working with Guy Baker in his new role as Director of Development. I believe that Robert Lynn and Ryan Brown will be critical in this piece too.

We as a country have never won a true Olympic Gold medal – this becomes our challenge now. Can we climb this final mountain and win a Gold ? I believe we can and that is one of the key reasons that I am still involved.

6. In the leadup to China you spoke often about returning a sense of pride to Team USA and about athletes taking pride in playing for their country, do you feel that is something that has fully returned, and how do you keep up that feeling?

I do believe that our players really did feel a strong sense of pride in competing for the USA. They became a great team with a common purpose. Each and every guy on that team wanted to win as much for his team mate as he did for himself. They understood what it means to fully give of yourself for the good of the team and they experienced the success that so often goes with that. Keeping the core of this team together will help us to maintain a sense of that pride that we all experienced.

If we can all keep the vision in our minds and the sense of “family” in our hearts then we may experience the ultimate pride of seeing the USA flag raised for us in a World Championship or Olympic medal ceremony.

7. Finally can you speak to the tremendous support the team had on their Olympic run and continues to have, that must be a integral part of the program's success?

There are so many people that deserve a big thank you for helping us to get back to the podium. We could not have done it without them. I would especially like to thank all of those that volunteered to be host families in our area. It was fun for me to come home and have so many people in this community tell me that for the first time ever they felt like they were actually a part of the Olympic Games. Becoming a community based team up here in Thousand Oaks helped us to feel like we were really cared for. We benefited greatly and I believe that many in the community felt a huge sense of satisfaction just feeling like they had played a small role in our success. My hope is that success breeds success and we can build on what we have done. Although, we did receive more financial support from the USOC we will still need to so a great deal of fundraising to make it all work out. Over the next four years – going into 2012 we will need more support than ever if we are to accomplish our goal of winning the Olympic Gold.

Once again, I will be reaching out and asking all of those in the water polo community to support our team. We will not be able to accomplish our goals without this support.

Beijing 2008 - Back home

2008-08-27T14:50:00.000-07:00

I had mixed emotions going home. No doubt it had been a long trip. We had been on the road for a month. I also realized that this was the end of this journey. This team had competed together for the last time. We worked so hard to become a team. We set goals together and we sacrificed and worked hard to reach those goals. I am proud to say that we reached every goal we set as a team except for one. We won an Olympic Silver medal. It was very fulfilling and in many ways I feel like a proud parent.

It was fun to sit back and watch the guys relax and enjoy their accomplishments. Enjoy they did. I don’t think most of them slept much over the past few days. They were recognized on the plane ride home. When I went back to get a drink on the flight home from Beijing the guys had their water polo caps on the flight attendants and there they were (some with their shirts off) taking pictures with their medals on. When we finally made it home to LAX – we had a nice crowd there with a huge banner welcoming the USA Water Polo - Silver Medalists home. I know that made the guys feel good. In so many ways they had come so far. I am certain that one of the big factors that helped us grow as a team was all the support the guys received from the local community. They felt cared for and they had not felt this way for a long time.

When the girls and I finally arrived at our home it was wonderful. Our home owners association had taken the time to decorate our gate and our front yard with red, white and blue banners and flags. The house looked great and we all felt the love and support from our neighbors. Our refrigerator had been filled, dinner was ready to be served and fresh home made cookies on the table. It was a very nice welcome home.

I have been stopped and recognized in the airport, the gas station and our local store. I believe that water polo in riding a big wave right now and we need to take advantage of the momentum that the Olympics created and really try to take the sport to the next level in this country. We can be a contender on a regular basis. We have the athletes. We need to keep them excited and involved with the national team.

As I reflect back on the Games. The one thing that keeps coming back to me is how blessed I am to have been a part of this team. I loved being up there in the stands and watching them receive their medals. That brought tears to my eyes. In that moment my mind raced back to 1984. I was wearing my silver medal and I remembered my Dad giving me this big bear hug and telling me how proud he was of me. I could almost hear my Dad saying those words to me in that moment. Later that evening at our team celebration, I had the chance to give each of the guys a big hug and tell them how proud I was of them and how happy I was that they were a part of this team.

To me this was a testimonial to how much can be accomplished when a group of guys (or people) become a team and work together for a coming goal. We may not have been the most talented team at the Olympics but for that two week period of August 10 – 24th, 2008 we were one of the two best “teams” in the world. That is an awesome feeling. We had big dreams and they came true. We got back to the podium!

See you at the pool!

Coach

Beijing 2008 - Back to the podium

2008-08-25T06:14:00.000-07:00

I am sure that most of you have heard the result or seen the gold medal game by now. Unfortunately, the dream was not fully completed. We lost 14 – 10 to a powerful Hungarian team. We had gone through the Olympic tournament allowing an average of 6 goals per game up until this game. In the first quarter of the gold medal game we gave up 6 goals. We were playing well on offense and we stayed with them. They seemed to jump out by 1 or 2 goals and then we would fight back and tie the score. We never really got into any kind of rhythm on our defense. At the end of the first half the score was 9 – 8 Hungary and I felt like we had played an entire game. We were scrambling to keep up. Our defense continued to struggle against the hot shooting Hungarian team and we eventually just could not keep up on offense. We still had some chances going down the stretch but we ran out of gas on offense and our 6 on 5 failed in the third and fourth quarter. It was heartbreaking to say the least. I have been I the same position so I know exactly how it feels.

I told the guys after the game that I was very proud of them. They had exceeded everyone’s expectations and gained many new fans back home. They have brought honor and respect back to the Men’s program. I told them that there were no words that I could say right in that moment that would take the sting away from losing. But I reminded them that as time went on they would all come to realize what a huge accomplishment this was. I thanked them all for being a part of this incredible journey and allowing me to be their coach. I told them that they allowed me to live out my dream of coaching the Olympic team and although all of our dreams fell just a little short - in the long run we have all grown so much and learned a great deal from this experience together. No one can take this from us. We are Olympic medalists.

We had a nice party at the USA House in Beijing. We decided to do that as a team rather than attend the Closing Ceremonies. It was great to see all the guys relax and be able to spend some good quality time with their friends and families. I was able to go around and talk to most of the parents that were here in Beijing. I am sorry if I missed you last night. I want to tell you again – thank you for sharing your son with me. Each of these guys was a critical part of this team’s success and each of them has so much to be proud of. I appreciate each and every one of you. Thank you for being here and supporting your son and our team!

We have so many more fans. This morning alone I received 165 emails from people back home telling me what a thrill it was to watch our team and to see the team do so well. That is very cool. These guys have created a legacy that will help our program for years to come. I have also had a great deal of positive feedback from the USOC. I believe that they will be on board to do whatever they can do to help us be successful over the next quadrennial.

Wow – now what? Back to the real world… We jump on a plane tomorrow and head back home. I am very happy that my family is going to be on the same flight home with us. It was great having them here in Beijing. By the way, Leanna and Sheridan kicked Ryan’s butt in the pin trading. They collected close to 300 pins and are going home with some great memories.

In fact, all of us here are going home with some great memories. These were historical games and I am thrilled to have been a part of them. That is all for now – time to pack and get ready for the trip home. I will still try to write a blog over the next month or two for anyone that is interested in following the team. Thank you for all of you that have been regular readers. I am happy to have been able to share our story with you. We made it back to the podium after 20 years! Amazing happened!

See you at the pool!

Coach

Beijing 2008 - Gold Medal Sunday

2008-08-24T07:16:00.000-07:00

I woke up feeling confident and really good. This is our day to shine. This is our time. The Hungarians have had their time and it is over. Change is the order of the world and today we are the change agents. The guys are just waking up. We will have a little swim this morning and then meet around 1:15 pm. Game time is 3:40 – it sounds like a good time to win the gold medal to me. History is in the making.

I would expect this to be a hard fought game today. The Hungarians have been here before and they are not going to go down without a battle. We will once again need to control the tempo of the game. We need to move and not get in a vertical game with them. They appear to be in better shape then the Serbians and they have also had an extra two days off (they won their bracket like we did). This is a game I have been looking forward to since we lost the semi-final in 1992. The opportunity to play in the gold medal game is rare. We need to grab that opportunity and make the best of it.

I forgot to tell you all about a funny (it could have been bad) story that happened during the semi-final game. With about two and half minutes to go in the game – we scored to go ahead 9 – 5. In my celebration, I threw up my arms and I felt my wedding ring slip off of my finger. It was almost like slow motion as I saw it floating through the air. It landed on the deck and bounced around two to three times before it came to rest in between slats on the pool gutter. I could see it rocking back and forth a little as I reached down and was able to grab it before it rolled into the gutter. Whew - that was close. These celebrations after we score are going to get me. In reality, I am enjoying them and hope to have many more today.

One other interesting note from our semi-final game; There is a rumor floating around the Village that # 10 (Sapic) from Serbia got involved in some kind of altercation with a team mate after our game and ended up with a broken leg. Yikes…

I took a walk this morning and it is amazing how the Village has changed so much in our time here. When we first arrived it was almost empty and we watched as it came to life and filled to capacity. Today it is once again quiet. Many people are walking around in street clothes – some just returning from their evening out on the town. There are busses loading up luggage as many people are checking out today. We can not get caught up in this. We can not check out.

We need to stay focused. One more day – one more game - one more moment of Olympic glory. It is in our hands. We will once again get our chances on the 6 on 5 today. I like the officials that we have. We have a Canadian and a Monte Negran. I am confident that we will get a fair game. It is our day to shine.

See you on the podium!
Coach

Beijing 2008 - Going for Gold

2008-08-22T20:48:00.000-07:00

I woke up yesterday with a great feeling. The first thing I thought is “this is our day” it is our time. The Serbs have dominated us for some many years. It has been obvious to me that with each scrimmage and with each game we have closed the gap between us and now finally the guys believe that we CAN and we WILL beat them. As I headed out the door for breakfast, I had to smile. It was a beautiful day in Beijing – blue skies, sunshine and a nice breeze. It reminded me of a nice sunny day back home in California. I just had that feeling that it would be a great day to beat the Serbs and move into the gold medal game.

We all know it takes more than a feeling to win a game like this but I was feeling very confident. We went over to the pool at the Village for a swim and as the guys began to arrive I could just see it in their eyes too. They were hungry – they had waited a long time for this opportunity. Some of the guys swam a few laps and were done and some swam for an hour. I spent some time in the water too. I had a good swim and then hit the exercise bike for 30 minutes. Ryan Brown came with me and we spent the time talking through different scenarios that might arise in the game. We talked about plays that might work if we were one goal down…

I then when back to my room and finished watching “Miracle”. I actually just wanted to go back and review some of my favorite parts of the movie. I watched the highlights of the team coming back and tying Sweden and the team beating Russia (actually I watched that part a few times) and then I watched the ending - it was more than a hockey game as Herb Brooks said. It was a life changing experience for all of those involved. I can’t help but believe that these guys have all experienced that here at these Olympic Games. They have learned the power of team work at the highest level and they have learned about believing.

In our pre-game meeting I talked to them about how great moments are born out of great opportunity (OK I took that one from Miracle) and that they had earned the right to have this opportunity. I reminded them of how we had outplayed these guys the last two times we had played them and that all we had to do was to stick together and do the simple things well. Play the way we have been playing with the focus on defense. I told them that we would wear them down and frustrate them. I also told them that we had already exceeded everyone’s expectations of how we were going to do – so there was no pressure on us – just go out and enjoy your moment. I closed by telling them that this was our night. No one was going to take it from us.

When we got to the pool and started our warm up what I saw encouraged me even more. For the first time since I have been coaching I saw uncertainty in the eyes of the Serbian coach. I knew we had them.

The game started tight. They were trying to do what I thought they would do - they wanted to slow the pace of the game. I knew that we could not fall into that trap and reminded the guys that we needed to push the tempo. Layne Beaubien scored and early goal to break the ice and we were on our way. That first goal was huge since we had only scored twice on them in our previous game. Then Tony scored and we were on our way. Although the score was close at the half I knew that we would wear them down. As the game went on our defense grew more and more confident and Merrill was a wall in the cage. We were up 7 – 5 heading into the fourth quarter and they were dragging. Serbia would not score again and we pulled away with 3 more goals to win 10 – 5. It was a huge team win. These guys are playing well. It is on to the gold medal game vs. Hungary on Sunday.

It is hard for me even to fathom just how far this team has come in the past 8 months. When we were training with Serbia in February of this year they were blowing us out of the water in every scrimmage. We lost the first day 17 – 3. We did close the gap a little while we were there but on one of the last practices while we were there – the Serbs all showed up with alcohol on their breath. I think they came directly from “happy hour” and the bad thing was that they still beat us pretty easily. Wow – it has been an incredible journey.

I have been in this place twice in my life – playing for a gold medal. Both times we lost. I don’t want that to happen again and I will do everything in my power to help these guys win that gold. Honestly, the way they are playing they might not need any help. I am so proud of them.

GO USA!

See you on the podium!
Coach

Beijing 2008 - Round 2

2008-08-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

We had two good days of training (pretty light) - just going over and refining little things that we can do better. We switched over to more of an evening schedule today (we were in the water from 6 – 8 pm) because I wanted to get the guys moving and working at close to the same time that we will be playing tomorrow. After training tonight we had dinner together at BNU and then went over video with Serbian tendencies. They have there vulnerabilities. We certainly can not get into a static vertical game with them. We need to set the tempo and we need to make them move and play defense.

After the video session, I shared a personal story with the guys from my Olympic experiences. In 1988, at the Seoul Olympics, Russia lost a game in the last game of the preliminary round so that they would match up with us rather than Yugoslavia in the semi-finals. We were pissed off. They wanted us and they got us. I think it was one of the best games that a USA team that I played on ever played. We beat them handedly and moved onto the finals. Kind of an interesting parallel wouldn’t you say…

This has truly been a team effort and I want to let everyone know how much I appreciate my staff. They have all worked hard to make this possible. Robert and Ryan have been great assistants – both adding critical pieces to what we needed and complimenting me well. Rick has worked hard to insure that we were all taken care of as much as possible. Most of all I want to say thank you to all the guys who were a part of our program this year. We started out with 24 players and only 13 made the final team. As I told the guys when they were let go, each of them has helped this team to become more successful. They all worked hard and challenged one another to be better and we are where we are today (final four) largely because all of these guys that did not make the team made the final 13 work that much harder.

Before we made our first cuts I had all the guys sign one of our USA team banners and at dinner that night (of the first cuts) I told the guys that we let go that they were part of this team and that I would bring that signed banner with me to Beijing and hang it on our room wall to remind everyone that they are here with us. So attached is a picture of that signed banner – it has hung on our wall here in the Village since day 1. You guys are here with us. Thank you for all that you have done for this team. Your time will come and you will all be an important part of where the USA Men’s program goes in the future.

Here is our schedule for tomorrow.
9:30 am - wake up
10:00 am - breakfast
11:00 am - light swim at the Village pool
12 – 2:30 pm down time (nap)
3:00 pm - lunch
5:15 pm – team meeting
6:00 pm - Bus
7:40 pm – Beat Serbia

OK – I am getting this sent off and then it is time for one more showing of “Miracle”. Tomorrow it is our time to make some magic happen for ourselves. We can beat these guys – it is our time.

See you at the pool!

Go USA!

Coach

Beijing 2008 - Believing

2008-08-20T09:57:00.000-07:00

Believing is a strange thing. Over this past year I have spoken to the team many times about how important it is to believe. They have stared at me and nodded their heads but in reality it was only talk. This morning while we were lifting weights at BNU, I had two different guys come to me and say “Coach, I believe that we can do this. We can win this thing.” I can’t tell you how good that made me feel. This has been a transformation. These guys are one of the best teams in the world right now and we can play with and beat anyone on a given day. This did not happen over night but it has been a process. One by one I have seen and felt the guys jump on board and believe. Now each and every guy believes with his head and with his heart that we can really do this.

Today Serbia beat up on Spain – this means that we will get another shot at Serbia. We have not beaten this team in a long time (maybe 6 or 7 years) but I believe that our time has come. We will have to play a smart game. Defense once again will be a key and we have to find a way to score on these guys. The past two times we have played them they have held us to 3 and 2 goals. I believe we will need to score 7 goals to win the game. There is no doubt that we can do this. I believe it and now most importantly the guys believe it.

We will train tomorrow evening. In doing so we will begin to get our bodies ready for the evening game on Friday. The two extra rest days should be a real edge for us. I have watched many games over this past week and many of the teams have slowed down a little. Serbia looked good today but I am thinking that we will be at our best for the game on Friday. We are rested and healthy and all systems are a go.

I will close with a quote that I received on an email – it reads “Believe in yourself and there will come a day when others will have no choice to believe with you.” I hope that you are all on board with us. The power of believing is awesome.

GO USA! See you at the pool!

Coach

Beijing 2008 - Resting up

2008-08-19T15:37:00.000-07:00

Today we had a very relaxed day. It was well deserved and much needed and I truly believe that this will work to our advantage as this tournament wears on. We had training at noon which consisted of swimming about 2,000 meters. The pace was slow and relaxed and we allowed the guys to swim as fast or as slow as they wanted to. I wanted the training to be relaxed and fun with no real thinking required today. I feel like we all needed a mental as well as a physical break.

I went over to watch beach volleyball this morning with a few of the guys. We watched the women’s semi final match. Misty May and Kerri Walsh completely destroyed the Brazilian team that they played. I was shocked by how much better they were then their competitors. I was impressed by the best team on the sand. My daughter Leanna (who plays club volleyball) was also very impressed. I could tell that she really enjoyed having the opportunity to see Misty and Kerri play. It was truly an inspiration for her. That is one of the best thing about the Olympic Games – how it inspired young kids to dream about being the best and the possibilities that lie ahead in their lives. My daughter is very artistic and loves painting and poetry. I have had the chance to read some of her recent poems and she writes about being the fastest and jumping the highest. It is a nice feeling as a parent to see that your child has been inspired.

The staff also went over to the women’s water polo semi final and watched our USA team defeat Australia in a tight match. On Thursday they will have a chance to play for the gold. It would be great for USA Water Polo if both the men’s and the women’s teams were to make the gold medal game. Our women have been one of the best team’s in the world for years. This is new territory for the men. We have not been on the podium for 20 years and now we are so close to getting back there that I can taste it. We can win this thing – we really can. It will not be easy but we are in a good spot. We have a few days to rest our bodies and re focus our minds and then we will be ready to give it our best shot on Friday.

Tomorrow we will have one training session in the middle of the day. We will do a light weight workout followed by a two hours in the pool. We have created quite a stir in the water polo world by finishing first in our bracket. I understand that we have a large group of reporters and TV crews coming to practice tomorrow. That should be fun for the guys. I am very proud of this team and I can see that they are not done. They are hungry for more. They have tasted some success and want to take advantage of the opportunity in front of us. It will come down to a weekend tournament. We will play Friday night (I believe that our game is scheduled for 7:40 pm here in Beijing – or 4:30 am back home) and then we will play on Sunday afternoon for the gold! I am feeling pretty good about being there….

GO USA! See you at the pool!

Coach

Beijing 2008 - Wow!

2008-08-18T10:28:00.000-07:00

We did it! We are back in the final four in the Olympic Games for the first time since 1992. The guys did great today. We beat Germany in a thriller 8 – 7. It was a great team effort. I am so proud of them. We celebrated and had a nice team dinner this evening. When I spoke to the team tonight I told them to reflect back and think for a minute about how far we have come. Back in December when we had our first training camp together not too many people believed that we had any chance at all. In fact, most had written us off. Even many of my friends would ask me if I was sure that I wanted to do this.

I am proud of the guys. They believed and they learned to trust each other and believe in each other. Along the way we have become a family - a group of individuals that has become a true “team” with a single purpose. These guys have come here and proven to the world on the biggest stage in all of sports that they are one of the best teams in the world. They deserve a lot of credit and each one of them as been an important part of our success.

So here is the situation. The win today gives us a bye in the semi –finals. On Friday we will play the winner of the Spain vs. Serbia game. We have a day off tomorrow (we are going to go for a light swim and try to rest the bodies and minds). Then on Weds. we will resume our training and begin to prepare for our game on Friday. We will also go as a team and watch the Spain/Serbia game so that all the guys will have the opportunity to do some scouting.

The support that we have here is awesome. So many friends and family have travelled to Beijing and are here yelling and screaming as loud as they can. It is fun to see all of the American flags waving in the crowd and hear that familiar USA USA USA chant. I also want to say thank you to so many people back home that have been emailing and texting their good wishes. The support that we are feeling is great. The guys feel it and they know that you are all out there cheering for us. Thank you and get ready for a fun weekend.

Personally, I am feeling emotionally drained tonight. The extra day off is a blessing. We can all use the rest and it is going to prove to be a huge advantage for us to come into the semifinals fresh. I am so happy for these guys. They have given me a great ride. I have enjoyed being a part of this group and seeing these guys grow as a team in front of my eyes.

GO USA! See you at the pool!

Coach
P.S. I am pretty sure I injured my left arm in the game today doing a fist pump. OK I am getting pretty excited on the bench. My voice and my arm should be fully recovered by Friday. Look out world here we come…

Beijing 2008 - Olympic Goals and Dreams

2008-08-17T19:09:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning with a good feeling. I am confident that our team will play well and beat Germany later today to move into the quarterfinal round. While it is great to feel confident we still have to play the game.

Since I have been working with the national team our goal has been to get back to the podium and win the first medal for the USA in water polo since 1988. Twenty years is too long! It is time. It is our time. These guys have worked hard and they have come together so much. The game two days ago with Croatia is proof of just how far we have come. However, here at the Olympic Games (just like in life) you can’t rely on what you have done in the past and you must be ready to prove yourself everyday. The reality of today’s game is that if we fail to win or tie we will not advance in the top 6 and our medal hopes and dreams will be shattered. That will not happen. We have come too far and we have worked hard for this day – this opportunity.

If there is one thing that we have learned over this past year is how to win this type of game. We have spent time training with the best teams in the world and in the process of doing so we have become one of the best. We have learned to play defense together and we have learned to rely on our defense. I received a great compliment from Jonni Lonzi, (he is the head of the TWPC) who kind of controls our sport, he told me (and he has been around the sport for a long time) that “the game against Croatia was the best he has ever seen an American team play”. So now we have to go out and do it again.

The Germans have given us trouble that last two times that we have played them. That is history and as I have told the guys we are a different team now and this is a different time. This is our time and if we come out and play well – with good balance on offense and defense then we will beat them. We are the better team but it is for certain that no one is going to hand us the game. We will have to earn it. I do expect us to get a fair game from the officials. That is all we can ask for - let the athletes decide the game in the pool.

This is our time – our day to move that much closer to realizing our dream. Put all your good thoughts out there today for us. We are ready. This is what we have been working for and no one is going to stand in our way.

GO USA! See you at the pool!

Coach
P.S. Yesterday I went to the Water Cube to watch Michael Phelps win his 8th gold medal of the Games and make history. Today it is our turn to get one step closer to making some history ourselves.

Beijing 2008 - Croatia

2008-08-16T15:53:00.000-07:00

Today was huge. We beat a team that was as good as any one in the tournament. Just four days ago Croatia dominated Serbia - beating them 11 – 8. At one point in that game Croatia was ahead 10 – 4. Today we out played them in almost all aspects of the game. We had them out of balance and frustrated. There offense stalled and they could not do much at all in their front court offense. We beat them 7 – 5 and had a few good opportunities at the end to beat them by even more. They scored 4 of their goals on 6 on 5 and had one goal out of center. Our defense is really playing well. In the last two games (against Serbia and Croatia) we have given up a total of 9 goals. This is against two of the strongest teams in the world. Merrill has been playing great in the goal and our defense is moving well around him. Today all systems came together. Now the trick is to keep it rolling and to build on this game.

We will play Germany on Monday. A win guarantees us top six and a birth in the quarterfinals. After we beat Germany we will have 8 points in pool play. Croatia and Serbia will more than likely have 8 points also. In the case of a three way tie, the tie is settled by goal differential. We had to beat Croatia by 3 goals to have a chance to advance first in our bracket (we knew this going into our game today and we talked to the team about it before the game and then again in our time out with a few minutes to go in the game). Unfortunately, we fell one goal short so while it was a huge victory – we need to bet Germany and then we may still advance third in our bracket. Hey maybe we just need another game to mature. We are getting better as the tournament goes on so look out.

My family (Lori and the girls) were able to visit the Olympic Village today after the game. It was so much fun watching the girls experience the Olympic Village and meet a bunch of athletes. Sheridan and Leanna are on a pin trading mission. They have a little friendly competition going on with Ryan Brown. I am sorry but watching the girls in action – poor Ryan does not have a chance. Leanna is the spotter – she points out the athletes with all the pins and then Sheridan moves in for the kill. How can they turn a cute little 7 year old with pony tails down. She gets most of the people to part with their most prized pins. Many of the athletes that she trades with just end up giving her a pin. They are having a blast and the parents and team members have all made them feel like a part of the family.

Leanna and Sheridan have been very popular all around town. The Chinese people don’t get a chance to see to many blonde haired blue eyed children so the kids have been superstars here. They have had their picture taken with hundreds of Chinese men and women. Today we were having ice cream in a small gelato shop and the owner came out with his wife and just started gawking at the kids. They brought out their camera and finally worked up the nerve to come over and ask Lori if they could take a few pictures with the kids. Pretty soon all the workers and people in the store were moving in for a picture with the girls. They have enjoyed being the superstars over here.

On a side note, I finally picked up my laundry that has been sitting at the laundry service in the village for the past three days. Needless to say it was not very pretty. The system is a little weak. They give you two mess laundry bags when you check into the village – one is for whites and one is for colors. When you want to have your laundry done you take your bag of dirty clothes in and they give you a receipt. In 12 hours you can pick up your “clean” clothes. The clothes have been washed and dried in the mess bag. So when you pick it up the clothes are in a big ball. You can specifically tell them if you want your clothes extra wrinkled or not. Just kidding but the clothes I just picked up were still slightly damp and clumped into a big giant wad. It was not pretty. I guess those clothes are done for the trip…

I am feeling a bit spent this evening. It has been a fantastic day – full of success. I told the guys to enjoy the moment – enjoy the day and tomorrow we get back to work. The pinnacle of our journey still lies ahead and we need to go forward and build on this game. I like what I am seeing in the pool and out of the pool. This is a team - a team that has grown to appreciate and respect each other and now they are willing to lay it all on the line for each other. What I like the most is that we can still get better. GO USA!

See you at the pool!

Coach
P.S. I have heard that our game against Croatia may get some good air time on Saturday at about 1:00 pm. That is on the west coast and on the east coast. Enjoy!

Beijing 2008 - Serbia

2008-08-14T09:20:00.000-07:00

This morning we played the Serbians. Our game plan was to beat them by playing four quarters of defense and not allowing Serbia to make any runs. The other important goal for today was to win the battle of 6 on 5 and 5 on 6. We did a great job of playing defense for four quarters and actually limited Serbia to 4 goals for the entire game. It was 2 – 1 Serbia at the half and the tempo of the game was in our favor. It was our game to win. Unfortunately, our offense never got on track. Peter Varrellas scored 2 goals and that was all we would get for the day. Both of his goals were on our 6 on 5. We were 2 for 8 on our 6 on 5 and we had one missed penalty shot. Serbia was 3 for 5 on their extra man. We definitely had our chances. We took 25 shots at the cage – granted some missed the cage and the Serb goalie played very well. I have to give them credit - they did a great job on defense and really kept us on our backs and off balance when we were on offense. The final score was Serbia 4, USA 2. Bummer!

We had a short meeting after the game we talked about what we need to do now. In the past, this team has had a difficult time recovering from a loss – especially in big tournaments. I do believe that we will be OK. I made it very clear to the team months ago that whoever wins the Olympic gold medal will probably lose a game in the tournament. At this point, we have to get ourselves mentally ready to beat Croatia. We have to be confident in our shooting. We need to come with the whole package – meaning we have to play well offensively and defensively. I am confident that we will get better and better as the tournament goes on. We just need to get our heads in the right place after this loss today.

I believe that we have come a long way as a team in the past year. We have learned to deal with adversity in a better way. This team is at a point where we have a great deal of trust and respect for one another. In my opinion, this allows us to collectively bounce back better from a defeat. No one individual carries the blame so the burden is shared. We lean on each other more and as a result we will be stronger. Saturday is a new day and I know our guys feel pretty good about the way we match up with the Croatians. Croatia is playing as well as anyone in the tournament so our game on Saturday will be another great challenge for us.

These challenges or tests of character and resiliency in the Olympic Games are good lessons for us all to carry forward with us in life. I know that my successes and failures in the games have taught me a great deal and I have been able to apply these lessons to so many areas of my life. One thing that I have learned that I am very certain of is this - if we can learn to work together we can overcome even the most talented team. It is amazing what can happen when no one cares who gets the credit on a team. I think we are close to having this. The guys have worked hard to come together and now in the next ten days we will put all that work to a test and see how far we can go. Our next two opponents are Croatia and Germany. After that the preliminary round is over and the top three teams will advance to the quarter finals next week. After watching all the games that have been played here so far, I am certain that we CAN win a medal in these Olympics. I fully believe that the gold medal is within our reach.

The opportunity that we have is incredible. In the next ten days we can change the course of USA Water Polo. We can earn back respect for our Men’s team and in doing so change the future for many young American boys who play the sport. I learned the other day that only 217 athletes have ever represented the USA as part of the Men’s Olympic Water Polo team. Wow – that is an amazing statistic. This is truly an incredible bunch of guys and I feel very proud to be a part of it.

If we play the kind of defense we played today and generate just a little bit more offense we can and will beat anyone here. So cheer loud no matter where you are. Say some prayers and keep all your good energy coming our way.

Thanks for all of your support! See you at the pool!
Coach

Beijing 2008 - The Next Big Game

2008-08-13T07:45:00.000-07:00

I hope that you all were able to see some of the Italy game on TV. I heard that they showed the 4th quarter. If you saw it – Is your heart still racing like mine? I think the guys are trying to age me fast. After taking a three goal lead with 3 minutes to go in the game – I thought we had it made no problem. I think that some of the guys might of thought the same thing and eased up a bit. We stopped attacking and we gave the Italians momentum. On reflection, I really think that most of our guys are not used to being ahead by 2 – 3 goals in a big game. We talked about it today and I told them that we need to get used to being ahead and play in control with a “killer instinct”. We really should have put the Italians away when we had the chance. What is the old saying “live and learn” and the most important thing is that we won the game and came away with another two points. Right now we are one of three teams (Croatia, Spain and USA) that have a four points and are 2 – 0. Tomorrow will be a big test to see how far we have come. At 10:50 am we will play Serbia.

Serbia came into the Olympic Games as one of the favorites and I believe that still may be talent wise the best team. However, they have lost two key players in the last 90 days to significant injuries and yesterday they looked a little out of sorts. They lost to Croatia 11 – 8 but at one time they were down 9 – 4. A few of the keys for us tomorrow are as follows; our defense must play well for four quarters – specifically we must do a good job of shot blocking on the perimeter, we must slow down Sapic (he is their big scorer) – our goal is to hold him to two goals, we must continue to do a good job on 6 on 5 and 5 on 6, and we must wear them down by making them go up and down without scoring on three to four series in a row. If we can do these things we will win. We have not beaten Serbia for years in international competition so I say - why not now? We can do it. I just sense that the Serbians are ripe for an upset. In fact, in my mind it would not be an upset. I feel like we are ready to take down some of these water polo giants.

We have an early wake up call at 6:00 am so I am going to get some rest. My voice is coming back slowly – just in time to yell some more. Keep all of those positive thoughts and prayers coming our way. I can feel the vibe! GO USA. It is going to be an awesome day tomorrow - one that I have been anticipating for a long time.

See you at the pool!

Coach

Beijing 2008 - Quick update

2008-08-12T07:45:00.000-07:00

We beat Italy today in an exciting game. The final score was 11-10. We were up by three with and Italy battled back and had a 6 on 5 in the last seconds of the game. Whew. Too close. Anyway it was a huge win for us and we had 8 different players score. Lots of good energy happening.
I have heard that there is a good chance that the game will air on NBC today between noon and 1 pm. Keep an eye out and watch it if you can - it is pretty exciting. I have also been told that there may be a piece on water polo on KNBC at night between 7 - 7:30 pm. I will fill you in on more of the details later. I have lost my voice from yelling during the game and I am heading to bed to get some rest. Serbia is next on Thursday. Keep the cheering going from home.

See you at the pool!
Coach

Beijing 2008 - Being Prepared

2008-08-11T13:13:00.000-07:00

I was a Boy Scout and I learned about “being prepared” as a teenager. There is certainly no better lesson than to be prepared as a coach. So that is what we have been doing over the past day and a half. We have been preparing for the Italy game. This is certainly the biggest game of our “Olympic life” right now. Of course, each and every game will become that “biggest game” from this point forward.

Last night we watched our game against China to review the areas of the game that we played well (defense, and 6 on 5, 5 on 6) and the areas that we need to improve on (getting more players involved in the offense, attacking the zone more effectively and our center game). We made notes and began preparing for Italy. We have some good footage of our game with Italy at the World League Super Finals (which we lost in a shootout) and yesterday’s game between Italy and Croatia. We also have some good footage of our scrimmages with them when we were there this past March. We watched a little last night and saved the rest for today.

In our training this morning we spent a good amount of time on beating a zone defense. We know the Italians will be running some type of zone against us and we want to be ready. At lunch, I spent a little time with our big center, Ryan Bailey who struggled last night in the game. He shared with me that he was very emotional before the game and even became teary eyed. He said that he was thinking about his dad who past away suddenly this last year. He was missing him and wishing that he was here. I reminded Ryan that his dad would be very proud of him. As I walked away I could only think about how much I missed my dad. I know how proud he would be of this team team.

After training today the staff went back to watching video and putting together a scout film (a sequence of clips from our games with Italy) to show the guys. We spent 5 hours today on film and then met with the team to go over the clips.

I took a few hours off after our team meeting to visit with my family and have a little down time. It was nice to get away from the village for a couple of hours and just relax. It was a healthy break and helped remind me to keep all of this in perspective. There is nothing like a 7 year old to bring you back to earth. Sheridan reminded me to smile and have fun at the game.

All we can do tomorrow is to go out there and do the best that we can do. I have seen enough video to know that we are the better team and if we play well tomorrow we will win. It will certainly be another battle and we have to be ready.

Here is our schedule for the morning.
6:30 am - wake up
7 – 7:45 am – team swim a the village pool
8:00 am - breakfast
9:45 am - team meeting to share the game plan
10:30 am – bus to venue
12:10 pm – beat Italy

Sounds like a good day to me. Time for some shut eye. We are prepared!
See you at the pool!
Coach

Beijing 2008 - We have liftoff

2008-08-10T20:09:00.000-07:00

At training this morning I wore a new shirt that I had ordered that says “I didn't come here to lose.” I wanted to send a subtle message to the guys. We had a light training and then had some down time before we had our pre-game meeting at 2:15 pm. We went over the game plan and talked about playing with a calm confidence. We also talked about the fact that each game we play here will be a dog fight and we could not take these guys lightly. I finished the meeting by reading them a card that we had been sent from Pat McCormick (an Olympic Champion in Diving). She told the guys that she was proud of them all and that they were ready mentally and physically – now it was the time to work their magic. She went on to say that you can live a lifetime in a moment and this is your moment.” I was ready. I felt good all day until about 30 minutes before game time and then I got that sinking feeling that I often get as a coach. Had we done everything we could have done to be ready? Maybe I still have a little too much of a players mind set. I always knew as a player that I could totally impact the outcome of a game. There are certain things during a game that you can control and there are others things that you can’t control. Coaching I feel the pressure build up and then the game begins and you really have no outlet for that pressure. Anyway, I had the Pre-Olympic butterflies and I had to go and sit in the locker room by myself and just relax and pray.

The game began well for us as we jumped on the Chinese 3 – 0. At the end of the first we were in control 3 – 1. The second quarter we kind of lost our composure and things got a little sloppy. The Chinese came back and tied the game 3 – 3 before we scored one near the end of the second period to take a 4 – 3 lead into the half. At the end of three quarters it was 6 – 4 and we went onto to win 8 – 4. It certainly was not our best effort. We struggled on offense and had many opportunities to put the game out of reach but just could not shake them. Our defense was pretty solid even though we gave up a couple of cheap goals, we held them to four goals and that is definitely a positive.

We allowed the team to spend 30 minutes with their friends and family before we jumped on the bus and headed back to the village. It was fun for me since my youngest Sheridan was celebrating her 7th birthday. She had made a deal with Merrill for him to win the game for her as a birthday present. Maybe we will have to celebrate a few more of her birthdays in the next few weeks. I know I enjoyed spending a little time with my family and I am sure that the guys did too.

Other results of interest from today in our bracket – Croatia beat Italy 10 – 6 and Serbia beat Germany 11 – 7. On Tuesday we will play Italy in a huge game. This will be a big test for us. In our World League Super Final we were ahead of Italy most of the game and then let them back into it with a few minutes to go in the game. The game ended in a tie and we lost to them in a penalty shootout. Italy has a couple of good centers and some good outside shooting. They are definitely beatable and if we play well on defense we will handle them.

It is a nice feeling to have one win under our belts. No time to relax though – the tough ones are coming.

See you at the pool!
Coach

Countdown Beijing - Opening Ceremonies

2008-08-09T07:24:00.000-07:00

It has been 16 years since I last marched into a stadium for Opening Ceremonies at the Olympic Games. After meeting with President Bush and then waiting for a few hours the team was anxious to get into the stadium. I had showed them my video from the 1984 Olympic Games when our team strategically placed ourselves close to Michael Jordan as we marched in. We had some good face time back then and the strategy was the same for these games. Stick together but stay close to the basketball guys – especially Kobe. OK –what can I say water polo needs all the exposure it can get.

The USA was number 140 out of the 204 countries that marched last night. As the parade of athletes began we slowly made our way through a long line towards the Bird’s Nest. On both sides were groves of fans that either could not get into the stadium or were volunteers who were there to help keep control of the fans. Being close to Kobe was interesting. The Chinese people went crazy whenever they saw him. Some rushed the volunteers and stormed close to Kobe screaming “I love you, I love you” (this was a male fan). At that moment I was right next to Kobe so I boxed out the crazed fan and earned some respect as a body guard from Kobe. He seemed to appreciate my help and opened up a little telling me how crazy this was. I told him that I thought his earring was attracting all the attention (he was wearing a huge diamond stud earring) and he laughed and began to take it out and said here you go then you keep it. That was a fun moment but what was interesting and kind of strange was that there were many more Kobe Kobe Kobe chants than there were USA USA chants. I tried to start a Tony Tony chant but it did not get too far.

As we finally approached the tunnel my heart began to race. The memories from my previous Olympic Games and especially Opening Ceremonies began to race through my mind. As we came out of the tunnel, one of the first things that I saw was a family waving an American flag. The cheers from the crowd did not rival the powerful USA USA chant that went on for 15 – 20 minutes when we came into the coliseum in Los Angeles for the 84 Games. However, I would say that the Chinese people gave us a very warm welcome. I should say hot (I’ll explain in a minute). It was great to see so many American flags throughout the stadium as we marched around. Looking around at our guys I know that they were really enjoying the moment – something that we will all remember for the rest of our lives.

We came to the middle of the stadium and lined up as the remaining 60 countries marched in. It took a few minutes to realize just how hot it was on the stadium floor. Jackets came off and shirts were soaked through in a matter of minutes. Everyone was sweating like they were in a sauna. Regardless, no one complained. Lots of photos were taken and we shared some nice moments as a team. We watched in awe as the Olympic Flag was raised and then it was time for the torch to enter the stadium. The lighting of the torch has and always will be one of my greatest Olympic memories. In 1984, when Rafer Johnson lit the torch it was like a flame was ignited inside my body. I knew at that moment that my dream had come true. I had made the Olympic team and now I was going to get my chance to win a gold medal for my country. The torch lighting last night was just as exciting for me. I did not know the final athletes that ran with the flame but it did not matter. The Olympic flame means a great deal for me. I guess it represents for me that burning desire to be the best, to compete against the best and more importantly to see how far you can go as a man or a woman. By the time the torch was lit I think I was standing in a puddle of sweat but it was a very cool moment. I had goose bumps as I watched the final runner moon walk around the upper edge of the stadium. I was ready to jump back in the pool and play after the Olympic Flame was ignited. All I know is that I am very blessed to have this opportunity with this team. It has already been a great experience and it is just going to get better.

It was a great night and the team enjoyed the Ceremonies. We finally hit the sack around 2:00 am, so I am glad that we have a day to recover and prepare for the Chinese team on Sunday. By the way, there is a rumor that our game against China will get some air time on Sunday morning at 10:15 am back home. Tell your friends…

See you at the pool!

Coach

Countdown Beijing - Distractions and our final tune up

2008-08-08T08:19:00.000-07:00

Training this morning was on our own at BNU. As we arrived there was all sorts of security and commotion. Our bus was not allowed to travel its normal path to the gym. We were stopped and told to wait. Finally they told us that President Bush was at the gym watching some of the teams practice. We never saw him but we certainly felt his presence.

Practice went well and as we finished the basketball team was just finishing up there practice. A bunch of the guys had pictures taken with them. Adam Wright even played Kobe in PIG. Just for the record Kobe made two slam dunks and made Adam look a little silly. I was a little bummed that I did not stick around. Coach K is one of my favorite coaches and I would have loved to have a picture taken with him. Perhaps I will run into him at Opening Ceremonies tomorrow.

The basketball team was actually very friendly to our team and made the guys feel pretty special. Like I said the Olympic Games are full of great life experiences and many memories that will last a lifetime. I am sure that we will create many more in the next two weeks. I am good with all this as long as the guys focus when they need too. All of these things can certainly be distractions if we let them.

Tonight we had our final tune up against Monte Negro. These guys just won the European Championships so they would have to be considered one of the favorites for the gold. Our guys played very well tonight and we gave them all that they could handle. No one was really keeping score but we beat them 8 – 5. Ha. OK – it was just a scrimmage but it is a nice way to close out our common training. The guys are definitely getting back into their competitive mode.

Tomorrow is opening ceremonies. It is going to be a very long day. We have training in morning for 90 minutes than we have an hour with the media. Then at 5:15 we have to be dressed and ready to go. We will go over and meet with President Bush and have a team picture with him. After that we join the parade of athletes in the ceremony. We have been told to expect to be home after midnight. I have told the guys to stay off of there feet as much as they can between now and then. It should be exciting but tiring.
At least we have a day off before we play.

See you at the pool!

Coach

Countdown Beijing - Amazing Awaits

2008-08-06T19:31:00.000-07:00

The Beijing fog has returned. The weather report says that it is suppose to rain tomorrow and then be a nice clear day for Opening Ceremonies. I am feeling it now. That anticipation, that urge to get things started. I watched “Miracle” for the 100th time or so since I took over this job. It is a great movie and every time I watch it I shed a few tears. I am touched and inspired. When I was playing with the national team in 1980 and we were getting ready for the Moscow Olympic Games – our entire team was able to sit together and watch the USA vs. Soviet Union game. Obviously, the game stirred a great deal of emotion in us all. We were preparing for our opportunity at the Games (not sure if we were going to boycott or not) and to watch our young college kids beat the powerful Soviets was very motivating.

As I watched the movie today two things came to mind. The first is family. A good team is really so much like a family. In the movie, the players protested when Coach Brooks brought in a player from the outside because he had not been a part of the family. Every good team becomes a family. I believe that we have become a family over this past year. This team is close – they believe in each other, they trust each other and perhaps most importantly they have learned to respect each others differences. They are willing to sacrifice for each other. That leads me to the second thing that really hit me as I watched the movie. At the end of the movie Coach Brooks told the audience what his favorite part of coaching the Olympic Team was. Here is what he said “Seeing 20 guys from so many different backgrounds come together as one team and seeing those 20 guys willing to sacrifice so much for the unknown”.

This is the epitome of what it is all about. The Olympic Games are so much different than any other sporting event. This is an opportunity that comes along once every four years. It is especially true in our sport like water polo. This is what we train for, what we sacrifice for and what we live for – a chance, an opportunity to be the best in the world – perhaps more importantly – an opportunity to be your best as an individual and as a team.
There is the unknown – there is certainly no guarantee of a gold medal or even a medal of any color and yet these guys give so much of themselves just for the opportunity.

The USA Olympic Committee has adopted the tag line “amazing awaits”. I certainly believe that amazing does await for this team over the next two weeks. They are ready to put it all on the line and “test” themselves against the best teams in the world. I believe that we have become one of the so called best teams in the world. We will be tested and we will find out. Regardless, amazing has all ready happened for me. It has been amazing being a part of this journey. Watching this team come together and witnessing their growth as a team. I have come to love this family and I believe in these guys with all of my heart.

Amazing Awaits…

See you at the pool!

Coach

Countdown beijing - A Day Off

2008-08-05T19:50:00.000-07:00

I opened my eyes this morning and saw black mold growing on my ceiling right above my head. Not good especially since we are going to be here for another 3 weeks. I immediately reported it to the cleaning crew and before I left for breakfast they had building manager in here inspecting it. In broken English he told me that they would fix it but that it would take a half of a day. I told him that was not a problem since we would be out and about for most of the day.

After eating breakfast in the dining hall (which seems to be even more crowded today) we all jumped on an 11:00 am bus to Tiananmen Square. The bus ride took about 30 minutes even with the Olympic lane. This is a dedicated lane that only official Olympic vehicles can drive in. The traffic seems to be getting worse and they have odd even driving days established in order to keep the traffic down. Today (August 5) is an odd day - so only vehicles with their license plates ending with odd numbers are suppose to be on the road.

It seemed strange that Tiananmen Square was all decked out in Olympic décor. They have turned it into an Olympic park for the Games. Thousands of people were sightseeing like us (mostly Chinese) and in the middle of the Square in now a giant Olympic monument. I took a few pictures and then we made our way into the Forbidden City. Robert Lynn (who can’t say no to the Chinese) hired a tour guide named Mary. She did a nice job and helped explain many of the building and symbols we were looking at. For instance, any building with 9 animals on the corner of the roof line was an emperor’s building; a building with 7 animals was the emperor’s wife. And it all went down from there. It was pretty cool although with each layer we walked into there seemed to be more and more of the same. We walked up to one of the watch towers at the end of the tour and took the attached picture with our staff. In the background is the entire Forbidden City.

Our next stop was the Silk Market. This is like a giant swap meet except for the fact that the vendors are extremely aggressive. Poor Robert (remember he can’t say no) shopped until he dropped and he went home with a HUGE bag of goods. I ended up getting a suit made for a great price. I also tried on a beautiful formal Chinese jacket but decided against it. I am glad that I can say no.

On the bus ride back home the traffic was once again very bad. About half way home a small car veered into the Olympic lane and smashed into our bus. No one was injured but it caused a big stir. Before long we were on the side of the road with 6-7 police vehicles all taking pictures and berating the driver of the small vehicle. It was a 45 minute ordeal and we finally made it back to the village just in time for dinner.

I was exhausted when I finally arrived back in my room. I was ready to just read a few pages of my book and go to bed. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that my room was to be “fixed”. As I opened my little “cubby”, I was just about thrown back from the smell of paint. They had fixed the ceiling - put up some new drywall and given the work a nice coat or two of some of the finest “lead based” paint they could find. I opened up all the windows in the place and aired it out. In a few hours it was not so bad and I was ready for some more Olympic dreams… Good night.

See you at the pool!

Coach

Countdown Beijing - The Nest and The Cube

2008-08-05T07:19:00.000-07:00

Things are getting busier here in the Village. More and more teams are arriving everyday. When we first arrived the village seemed quiet. This is not the case anymore. It is like a bee hive with lots of activity and athletes everywhere. The dining hall is getting crowded and I hate to say it but there are no more dove bars (bummer).

Many of the more recognizable athletes are beginning to show up. I saw Dirk Nowitzki (basketball), Rafael Nadal (tennis) and Michael Phelps (swimming) today. I am beginning to feel a little short with many of the basketball and volleyball players showing up. It is fun to sit and people watch and try to guess what sport each athlete is part of – obviously some are easy – like the gymnasts and the weight lifters and the wrestlers (almost all of them have wrestler’s ears). Many of the other sports are very difficult. Regardless of the sport it is fun to just sit back and realize that these are the best of the best at what they do in the world.

Today we scrimmaged against the Chinese team at our competition venue again. We seemed a little tired and we played pretty poorly. We made a lot of bad passes and after two quarters the score ended in a tie. I think that overall it was probably good for us to realize that if we do not play well it will be a battle. I got on them a little after the scrimmage and they woke up and dominated play in our 6 on 5 and 5 on 6 training (each team played 15 minutes of offense and 15 minutes of defense). I have attached a team picture of the team at the competition pool.

After dinner Rick, Ryan and I caught a taxi to the Cube and did some exploring. It was getting a little late but we were able to get into the Cube and see the competition venue for swimming and diving. It was very impressive. The Cube is an amazing building and it is one of two of the central venues (along with the Bird’s Nest) that are in the middle of the Olympic Green. After we explored the Cube we walked over to the Bird’s Nest which was also lit up and did some exploring around there. We were not able to get into the stadium but it was pretty cool just being outside and listening to them rehearse for the Opening Ceremonies.

Tomorrow we are giving the guys the day off. I think that most of us are heading for the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. This will be our last day to relax and just sight see a little. It should be a fun and relaxing day.

See you at the pool!
Coach

Countdown Beijing - Sparring

2008-08-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

We trained at BNU this morning and the coaches snuck into the boxing ring that our USA team is using to for training. We hit the heavy bags and the speed bags and then after we found a few pairs of gloves Ryan and Robert went into the ring for a little sparring.

They had fun until Ryan took a blow to the head and then we decided it was time to go back to the pool and do what we do best.

Training was good this morning. We walked through some front court plays, after goal plays and some special situations. The guys are feeling confident. Tonight we get to do a little sparring of our own and play a couple of quarters against China in the competition pool. This will be good for us. It will be our first competition against another country since we played in Hungary. Over the next week we will train against Hungary and Monte Negro and perhaps pick up one or two other teams to scrimmage against. One week from today we will jump into the pool for our first game of the Olympics.

Our team leader Rick McKee told me he had a dream last night that we won the gold medal. That is a great dream and one I have had many times. We will keep on dreaming for one more week.

See you at the pool!

Coach

Countdown Beijing - A Beautiful Day in Beijing

2008-08-02T20:52:00.000-07:00

We woke up today to blue skies. The rumor is that the Chinese have been seeding the clouds and have made it rain over the past few days (mostly at night) to clear the air. Today is beautiful – it is warm and slightly humid but it is the nicest day they have had here in months maybe years (according to some that have been here for awhile). I totally believe that these Olympics will be spectacular (for more reasons than just the blue skies). It is interesting to think about whether or not the Chinese can actually control the weather. We will see…

I have been having individual meetings with each player to make sure that they all understand what their role and responsibility is here at the Games. I have also discussed what my expectation is for each player. They have been good meetings with a great deal of positive coming from them. All of the guys feel like we are ready. They feel strong and they believe that they can beat anyone. They are realistic and know that this will be a very difficult tournament and that there are 10 teams that are all very close. Who will step up and make there way to the podium. We all feel really good about our chances.

It has been nice for me to sit with each player and here his concerns. All of them are somewhat nervous. They have leaned on me to tell them about my experiences with the Olympics. I have told them all that you would not be alive if you did not feel nervous. This is normal. I have also shared my experience with them about my first game in 1984. I was nervous. As I sat in the ready room and spoke with a team mate named Drew McDonald. Are you ready? He asked me. The first thought that I had was to ask myself - had I done everything that I could have done to be ready? This is almost a trick question to ask yourself – because there is always more that you could have done. The key is that mentally you have to be comfortable with what you have done. I knew that I had worked extremely hard and done a great deal to prepare myself and I was ready. Being able to answer yes to that question helped me to relax and get myself ready for that first game.

I have also been able to share my father’s wisdom with them – he always used to tell me
“All you can do is to go out there and do the best you can”. We are ready and we will do well if we stick together and trust each other. One of the great things about being on a team sport is some of that individual pressure or stress gets deflected a little to your team mates. You can build each other up and it is comforting to know that your team mates are there for you.

Last night I showed the guys a video of the 20 year reunion of the 1984 Olympic team. The guys enjoyed watching highlights from our gold medal game that were broken up by the guys on the team talking about what that time of their life meant to them. It brought tears to my eyes and I think that it put things in perspective for the team. It helped them to see beyond the next few weeks and understand that the team is really like a family. These bonds will last a lifetime. It touched them all in a way. Every guy on the team came by and told me that the video was great and thank you for sharing it with them.

Another beautiful day in Beijing with many more expected…

See you at the pool!

Coach

Countdown Beijing - The Great Wall

2008-08-01T16:30:00.000-07:00

This morning we trained at BNU for two hours. We have been spending a good portion on every workout on our 6 on 5 offense and 5 on 6 defense since this part of our game will more than likely determine how well we do. This morning we finished our workout with 30 minutes of 6 on 5. On the last play of the practice Tony Azevedo took a shot with Jesse Smith blocking him. The shot scored but no one really cared. Jesse went straight underwater and Tony was grabbing his hand. Tony’s follow through had hit Jesse on the bridge of the nose. This is actually a very common water polo injury. A shooter follows through and hits the shot blocker in the face. It is dangerous for both the offensive and defensive players. We all held our breath to see how bad it was – as Jesse surfaced he had blood running down his face and Tony was still grasping his finger in pain. I knew what the worst case scenario was – I have seen this happen before – so I knew that it was possible that Jesse could have a broken nose or end up with multiple stitches in his face and Tony could have a broken finger or even worse he may have split the webbing on his hand. My heart was pumping as I made my way to the side of the pool where Jesse was heading. Obviously, that would not be good with a little over a week to go before the competition is to begin. As it turned out Jesse had a small cut on the bridge of his nose. He went to the medical room at BNU and ended up with two stitches. Tony had a jammed finger and after lunch seemed to be just fine. Ok - I have had my scare for the trip.

Everyone is healthy now and we plan on keeping it that way. That is the risk that we take everyday in our preparation. We can’t exactly stop practicing and just lock the guys in padded rooms. We want our practices to be competitive and game like as much as possible to prepare us for the battles to come. I am confident that we will stay healthy and be ready for what lies ahead.

We had a nice lunch at BNU and then jumped on a bus to the Great Wall. The Olympic Games is all about the life experiences. This was a great one. It was nice to take a little break from our training and just let the guys be tourists for the afternoon. We took a team picture at the wall and walked around the wall for awhile before we headed back for the Village. It was a pretty cool day – we took at ski lift up to the top of the wall and then took a toboggan down the mountain. It was a very nice day and one that will be a great memory for the team. As you can see by the other pictures attached I picked up a new hat and some new friends.

It is amazing to think that there is only one more week until the Opening Ceremonies. We are back to our regular training schedule tomorrow.

See you at the pool!
Coach

Countdown Beijing - Settling into the Village

2008-07-31T08:25:00.000-07:00

We are beginning to get into a routine in the Village. It has actually been great being over here so early. We are learning the ropes on how everything works.

Here are a few of the things that we have learned so far - transportation – if you are one minute late the bus will leave without you. The driver waits until the clock in his bus strikes the designated time and then he drives off. No stopping him. It has definitely been better to learn this now rather than later.

Cafeteria –so far the Mediterranean food has been the best. There are different sections set up in the cafeteria with different types of food. There are Asian, Mediterranean, and International stations. There is also a McDonalds set up in the Village dining hall. The oatmeal is excellent in the mornings. There is lots of good pasta also. Probably the most important thing that I have learned about the cafeteria is that the Dove Bars go fast and they only have them at a few of the dessert stations. We figured that one out real fast.

The Village is set up like a city. It has been landscaped beautifully. I really don’t recognize it from when I came over in March. It is really nice. However, it is a long walk to almost everywhere. We are all getting some good exercise just going back and forth to the dining hall and transportation and our apartment.

BNU (Beijing Normal University) is where the USOC has set up our high performance training center. We are training there most of the time. It is about a 15 minute ride from the Village to BNU. We have been training there in the morning and then getting lunch there before we head back to the village. The food at BNU is awesome. It is certainly much easier to feed a hundred athletes then it is to feed thousands. They say the Olympic Village will serve 30,000 meals a day. It has been a nice break to have a quiet meal at BNU once or twice a day. The longer we are here I am sure that the guys will appreciate the break from the village food more and more.

We trained last night in our competition pool. It was the first time that the guys have seen the pool (other then pictures) so they were very excited and most of them had their cameras out. I focused in on the podium at the scoreboard end of the pool. It was already set up so I took the attached picture of it and will post this on each of the guy’s rooms tomorrow. I am hoping that this will help them visualize standing on the podium in a few weeks.

We had a short team meeting last night and I reminded the guys about staying calm and yet confident and not getting caught up in all the excitement. I also left them with these words from a Joni Mitchell song “you don’t know what you have till it’s gone” and told them to enjoy the moments here. One week until opening ceremonies!

See you at the pool!

Coach

Countdown Beijing - En Route

2008-07-30T09:01:00.000-07:00

We woke up this morning to some interesting news. The Beijing Organizing committee (BOCOG) sent out a statement that said that no Olympians will be allowed to stay at Beijing Normal University (BNU). It was a little unnerving to wake up to this news especially since we were to get on our plane to Beijing in a few hours and BNU is where we were set to stay for the first week of the trip before we can move into the Olympic Village. We are also supposed to be training at BNU prior to the beginning of the Games.

This whole thing was a bit stressful to say the least. Here were our options: 1. Don’t get on the flight and stay home for another week for training. 2. Get on the plane and hope that we can get into the Olympic Village right away. April Heinricks (our main contact with the USOC) called from Beijing and assured me that they would get us into the Village early and work hard with us to make sure we had a place to train. We chose to get on the bus and head for the airport.

From this point on the day has become better and better. We arrived at the airport and found out that Kinetics (a company that I was introduced to in New York on our way back from Europe in June) had launched an advertising campaign to help “make us famous”. There we were on a big digital billboard right next to Tiger Woods in the airport. It was pretty cool to see. This particular one was a picture of Jesse Smith up high in the water shooting a ball. The caption read “The most intense sport in the Olympics and you only see half of it. Watch the USA Men’s Water Polo team in Beijing”. The guys all gathered around the billboard and we took some pictures. We were then ushered over to the red carpet room at United and treated as if we were some special.

As we boarded the plane a few of the guys met the captain. It turned out his daughter is a water polo player. One conversation led to another and the captain invited our whole team to sit up in business class for the trip. Obviously, this made the team very happy. There is nothing like a big sleeper seat for a 12 hour flight. Usually, we are packed in coach and by the time you get off the flight you feel like you have been beat up. Beijing here we come!

2:30 pm - we arrived safely in Beijing – one more step closer to blast off.

See you at the pool!
Coach

Olympic Television Coverage Schedule

2008-07-28T09:38:00.000-07:00

USA Water Polo Television Coverage at the 2008 Olympic Games
(subject to change)
Live Broadband Coverage on NBC Olympics.com everyday
All Times are Eastern
Sunday August 10
Men’s Water Polo – USA vs. China – 10am to 6pm on NBC and NBC HD
Tuesday August 12
Men’s Water Polo – USA vs. Italy – 10:00am to 1:00pm on NBC and NBC HD
Saturday August 16
Men’s Water Polo – USA vs. Croatia – 10:00am to 6:00pm on NBC and NBC HD
Monday August 18
Men’s Water Polo – USA vs. Germany (Live) – 2:00am to noon on USA and USA HD
Wednesday August 20
Men’s Water Polo TBA – 2:00am to noon on USA and USA HD
Friday August 22
Men’s Water Polo Semifinal (Live) – 2:00am to noon on USA and USA HD
Sunday August 24
Men’s Water Polo Gold Medal Match – noon to 4:00pm on NBC and NBC HD
Men’s Water Polo Bronze Medal Match – 5:00am to 11:00am on USA and USA HD

Countdown Beijing - The Launching Pad

2008-07-27T19:31:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we arrived in San Jose and went through processing with the Olympic Committee. As we were heading to outfitting we ran into the USA Basketball team. Kobe Bryant actually came up to us and said hello and wished us good luck. It was pretty cool for the guys. All the USA teams will come through San Jose for their processing on their way to Beijing.

Outfitting is quite a scene. The first thing that you do is to get a shopping cart and then give you a clipboard that has all of your sizes on it. Then you go station to station and pick up your goods. You try on everything to make sure you are getting the correct size. Our guys are not shy so before you know it they are all prancing around in their underwear going station to station and picking up their gear. I have some great pictures that I will share at a later time. The guys get a ton of stuff – really too much to use while you are at the games. Ralph Lauren and Nike were the big sponsors and then we get some gear from Speedo too. It was like Christmas!

The reality of going back to the Olympic Games has definitely set in. It has been 16 years since I participated in the Games. I am very excited and all of the guys are feeling the excitement too. Ryan Bailey one of our three time Olympians told me that when he woke up yesterday he felt some butterflies for the first time. We are close. It is a little like we are sitting on the launching pad and getting ready for take off. The countdown is very apparent now. “Liftoff” is less then two weeks away.

One of the biggest keys now is keeping everyone calm and confident at the same time. We don’t want to be wasting a great deal of energy on nerves at this stage. We need to keep our cool so that we can be totally ready when we hit the pool for our first game against China on August 10th. We trained once yesterday and will be in the water twice today before we leave tomorrow.

See you at the pool!

Coach

Countdown Beijing - Time to go!

2008-07-26T10:31:00.000-07:00

Wow – unbelievable! I can’t believe that we get on a flight today and head out of town for one month. Looking behind us it is amazing to think about how fast 7 months of full time training have gone. It has been an incredible journey so far. I can also look at it from another perspective and say that in less than one month (August 24th) we will be playing for a gold medal.

Audley Harrison came and talked with our team this past week. He was awesome. Audley is a local resident who won a gold medal in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games in the Super heavyweight division in boxing. He was representing Great Briton at the time. He talked to the guys about visualizing winning. He said that when he arrived in Sydney he had already won the gold medal hundreds of time in his mind so he was totally prepared for the experience. He had us all close our eyes and than he played our national anthem as he talked to us about what it felt like to stand up on the victory podium. It was a great visualization and I believe the team really benefited from it.

I feel that same sense of anticipation I had a few weeks before the Olympic Games in Los Angeles (my first as a player). Now as I prepare for my first as an Olympic coach I can honestly say that I am ready. There is one person who I really wish were around to reassure me and tell me that everything is going to be alright. That is my Dad. He would always tell me that no matter what happened at the Olympics he was proud of me and that he would love me just as much when I returned. Those words were always so calming to me.

Dad passed away over two years ago and I have certainly gone through phases where I missed him more than other times. This week has been one of the worst. I am sure it is because I know how much my dad would have loved to see this all happening. He was always my biggest fan and kind of a “rock of strength” in my life. I know he is watching me from up in heaven but I sure do miss picking up the phone and just hearing his reassuring voice telling me that he is proud of me. He taught me so much and I am thankful for all of his love and support through the years. They have helped to get me to this point. I can still feel his presence in my life.

Perhaps those are the words that I need to tell the team today. I am proud of them. They have come a long way as a team and I will love them no matter what happens in Beijing. Although, I am quite confident that something special is going to happen with this team. Anyway, we are off to the airport. We will spend two days in San Jose (getting our credentials and outfitting) before we leave for Beijing on Monday morning.

See you at the pool.

Coach

Countdown Beijing - 7 days

2008-07-21T09:05:00.000-07:00

Saturday we had an Olympic Send Off for our team. When it came time to say a few words all I could think about was how important the supporting family and friends is to each one of our athletes. Each of us (coaches included) need to have understanding and supporting wives or girlfriends (whatever the case may be), family and friends. Without these people in our lives we would struggle to do what we do. There are not many that fully understand what an Olympic athletes goes through to make his/her dream come true. Most of our family and friends do. They see the sacrifices that are made to make the dream come true. We have just completed our second week of hard training at home. We are spending 6-7 hours a day (weight room and pool) and going 6 days a week. At this point the guys are practicing, eating and sleeping. There is not much time for anything else.

I guess as an athlete or a coach. We don’t really look at it from the view point of what I am giving up. What are the sacrifices? Perhaps they are not really sacrifices. We tend to look at it as an opportunity to make our dream come true. Very few people ever live out their dreams. We are living out our dreams and we are able to do that because we have people around us who have helped us to believe and achieve our dreams. All I can say is thank you to my family and friends (especially my wife and daughters). Coaching the Olympic team has been a lifetime goal since I stopped playing. I am living my dream.

Our move out to the Conejo Valley has really worked out for the team. The community has really embraced us and supported us in our training. So many people have stepped up and helped us. We now have 50 – 60 people coming out to watch everyone of our practices. The bottom line is that we feel that support and all of it has helped us to get to the point where we now believe that we can beat anyone in the world.

Thank you all for your support. It is getting exciting. I even began to pack my bags this weekend.

See you at the pool!
Coach

Countdown Beijing - July 15th

2008-07-15T08:49:00.000-07:00

We have been back home now for just over a week. The team is working very hard. We are trying to take advantage of the fact that we do not have any games in the next month. So we have really been pushing the workouts. Here is what our schedule looks like right now. We will work hard through these next three weeks and then ease back a little when we arrive in Beijing.

M – F – Weights 8:30 – 10 am
Pool - 10:15 – 12:45 pm
Pool - 7 – 9:45 or 6 – 8 pm depending on the night

Saturday - 9 – 12 noon

As you can see it is a very busy schedule. We have left some times in their so the guys can eat and sleep. They are all very focused on what we are trying to do. The goal is to arrive in Beijing in better shape than any other team.

The mood has changed at practice. Everyone knows how close the Olympics are now. All the guys are working extremely hard and the focus is great. We all believe that we can beat anyone out there. My job is to try to help these guys stay calm and focused while keeping workouts competitive and fun. We are close – so close. Here is a quote I read to the guys the other night.

“Many of us spend our lives searching for success when it is usually so close you can reach out and touch it.” Russell Conwell (writer/minister)

I told them that I did not want them to just touch it – I want them to reach out and grab it!

See you at the pool!

Coach

Countdown Beijing- One Month to Go

2008-07-09T09:10:00.000-07:00

A few nights ago we celebrated the 4th of July. I have never been more proud to represent our country. I am not sure why. Maybe it is just being a little older and having lived longer in our great nation. Perhaps it has been coaching the team and wearing USA gear all the time. Whatever it is I am proud of the red, white and blue and while we have our share of problems, there is not a better place to live in the world.

Asthe fireworks exploded and sparkled in the air my eyes filled with tears and I had goose bumps all over my body. I am so proud to be an American and I am looking forward to representing our country next month at the Olympic Games in Beijing.

I believe that our team will be one that America will be proud of too. This is a team that believes in each other. That belief system is getting stronger everyday. It has been fun to be a part of this journey. I have watched these guys go from a very fragmented group when I took over one year ago to a team that now trusts and respects each other. The whole idea of team - this is why I played the game and this is why I coach the game. There is no greater feeling in sports than to be a part of a group that shares a common goal and comes together to work for that goal.

Just last week in Colorado Springs our sports psychologist asked our team to come up with words that described themselves back in December of last year when we had our first training camp. They chose words like frustrated and flustered. Then he asked them to pick a word that describes the team now. They picked energized and confident. We have definitely transformed into a united team. The chemistry is building and in my opinion it will continue to grow from here. We have momentum and this is a team that will become closer and stronger..

I am looking forward to seeing how far we can go. We may not win the gold –that is a reality- but I feel really good about our chances to surprise a lot of teams. Go USA!

See you at the pool!
Coach

Countdown Beijing - 35 days to go

2008-07-04T09:04:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday was one of the toughest nights I have experienced as the Olympic Team coach. After we played the Hungarians to a close 7 – 6 loss, I had to go back to the hotel and make our final two cuts. It was very difficult. All of these guys have put so much time into the program. They have all sacrificed a great deal to make it this far. In most all athletic competitions there is very little that separates the winners from second place. In a similar way, there is very little that separates the players that made the final team and the two alternates. In was a painful process for me. I met with the two players and told them why I had made my choices. Both were near tears and I could see there pain. I know that this can be a life changing event. I sincerely hope that for both of these players that have been cut (John Mann and Brian Alexander) that it changes their lives in a positive way. I know that may be hard to understand but honestly for me (in my life) some of my biggest defeats and disappointments have done more to change my life in a positive way then any of my successes. Regardless, I had to get outside and take a walk. I spent about an hour on my own just walking and thinking. My heart hurt but I knew that even though it was very difficult - I made the right decision.

On Monday morning, we held a press conference at the Los Angeles Athletic Club to formally announce our team. It was a nice event and there was a good amount of press in attendance. Immediately after the press conference, we left for the airport for 5 days of training and team building at the USA Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. We trained for a day and then went up to the mountains (Lake George area) to spend some good quality time together. We spent about 5 hours on Tuesday doing a ropes course and listening to Dr. Guy Reikeman talk to us about leadership, our belief system and becoming a closer team. All of us, picked up a good deal of information. That evening we built a nice fire and spent about 2 hours discussing things that we have learned about ourselves and our team over the past six months. One of the most important questions that I brought up was “Do we really believe that we can win the Gold Medal?” Most of the guys spoke up and once again I could sense that we had come to a new level. Sure there are doubts –that is a normal – but these guys now believe that we can win. They all recommitted to do everything possible to give us the best chance to win in Beijing. No one wants to get to the Olympic Games and have any regrets!

We spent the night at the ranch where we actually slept in authentic Indian teepees. None of us are used to sleeping out in the woods so I think that we all slept a little rough. Never the less, it was pretty cool. The following morning we drove to a town called Buena Vista where we went white water rafting. The guys all enjoyed it and I think that it was a very good team building activity.

It is time to get back to work and focus on preparing these guys so that they are ready. We have 19 more days of practice (counting today) before we leave for Beijing. It is a little nerve racking that we have so little time left. However, I am confident that we are coming together at the right time. We have to work on some tactics and improve in certain areas of the game but there is no reason that we can not win a Gold Medal. Our collective belief is stronger now that it has ever been!
See you at the pool!

Coach

Countdown Beijing-Hungary

2008-06-26T09:37:00.000-07:00

6/25

We arrived in Budapest on Monday and after a full day of travel jumped in the pool almost immediately to play a four quarter scrimmage against the Hungarians. We were fatigued from the week long tournament and the long day of travel. We lost the scrimmage by a few goals but I still saw something I liked. Our team has a new confidence. A year ago, we were totally intimidated by the Hungarians and the Serbians. Now here we were with all odds against us and we were holding our own against the reigning gold medalist from the Olympic Games.

Last year the Hungarian coach would barely give me the time of day. This week he has been pumping me with questions about what we are doing in our training and if we want to get together in China and train. We have the respect of the Hungarians and the Serbians. Wow – we have come a long way in this past 6 months.

Tonight we played the Hungarians in an official match. In the beginning the game looked like we were going to be in trouble. We went down by a score of 4 – 1 and things did not look so good. Our guys responded with some great defense. We scored a nice goal to bring the score to 4 – 2 at half time. Then we kept on fighting and dominated play in the third period. We had many good chances to go ahead but we kept on missing our 6 on 5 opportunities. At the end of three periods we were down 5- 4 and we had the Hungarians looking a little scared.

We scored the first goal in the 4th period to tie the game at 5. Then from that point on we went back and forth. The Hungarians took the lead and then we tied it up. Both teams had their chances but the Hungarians scored the game winner with two minutes left in the game and we could not respond. Even though we lost we battled hard and our confidence is even better now. Ryan Bailey told me that in his career with the national team (he is our oldest player) he has never been that close to the Hungarians.

We head home on Friday. Lots of work to do but the team is seeing the fruits of their labor. We are much improved physically and mentally. As the coach this trip could not have gone much better. We will come home knowing that we can beat anyone at anytime. That is what I hoped for above all else. No one can take that from us now. We have the belief – we just need to keep on building…

See you at the pool!

Coach

Winning the silver medal at World League

2008-06-24T11:12:00.000-07:00

6/23

We jumped into the pool last night with one of the best teams in the world. Even though we lost, I feel that we came out of the pool a different team. The Serbians have dominated us over the past 4 -5 years. In the past they have crushed us. This game was different – it was really ours to win. We now fully understand and believe that we can beat anyone.

At the end of three periods we were behind 4 – 3. We had outplayed them in most parts of the game but we struggled to score on our power play opportunities. In the end, we lost 7 – 3. The Serbs knew that they had been in a battle and they knew that they had been a little lucky. We missed two penalty shots and we were 1 out of 9 on our extra man. The Serbian goalie played a great game and he made it very difficult for us to score all night.

As I shook hands with the Serbian coach after the game, he complimented me on how much our team has improved over the past few months. One thing is for sure, we opened a lot of eyes this week in the water polo world. We sent a message that Team USA is back and we WILL be a contender. Our silver medal in the World League is the best that we have ever done in this particular competition. Our team captain, Tony Azevedo told me that this was the first significant final that he had been involved in since he began playing with the Team USA back in 1998. I told him to “get used to it.”

The belief is growing. Now it is onto Hungary for a few days of training and one official game on Wednesday night. It will be another great test for us. I am sure that they will have a nice “home” crowd ready to welcome us.

See you at the pool!

Coach

Countdown Beijing-Uncharted territory

2008-06-21T21:00:00.000-07:00

6/21/08

Wow – this has been quite a ride. The ball has been bouncing our way a little bit. They always say that when you are good you tend to create your own luck. We have been a little lucky but I think it is because we are pretty good. We are making some mistakes but we are staying together and fighting through it.

Tonight we were a little fatigued and emotionally drained. We built a 5 – 2 lead on the Australians only to see that evaporate. At the end of three quarters it was 5 – 5. Australia had gained all the momentum. We grabbed it back with two quick goals but then Australia came right back and tied it up. The game ended in a 7 – 7 tie. In World League play all tie games go directly to a shootout. We shot first and made ours. In fact, the first three shooters on both teams made their shots and then the 4th Australian missed his shot. All we had to do was score on our next shot. Ryan Bailey our big center was our shooter. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest as he lined up for his shot. The Australian goalie made a huge save on Ryan and now it was up to the last Aussie to make his shot. There last shooter undoubtedly felt the pressure and his shot was off of the bar to seal the victory for Team USA.

We are in the finals. We are the first USA Men’s team to reach the finals since World League began eight years ago. We will be facing a tough Serbian team that has been demolishing all of its opponents. They beat Monte Negro today 12 – 3. We will have our hands full against these guys. Watching them play they do not have many weaknesses. It is kind of like our young hockey team in 1980 going up against the powerful Russian team. We may be a bit out matched in some areas but when a team is on a roll who knows what will happen. I am excited about tomorrow. We can win this thing…

We have come a long way this week. I am proud of what our team has accomplished. We definitely have a lot of things to work on but things are coming together.

See you at the pool tomorrow for the gold medal game!
Coach

Countdown Beijing-on the verge of new territory

2008-06-21T20:54:00.000-07:00

6/20/08

The team continues to gain confidence. Last night we had a thrilling victory over MonteNegro. We were down two goals with a 1:20 seconds to go in the game. We scored on a 6 on 5 (power play) to tie the score at six. MonteNegro came down and our defense did a great job to shut them down. With the clock running down we set up for our final possession. Tony Azevedo came up big and scored a lob shot with 2 seconds left on the clock. It was a huge come from behind victory for Team USA.

The hours of hard work are paying off. We are opening the eyes of the European water polo world. Tonight we will play Australia in the semi-finals. The Aussies are playing very well and it should be a great game. The winner will advance to the finals tomorrow night.

This tournament is certainly not the Olympic Games but it is a chance for us to grow and get stronger as a team. We are believing in ourselves more and more everyday and this is a giant step for us. It is getting fun. Of course, winning always is but more than that just witnessing up close what is happening on our team.

See you at the pool!

Coach

Countdown Beijing-50 days

2008-06-20T16:44:00.000-07:00

6/20/08

Yesterday we experienced another big breakthrough on our journey towards the Olympics. Our first big breakthrough was our win last month against Croatia (the # 1 ranked team in the world). That win helped us to be chosen the Team of the Month by the USA Olympic Committee.

Currently, we are in Europe competing in the World League Finals. We played Spain yesterday in bracket play. We beat them 11 – 4 and this win put us in the final four of the tournament. It has been a long time (years ) since our Men’s team has been in the final four of any international tournament. Today we will face Montenegro in our final game of pool play. This game will determine the seeding for the semifinals. It looks like Australia and Serbia will advance from the other bracket. So we will play either Serbia or Australia in the semis. I am proud of the guys. They dominated play yesterday with a very strong defensive effort. Now we will see what we are really made of as we get a shot at Montenegro and possibly Serbia.

I am excited that we are on the right path. I can see good things happening. You can see the team beginning to believe more and more. It is an exciting time to be coaching Team USA. I am feeling more and more confident that more good things are going to happen in the next 50 days. We keep growing and getting better. We are closing the gap that exists between us and best teams in the world.

See you at the pool!

Coach

World League Finals

2008-06-17T15:06:00.000-07:00

6/16/08

Today we played a great game against Italy in the World League Finals here in Genoa. There was a big home crowd cheering for the locals and we did our best to shut them down. We held the lead most of the game and were up by two goals with 2:30 left in the game. Italy chipped away at our lead and with :25 seconds left in the game they tied the score. We were unable to score and the game ended in a tie. In the World League all games that end in a tie go directly to a penalty shoot out. Each team picks five players who shoot one penalty shot. Each of the first four players scored on both teams and it came down to the last shooters. Unfortunately, we missed our shot and Italy scored to seal the victory. We will play three more rounds of preliminary play. Our remaining games are against China, Spain and Monte Negro. It was a disappointing loss but we are growing and getting better. Here are some notes from my training journal.

Team USA has been spending a great deal of time over the last six months working on improving our fundamentals in the water. We will continue to emphasis these fundamentals in our training as we go forward into Beijing. There are signs that the work is paying off. Our team has improved in our passing, shooting and shot blocking. All of these are improving because our legs and body positioning are getting better. We are seeing signs that the guys are creating new habits. They are using their legs better and they are more stable in the water.

There are other fundamentals that are vital to our team’s success. These are more difficult to measure. As we continue on our Olympic journey we will be tested over and over again on these “intangibles”. I have identified three of these so called “intangibles” that could turn out to be keys for our team as we attempt to get back to the podium in Beijing. In my opinion, these are important for any team to be successful.

The first intangible is trust. In order for a team to be successful you need to have good relationships. Relationships grow and thrive where there is trust. First the players must care and respect each other enough to want to build this trust. Players must trust one another to experience success on a team. Everyone likes to talk about team chemistry and how important that is to any team’s success. Good team chemistry revolves around this trust factor. How do we know if we have it or not? It is difficult to measure trust. On any team some of the players have been burned in a relationship before. They may have more issues with trusting others. Others may trust too much. The bottom line is this. In order to be trusted you must first trust others. You must be willing to put yourself out there and risk getting burned in order to build this trust factor on a team. To become a real team takes time. There is no real clear path or formula. The first team building exercise that we did as a team this year was to go down to San Diego and spend some time with the Navy Seals. These are guys who have learned to depend on one another and trust each other with their lives when the pressure is really on. Our instructor that day was Captain Andy Stumpf. Andy is a Seal who was injured in battle and now is an instructor in Coronado. His life was spared because his team mates did not leave him behind. They knew he had been injured and they came back to rescue him risking their own lives in the process. Obviously, it is hard to compare a game of water polo with what these guys go through to protect our country but there are lessons to learn from these guys who represent a “team” at the highest level. On our debriefing Captain Stumpf told us this “I can’t stand up here and tell you what it means to be a team. I can’t tell you how you become a team. I can only tell you that the path to becoming a true team is all about the experiences you share together. Sometimes these life experiences are difficult (like our seal training) and sometimes this things are fun but most of all it means putting in the time together and sharing a common goal and being willing to be open to what your brothers (teammates) are going through. So here we are on this journey together (presently we are in Italy competing in the World League Finals), sharing a common goal, sacrificing together and hoping to continue to build trust in each other. I know that we have a long way to go but I can see that chemistry getting better. Trust is growing and we are becoming a better team.

The second intangible is responsibility. Each and every coach and player must be able to accept responsibility for his actions. Taking responsibility will build trust and strengthen the chemistry. This is very difficult to master. It is an easier path to blame others and shift the responsibility from ourselves. It is especially easy to blame officials in a game where at times it appears that we do not always have control. 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. We were in control of the game and we finished in a 5 – 5 tie allowing Yugoslavia to claim the gold based on goal differential. The result was difficult to swallow and it was easy to say that the officials really took the game from us. For years I hid behind that thought. As I grew as a person and as an athlete 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 we should all challenge ourselves to each day. Here is the way that this test works. Look in the mirror and ask that person you see if you are doing everything that you can do to make the team better. Ask that person you see what they can do to become better. Everyday and workout we are trying to build on this principle. With each play that goes wrong there is a responsible party and yet that person often looks to blame someone else. Hey the pass I received was bad or they should have done this or that. As I became more mature as a player I learned this valuable lesson as a team captain. If I could take responsibility for the mistakes in the game that were even partially my fault then I could diffuse a situation and keep our team focused on what was most important – the next play. When someone accepts the responsibility and play continues without any emotional attachment of trying to blame or being blamed then the team stays more focused. Accepting responsibility is a big factor in building the trust on a successful team. It is a sign of mature athletes that know that they have made that same mistake and can look at a teammate who has made a mistake and say let’s move on and stay focused. When all players on the team accept their responsibility individually it allows the team to play at a higher level. The blame game produces a lot of negative emotion and negative energy. When players accept responsibility then the team stays more positive and more focused. Teams that accept responsibility as individuals and collectively as a whole will feel more in control of their own destiny.

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? This is also very difficult to measure. Last month, we were honored to have Tommy Lasorda come out and talk to our team. He told us that of all the great sports moments that he has experienced in his life the Olympic Games were the greatest of all. He took the 2000 Olympic baseball team into the Olympic Games as heavy underdogs. The team was made up of primarily no name minor leaguers and they definitely were not expected to medal. The favorite in the tournament was Cuba who had not lost an international tournament in many years. Tommy Lasorda and his staff helped to install a strong belief system into their team. By the time the team arrived in Sydney they believed that they could beat anyone. They were not going to be pushed around or intimidated by anyone. They went out and beat everyone – winning the gold medal, 3 – 0 over the highly regarded Cuba team. It was an incredible experience and it would not have happened if the players and coaches did not believe that they could do this. The teams that I played on in the 80’s and early 90’s had this belief system. We always believed that if we did our best, if we performed the way we could that we would win and we usually did. Certainly, one of the biggest factors in building this belief system is to have small successes that build that confidence inside and tell us that our goals are really possible. Our win last month over Croatia (the # 1 ranked team in the world) gave us a little taste of that success and we have a small seed planted in our heads telling us that just maybe we can. We will be tested here at the World League and we need to have more of these small successes in order to really build on this belief system. We will then travel to Hungary to train and play against another one of the best teams in the world. A little more success there will help us as we grow and eventually get to a place where we all believe that no matter whom we are playing and no matter what day it is we can win. We can beat anyone. It is hard to measure but I sense that it is growing within our team everyday.

The fundamental intangibles are hard indeed hard to measure. I know that we are building these fundamental skills and I am confident that when our time comes in the Olympic Games we will have grown in all of these areas. We will take more responsibility for our own actions which will build trust and allow us to truly believe!

See you at the pool!

Coach Schroeder