Dr. Terry's Blog

London Visit 2/9/12

2012-02-10T15:14:00.000-08:00

I just returned from London where I was involved in a pre Olympic orientation with our team leader Rick McKee. The USOC and the London Organizing Committee partnered together to put the event on. It was pretty much a whirlwind trip. We left early Monday morning and arrived in London early Tuesday morning and we returned home Thursday afternoon. It was two full days of meetings and traveling around the city to see the venues, the village and other key Olympic sites.

Here are a few of my thoughts from the trip. Upon arrival at 5 am we were told that the bus to the hotel was coming at 8 am (due to other flights with coaches and team leaders arrival times). Five of us decided to be brave and head to the hotel on the Tube. This is London’s underground subway which connects the entire city very well. We bought our Oyster passes (the passes needed to right the subway and light rail system) and headed out on our adventure. The tube was fairly empty until we got closer to town and then it began to get a bit interesting. We had to change lines three times and take a bus at the end of the journey. One of our traveling mates missed a connection because the particular tram was too full and she almost was crushed in the as the door closed. So beware travelers - move quickly and without hesitation. These trams do not wait for you. We waited for her at the next stop and she was able to catch the next train to catch up. After about an hour and a half of traveling we reached the Hilton Docklands Hotel where all the participants were staying. We beat the bus by about a full two hours so it was well worth the adventure.

As soon as the bus arrived with the remaining participants we went to work. The first day was consisted of a quick orientation and then we were off to visit our respective venues and various sites. It was very cold… yikes - this is the summer Games right?. There was snow on the ground and it would snow later that evening. Of course, being from Southern California I did not bring the winter jacket and was quite cold for most of the trip. We first went to the Aquatics center which was amazing. It seats 17,500 people and was very nice. Right next to the Aquatics center is the water polo venue. Unfortunately, due to all the construction going on we were not able to go inside and view our venue. We saw it from the outside and it looks pretty cool but it would have been nice to see it and feel it a bit more. The water polo venue will seat 5,000 fans and there are two pools inside. One for competition and one for training and warm ups.

Most all of the venues are part of the Olympic park and very close together. There is construction going on all over the town. I did not see a lot of people working but perhaps it was due to the weather. But there is a great deal of work that still needs to be done. From the Aquatics Center and the Water Polo venue the Olympic Village is about a ten minute walk. There is a loop that goes around the Olympic Park and you can ride a shuttle that makes the entire loop in about 10 minutes. After viewing what we could see from the outside of the water polo venue, we went to the Village and saw the apartments where team USA will stay during the games. There was no furniture in the building but we at least were able to visualize what the living arrangements would be like.

The rest of the day consisted of traveling around town to visit sites such as where team processing will occur, the USA House and UEL Docklands. UEL is the University of East London. This is where team USA will make its home outside of the village. There will be home cooked meals, meeting rooms, medical and a fitness center. Unfortunately, there is no pool on campus so it will be a bit different than in Beijing where we had a dedicated pool to use and did not have to worry about the scheduled training sessions that often leave you frustrated with not enough time. I guess there are just not that many pools in London that can be used for water polo so we are going to have figure that part out. The evening ended with a nice reception with the mayor of London at Canada One square - which is a very nice financial district in town. We then went to dinner and finally arrived back at the hotel around 11 pm. We were all exhausted and went to bed immediately.

Day two consisted of sleeping in… which was greatly appreciated and then spending the afternoon in meetings with the LOCOG people (London Organizing Committee), key people from the USOC, people from Ralph Lauren (we got a sneak peak at the Opening Ceremonies outfits which are highly secretive) and Nike (saw the podium outfits – once again highly secretive). It was a good afternoon filled with lots of helpful information of everything we need to know about the Games.

More than anything it made me very excited to actually see and feel what London is going to be like in a few short months. I come home with a whole new level of excitement and realization that this is all going to happen so quickly. Time to get back to work with the team…

Hopefully things will warm up a bit in London before the summer… it is actually suppose to be in the low 80’s during that time of the year so it should be very pleasant. The journey accelerates from here. Our job is to stay focused and keep the team focused on doing what we need to do to prepare one day at a time. We are working hard. Robert and Marco held down the fort and took the guys through another grueling week of practice. I will rejoin them today.

See you at the pool.

Coach

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