I asked the players at the Academy practice tonight what kind of things they would want to read on a coaches Blog. Got a mixed, limited response since I said there wouldn't be trash talking other clubs or gossiping about what happened at practice the day before. They do want details though on my observations about games they play so that will be an immediate focus. 

One thing I will also do is write some practice background every once in awhile. It's not every day that players understand thematic practices and almost never that they understand the cycles of periodized training. We do have a periodized calendar even if Verhoshansky thinks the model is dead or ill conceived. Of course, my application of periodization is blended organically with a modern Serbian school of athlete development so it has evolved somewhat since the Cold War.

An example of confused athlete thinking today was the reaction of players to practicing a deflection shot that they seldom use. This was an Academy practice so it should include things that add breadth to athlete skill sets and that sometimes means rare, or finesse, shots. I loved the questioning of the drill though, as it indicated real thought and critical evaluation, that was great to see. However, I do constantly try to impress that what you do in a game follows what you do in a practice so if you only practice what you are already good at, or what you do often, then you won't advance too far, too fast.

One thing I did not mention in my early post about February 2nd league games is that I am excited  to be able to help coach the Cadet Boys this week and watch them play as a team (since the 3:30 women's game is Neptune vs Neptune). I have heard they didn't play with too much intensity last week, that will change!

PS check out the Rainbow Wahine link to the left of this page and see the updated Hawaii roster with the data on Serena.