Odds and Ends

Hawaii had another close one tonight, 13-12 over Arizona State. Hawaii is now 3-0 and tied for first in their division (MPSF) but so much is based on rankings in the NCAA that means little right now. Here is an excerpt from the University of Hawaii website about todays game;

"Freshman goalie Serena Bredin had seven stops for the Rainbow Wahine, three of which came in the decisive fourth quarter as UH held off the Sun Devils.

UH trailed 8-7 at the half after surrendering six second quarter goals. Behind Bredin, the Rainbow Wahine shutout Arizona State 3-0 in the third and entered the final period with a 10-8 advantage."

It's possible that the games and margin of victory will be more comfortable once they get to play in the familiar surroundings of their home pool on the island paradise. Nobody else has the crazy travel schedule that Hawaii does.

The boys had a bit of a moment at practice tonight, making demands for a new Turbo suit and even wanting a robe to go with it. This is an alternative to track suits like the girls will buy. Not sure I can agree about the white suit choice 'cause, like I said, Brooks will be invisible. But, full marks for speaking up with a unified voice.

I have to admit Dani and Claire looked pretty good in their new Agon suits today, much better fit than the Turbo ones that just don't get built for a women's body. And it is the Turbo suits that were the problem, nothing wrong with any of the girls wearing them. New sizing suits from Agon will be here this week so girls are all pretty excited.

Ok, yesterday we had a visual summary of blocking from Bushido players 10-17 years of age. Also viewed by several people yesterday was a Water Polo World web shot of a National Team athlete blocking during a game at the current Olympic Qualification event in Imperia, Italy. The pictures appeared on the web on the same day, talk about reinforcing the importance of the skill. If you compare the photos it is obvious the young club players have learned this technique very well.

Blocking as a Sign of Peak Performance

Now that we are about to end our first periodization cycle with a "Competitive Season" stage I am reviewing all the parts that have been taught and can now be stressed - expected - in competition. The timing of the various stages has been muddled and it shows my split focus of training both male and female teams simultaneously since they have different needs that were not properly measured.

This is a multi-peak season for everyone, January was the time at which the girls reached Peak Performance and they are currently in a mental and physical down time. This was not the plan and it is not how the boys have reacted to their training, they are just getting ready to peak now. Hmm, what was different?

Well, first, the boys train more casually than the girls and they did not mentally fatigue in the same way. There are a few reasons for that, none I will discuss here. Now my task is to keep them sharp for 3 more weeks as we get ready to attend the big Alberta Open; shouldn't be a problem. But, how they respond to down time, recovery and then rebuilding toward May Nationals will be very interesting as it is a short window (8 weeks) and I will see some big issues in Calgary that need remedy.

Other key gender differences were the creation of the women's Espoir Program, the extra National Team Identification event in December and the involvement of some players in the CSL. That put social, mental and physical strain on top of the modest weekly workouts. They struggled to hold it all together and took a big physical hit with sickness at the beginning of February that is still going on. So, it's a holding pattern toward Alberta Open as we can't take a break right in the middle of a lead-up to the biggest event of the year. Calgary performance might suffer but my focus will be on readiness for Nationals in May, no question.

So, why did I title this blog entry "Blocking as a Sign of Peak Performance"? Simple, everyone, on every team, displayed the same basic technical skill at the same event. That shows a readiness to apply skills without thought since it wasn't ever part of any teams pre-game talk. There were other signs too, of course, but these pictures just jump out from the group as a community effort so I celebrate that fact.

These pictures are all from the Bushido Invitational, our last event in January. I will see if this practice continues this weekend when we host Team Saskatchewan. It will be evident very quickly if this is technique burned into memory as we will experiment with some drop and gap defenses on each team. Blocking will be applied in many forms with the changing tactics and if they forget the block then they are thinking too much about the tactic and that tells me lots!

Shae, Oh that girl is so intense, gotta love it!

Claire, calm & cool; hope she is fit enough to play on Saturday.

Bree, wrong hand but perfect focus.

Ben, also intense even if we can't see what he is blocking.

Brett, with those arms who needs legs for height?

Brooks, no way that is ball is going anywhere but up!

Sarah, couldn't get too much closer.


Finally, a team one. So much fun with this 5 vs 6 defense.