I will do a lengthy blog entry on the "Provincials" on Sunday or Monday, after the weekend activities have been completed. Interesting event to be sure.
Meanwhile, some family promotion as Riley had his first solo CD reviewed in the Free Press today. It was pretty favourable and you can read it here;
http://www.whatsonwinnipeg.com/
index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=43253&Itemid=0
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Odds and Ends
Charming Cadet GirlsTeam psychologists have dropped the gauntlet, boys vs girls in enough categories to keep things interesting. Tonight the boys had greater "On Task" performance, hmmm, didn't see that coming. Girls won't let that happen again but can the boys get enough guys to practice on time to challenge in the stretching and attendance categories? Don't hold your breath.
This weekend the "Provincial Championships" take place, be still my beating heart! But, seriously, it will be fun to play some games without all the inter-club stress and BS that we have had for decades. Kids know each other well enough from each group that they will push each other respectfully.
The Cadet Boys and Open Men's event will be without Mike, today he went to the doctor to x-ray his broken finger. Great, our history of major injuries for Cadet Boys continues for another year right at Nationals. What is it with the "Granola Belt" boys at practice that their fingers break in April? Arghh!
I just heard from Beeb (Bronwyn) who made it back to Canada after a year of traveling and avoiding Hep A and everything else tropical. Maybe we will see her at the pool soon.
Thank You Shae
First, I want to be sure that all the Bushido girls realize that Shae has agreed to stay home from the final CSL weekend this week to play in our Provincial Championships. That is a pretty big sacrifice from a player so intensely competitive and driven to succeed at the highest level.
Another reason Shae is staying home is so that she will not have to travel 3 weekends in a row with the 3rd being a hugely important Youth Nationals in Montreal May 1-3. Staying home now means that she has a short 2 day trip to Regina next week and a long 5 day trip to Montreal the following week.
I mention that because it should help to focus the Cadet and Youth teams on what they are working on the next few weeks, TEAM play. The opportunity to really get in synch will be given to the Cadets on their Regina road trip where we get 3 controlled games in one and a half days. That gives us a game to work on each zone defense with switches between press/drop, press/M for a full 4 quarters regardless of success or score. Then we will see who knows what and in the final Sunday game we can do what we feel most comfortable with or what needs a final tweek before we play BC at nationals (tough first draw, but as much so for them as us).
Girls, is this picture any good or do we redo it?
The teams in Regina will spend all weekend together so there will be some healthy rivalry going on. This will help the boys a lot as they see a challenge (playing better team systems than the girls) and like to rise to it. The boys will also really benefit from having a team psychologist in Regina because they don't fully understand why they play up and down without control. Tom will help them bring that into perspective and it may even sink in enough to be applied at Nationals in BC in late May. That is an event that I am happy is last, it is the most pleasant site to visit and there is an AMAZING coffee roasting house - Viva Java, that is close to the pool/hotel if we are in Richmond again. Wohoo!
Another reason Shae is staying home is so that she will not have to travel 3 weekends in a row with the 3rd being a hugely important Youth Nationals in Montreal May 1-3. Staying home now means that she has a short 2 day trip to Regina next week and a long 5 day trip to Montreal the following week.
I mention that because it should help to focus the Cadet and Youth teams on what they are working on the next few weeks, TEAM play. The opportunity to really get in synch will be given to the Cadets on their Regina road trip where we get 3 controlled games in one and a half days. That gives us a game to work on each zone defense with switches between press/drop, press/M for a full 4 quarters regardless of success or score. Then we will see who knows what and in the final Sunday game we can do what we feel most comfortable with or what needs a final tweek before we play BC at nationals (tough first draw, but as much so for them as us).
Girls, is this picture any good or do we redo it?The teams in Regina will spend all weekend together so there will be some healthy rivalry going on. This will help the boys a lot as they see a challenge (playing better team systems than the girls) and like to rise to it. The boys will also really benefit from having a team psychologist in Regina because they don't fully understand why they play up and down without control. Tom will help them bring that into perspective and it may even sink in enough to be applied at Nationals in BC in late May. That is an event that I am happy is last, it is the most pleasant site to visit and there is an AMAZING coffee roasting house - Viva Java, that is close to the pool/hotel if we are in Richmond again. Wohoo!
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Push Push Push
When I get stressed in Winter I remember this summer solitude is waiting for me.Now is the time of the season when we have to push ourselves hard; not to get in shape, not to learn but to apply! That is always the difficult part, the application without breakdown. Anyone can work hard at physical effort, that is just pain that goes away when you stop. The performance of skill under specific, stressful conditions is a thing that can stay with you long after the effort has been expended.
That is why coaching is not all science, sometimes less science than art, and usually a mix of craft and psychology. This month we step up the mental part of performance by doing specific drills that mirror what will happen in games. It is too late to teach new things, we just need to focus on performing what we know. If we did that there would be no problem at all.
When we travel to Regina later this month with our Cadet teams, in a pre-nationals tour, it will be with a team psychologist, maybe even 2. That is meant to bring a new set of eyes to our group so we can adjust things that we have become accustomed to but that are interfering with our performance. That is all meant to aid focus of both individuals and the teams. That involves simplifying what we do and bringing into focus what our capabilities are and how we will maximize our current skills.
What we learn from this process in the spring of 2008 will help the athletes direct the kind of support they want and will get during the full season in 2008-09. Hopefully there is benefit right away but the bigger picture is having Cadet aged athletes understand what part their heads play in their training and performance.
Besides setting team and individual psychology meetings this week I have also scheduled team photos. That will give me some Blog pics to spice things up and the pics may be in some event programs for spring nationals too.
Heather and Serena will both soon be back in Winnipeg and I hope to have some spring time contributions from them both on deck and via the blog to give players some insight into what they went through as pro's this past season (NCAA and Italy).
Thursday, April 10, 2008
"Fighter Jet" taking down an OpponentSo, this week at the pool I am focusing on half court drills that require teams to follow limited, specific tactical directions. The point is to get them to follow a game plan and not fall into habits of freelance play or dependency on too few.
The boys never seem to give Brendan the ball often enough when he is available at 2m. His skill there demands we feed him the ball every time he is open. This is a problem that Riley had when he was a Youth player too, it was only Jesse (and sometimes Dana Bredin or Greg Cavers) that could follow a game plan and feed the pass to Riley at 2m. Too often Adam was busy playing with the ball himself and oblivious to what the team was doing. Pizey and Ben had that problem today, too unwilling to listen to tactics and just doing what they want. That is being corrected.
The girls have a different problem. The older ones tend to want to give it to Breda and watch what happens. Any team tactic we discuss is thrown out the window as soon as the first pass goes to her. She has this solo effort reinforced at both the CSL and the Junior National Team where they build tactics around her handling the ball. That means we are working against some big obstacles to break that model but it is happening. The good thing is Breda is smart and want steam success so when things work as a group she embraces them. She never wants to do it herself, she just keeps getting put in that spot by others.
This is the sort of thing we are doing now, force a limited tactic each day, then expand the next. Without games through the season it takes much longer to learn these tactics than it would in a country with a league but we do what we can while we change the environment we work in over time.
Also this week, finally, we have the safety nets up at Pan Am during practice. I asked for this to be done, in writing, in August 2007. Why did it take the city 7 months to do this, don't ask. I will have my camera at the pool Thursday to take some Cadet Girls team shots for the Nationals Program. I will try to get some pics of the safety netting too, then post them here.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Busy Guy
Sorry it has been a long time for a blog update. Carol has spring break right now and we have been busy with some household renovations that are taking lots of free time.
I heard from Serena in Hawaii yesterday that she may have torn her UCL (in the elbow) from a very hard outside shot from a big 2m defender on the Wahine squad. This girl, Ryan, shoots harder than Monika Eggens if you need that perspective, so maybe 65km/hr. She'll have an MRI this week and get the full report soon.
There have been some additional discussions the past week between Trevor and I concerning my 2008-09 MWPA plans. This is good, the more we talk, the more I hear questions, the more it becomes clear how we can move forward with unity and harmony. One of the things I had not made clear initially was my hope that Neptunes would strengthen their role as a provider of "life long" water polo opportunities and build more adult programs with players graduating from age group programs of both Bushido and Neptunes. This seems to be universally accepted so when both clubs graduate players from Bantam into Cadet they will choose participation with Neptunes or High Performance with Bushido. Then when they graduate from age group they will choose ongoing HP with Bushido ie national team, pro, NCAA or Adult or Masters with Neptunes. All of the players in both Cadet and Open will play in the same MWPA leagues so there is no lack of program opportunity for anyone if this is done right.
I was reading in the paper today about the synchro girls who are participating at Pan Am this week in the Western Divisionals. They have trained 20 hrs/week the past few years to be ready for this national level event. This will be an important program model for our families education next year when we initiate the High Performance Training Centre with Bushido. I certainly don't expect 20 hrs/week but we have to go part way to that frequency to get where we want to go nationally and internationally with water polo. Some of our players are training 6 days/week and twice some days right now so it isn't like they will practice more, just practice with more unity and partnership under a more specific plan.
Later this weekend I hope to look in detail at our Youth Women's National Championship schedule and talk about the double elimination system. Then I will have some comments on what happens if/when we beat Calgary 2 in our first game and jump up a few levels to play Quebec 1 later the same day.
I heard from Serena in Hawaii yesterday that she may have torn her UCL (in the elbow) from a very hard outside shot from a big 2m defender on the Wahine squad. This girl, Ryan, shoots harder than Monika Eggens if you need that perspective, so maybe 65km/hr. She'll have an MRI this week and get the full report soon.
There have been some additional discussions the past week between Trevor and I concerning my 2008-09 MWPA plans. This is good, the more we talk, the more I hear questions, the more it becomes clear how we can move forward with unity and harmony. One of the things I had not made clear initially was my hope that Neptunes would strengthen their role as a provider of "life long" water polo opportunities and build more adult programs with players graduating from age group programs of both Bushido and Neptunes. This seems to be universally accepted so when both clubs graduate players from Bantam into Cadet they will choose participation with Neptunes or High Performance with Bushido. Then when they graduate from age group they will choose ongoing HP with Bushido ie national team, pro, NCAA or Adult or Masters with Neptunes. All of the players in both Cadet and Open will play in the same MWPA leagues so there is no lack of program opportunity for anyone if this is done right.
I was reading in the paper today about the synchro girls who are participating at Pan Am this week in the Western Divisionals. They have trained 20 hrs/week the past few years to be ready for this national level event. This will be an important program model for our families education next year when we initiate the High Performance Training Centre with Bushido. I certainly don't expect 20 hrs/week but we have to go part way to that frequency to get where we want to go nationally and internationally with water polo. Some of our players are training 6 days/week and twice some days right now so it isn't like they will practice more, just practice with more unity and partnership under a more specific plan.
Later this weekend I hope to look in detail at our Youth Women's National Championship schedule and talk about the double elimination system. Then I will have some comments on what happens if/when we beat Calgary 2 in our first game and jump up a few levels to play Quebec 1 later the same day.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Why do Teenage Players Worry So Much About Referee Calls?
Tonight I had a post-practice conversation with a very talented, very bright young water polo player. She was frustrated with my referee calls in scrimmage and wanted t o compare them to what would be called in a "real game" or, worse, compare them to what I was calling for other players in the scrimmage. Well, I tried to explain, that is the wrong focus. We have engaged in a similar dialogue on many other occasions but this time, bless her heart, Joy was present. Being a younger, kinder, and much more attractive coach Joy was heard by this athlete better than I had been.
What Joy added to the conversation was an observation that the Bantam Girls she coaches have started to make comments about referee calls, and my calls when reffing practices, that they have zero knowledge about ie the comments do not come from an informed position. This attitude is being passed on to them by the role models they have present at practice. That bit of information resonated with the player and there was some reflection.
What I tried to say to diffuse the athlete frustration was that coaches referee at practice to lead players and teams to certain places. Sometimes there is refereeing exactly as we expect at events, sometimes we bring referees to practice or scrimmage, sometimes coaches want to show athletes what habits they have developed that got them into foul trouble at a recent tournament. This last piece is important because explaining a major foul to a player during a game or right after, when they are frustrated, does not always sink in. So recreating the major foul at practice when they do something similar is a good teaching point.
BUT, players should NEVER focus on what a referee calls other than to adjust their play accordingly. Accept the call and take what opportunities are presented no matter how smart, right or stubborn you may be. Even if the whole world knows the referee is wrong, like that LA ref who yellow carded me at Alberta Open!
Interestingly enough I have recently read an interview with a European 17 year old who will play NCAA water polo next year. In that interview he makes a perfect comment about referees so I copy the question and answer here with full credit to waterpoloplanet.com
Taken from "An Interview with Lithuanian LMU Recruit Ed Asajavicius".
Now, just to give everyone a good laugh, here is a picture of me the day I was certified as a National referee in Canada. It was during the Gold Medal final of the mens division at the 1983 Canada Games in Quebec. Note the stylish white uniform that has not changed in 25 years. I was using an Acme Thunderer whistle and carrying a 2 colour referee flag; those things have certainly changed.
Dave reffing Ontario vs Quebec Men, Gold Medal 1983 Jeux Canada Games
The game was won by Quebec, boo hoo, since I was from Ontario at the time and coached some boys on the Ontario team. On the other side of the pool was Micheline Landry who remains, to this day, a National Referee and has been at that level since this day in 1983.
Why do I put this picture up today? Because in 1983 we had to be selected by the 2 teams in the final to be the game ref. Neither coach wanted "neutral" refs from other provinces, they wanted people they knew and could trust to not influence the game with politics or ego. This is important because even though it was 25 years ago it reflects that I have "walked a mile" in the shoes of a referee in key games. I've done this many times more since then and I know when to follow the FINA rules and interpretations and when to push an athlete to be more than they are accustomed to be in daily practice.
Hopefully a picture of me reffing with my eyes closed will give the players reading this a laugh. That might allow them to reflect and to understand that I don't referee any scrimmage to be mean and never from a position ignorance.
What Joy added to the conversation was an observation that the Bantam Girls she coaches have started to make comments about referee calls, and my calls when reffing practices, that they have zero knowledge about ie the comments do not come from an informed position. This attitude is being passed on to them by the role models they have present at practice. That bit of information resonated with the player and there was some reflection.
What I tried to say to diffuse the athlete frustration was that coaches referee at practice to lead players and teams to certain places. Sometimes there is refereeing exactly as we expect at events, sometimes we bring referees to practice or scrimmage, sometimes coaches want to show athletes what habits they have developed that got them into foul trouble at a recent tournament. This last piece is important because explaining a major foul to a player during a game or right after, when they are frustrated, does not always sink in. So recreating the major foul at practice when they do something similar is a good teaching point.
BUT, players should NEVER focus on what a referee calls other than to adjust their play accordingly. Accept the call and take what opportunities are presented no matter how smart, right or stubborn you may be. Even if the whole world knows the referee is wrong, like that LA ref who yellow carded me at Alberta Open!
Interestingly enough I have recently read an interview with a European 17 year old who will play NCAA water polo next year. In that interview he makes a perfect comment about referees so I copy the question and answer here with full credit to waterpoloplanet.com
Taken from "An Interview with Lithuanian LMU Recruit Ed Asajavicius".
WPP- You have played water polo in the United States several times, including in the summer leagues,Premier League D1, Junior Olympics and Commerce Invitational. What are the differences in the way the game is played in Europe and the USA?
Sure, they put a smiley face after his remark but that just emphasizes that we all know EVERYBODY is concerned about referee calls. The point is, there is nothing players can do about it so just focus on what you can control and let coaches or event organizers deal with referee issues.EA- Since refereeing is not something a player should be concerned about :), there are not many differences I can think of. One team has to score more goals than the other to win, water polo is the same everywhere.
Now, just to give everyone a good laugh, here is a picture of me the day I was certified as a National referee in Canada. It was during the Gold Medal final of the mens division at the 1983 Canada Games in Quebec. Note the stylish white uniform that has not changed in 25 years. I was using an Acme Thunderer whistle and carrying a 2 colour referee flag; those things have certainly changed.
Dave reffing Ontario vs Quebec Men, Gold Medal 1983 Jeux Canada GamesThe game was won by Quebec, boo hoo, since I was from Ontario at the time and coached some boys on the Ontario team. On the other side of the pool was Micheline Landry who remains, to this day, a National Referee and has been at that level since this day in 1983.
Why do I put this picture up today? Because in 1983 we had to be selected by the 2 teams in the final to be the game ref. Neither coach wanted "neutral" refs from other provinces, they wanted people they knew and could trust to not influence the game with politics or ego. This is important because even though it was 25 years ago it reflects that I have "walked a mile" in the shoes of a referee in key games. I've done this many times more since then and I know when to follow the FINA rules and interpretations and when to push an athlete to be more than they are accustomed to be in daily practice.
Hopefully a picture of me reffing with my eyes closed will give the players reading this a laugh. That might allow them to reflect and to understand that I don't referee any scrimmage to be mean and never from a position ignorance.
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