Ah-Keep-Oh!

"What I Think"-This is different, Enter At Your Own Risk-Commentaries on life, as I see it. 

01/07/06 A Team Of Character vs A Team Of Characters-Wanting to fit in is always a goal.  We need to feel part of the machine to have true ownership it of.  Within the framework of a team, you will always find those who think they somehow don't fit in.  The worst thing, I believe about being on a team, is that feeling of "Oh, I don't fit in."  This sometimes manifests itself into, "nobody on the team likes me," which often results in a self-fulfilling prophecy, where in fact, nobody on the team does like you.

Before we get to the part about nobody on the team liking you, let's ask yourself, "Am I likeable?"  Do I do the kinds of things that endear me to my team mates?  Am I the kind of person that I would like to have on my team?  The answers to these questions will go a long way towards helping you define your role on the team.

A Team Of Character, the players feel connected to a purpose.  On a Team Of Characters, the players feel connected to their own personal agenda.  I am sure you can predict which team will be the more successful.

A Team Of Character is focused on a goal, and lets nothing get in its way.  A Team Of Characters are focused on their own goals, and what feels good for them to do at a certain time, which might include being somewhere other than with the team during team moments.

A Team Of Character, though tolerant to some extent of their team mates, will begin to resent those Characters whose actions reflect a selfish agenda.  A Team Of Character begins to see individuals who live outside the realm of TEAM, yet still consider themselves members, as an enemy of the circle.  Resent builds, things are said, feelings are hurt, and team chemistry is damaged.  This is the reason that coaches are sometimes forced to suspend or remove players from the team.

How do I find my role on the team?

The best way to do this is to show up and BE part of the team.  Develop the same character as the group.  You don't have to be the best player or the goal scorer.  Simply by bringing your personality to the group, you have built something, added an ingredient to the recipe.  The Team Of Character will begin to accept you, as they see you making the same sacrifices, getting through the same adversities and accepting the same goals as they do.  There isn't a lot of room for individualism on a Team Of Character. 

2/22/06 Criticism: Productive vs Unproductive-As our boys and girls water polo teams continue to grow, I am reminded that the way we talk to each other is critical to our success both in and out of the water.  I know that many of you have sat next to me as we waited for our game in a tournament, and I have included you in my running commentary of another coach's method of communication to his team.  When I hear a coach say to his players in a moment of frustration, "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?" part of me wants to see the player stop the game, perhaps burning his or her team's final timeout to come over to the side of the pool to explain to the coach just exactly what he or she was thinking!  Or, when the coach asks "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I would love to see that player stop getting back on defense to explain to that coach what he or she had in mind when they attempted to make that play in question.  I know, it is just a fantasy of mine, but the point is, those are both examples of unproductive criticism.   There is no learning, there is no growth, there is no getting better in either of those two statements.

I have coached way too many years to think that the coach above wants to cause his team to play poorly.  No coach would ever try to demoralize his or her team that it might hurt their performance.  I am sure that the above coach certainly wants his players to do well, he has simply allowed frustration, an emotion, to take over in a situation where understanding and at least some constructive comments were more in order.  

I am not above comments which are unproductive in their nature,  nobody is.  The fact of the matter is that sometimes they do slip out.  From my stand point however, it is something that I work on every minute of everyday.

It is a regrettable thing when a coach attempts to teach using unproductive criticism.  It is also a proven fact that it doesn't work very well.

The same thing can also be said about players and how they talk to each other.  It is a fact that maybe more important then how your coach talks to you, how your teammates talk to you and how, in turn, you talk to your teammates is equally, if not more important to building the kind of chemistry that teams need to be successful.  

Consider the following the dialog:

• Player A-makes a bad pass to player B
• Player B-"HELLO! I'M NOT TEN FEET TALL!"
• Comment-Player B is not ten feet tall, but now Player A feels about 10 inches tall.  Was that your goal?  Demoralize your teammate?

Next situation:

• Player A is on a two on one break away with Player B, (remember, Player A already has it in the back of his or her mind that "Player B is angry at me for the last one,")
• Player A is thinking "I better not screw this one up, Player B will really get mad, OK, I have to do something, that defender is in the middle, the goalie is sort of on me, but sort of on my teammate, Geese (like cheese)  I better not screw this up, what to do, what to do?  OK shoot!"
• The goalie easily makes the save on the conflicted shooter.
• Player B: "PLAYER A ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?  WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?"
• Comment-The noose around player A's neck begins to tighten.  Player B has lost confidence in player A.  What makes this particularly bad is that now player A knows this.  Player A now begins to evaluate every move he/she makes in the pool.  Player A's game becomes tentative, because Player A must carefully think before acting every time, which we know will slow Player A way down, and reduce the player's effectiveness.

Next situation

• Later in a close game, the struggle is tight.  Player A is guarding an opponent, thinking about his or her every move in the pool.  Suddenly the ball is loose near Player A, a ball that Player A can clearly get to........however...
• Player A-"I can get that if I leave this spot right now.  Of course if I leave my player, and that player scores, well, I will upset Player B.  What to do? What to do?
• Too late, another player picked up the loose ball and scored against your team
• Player B-well, you can probably imagine what Player B is going to say right?  It won't be very nice.  It won't be constructive.  It won't facilitate any learning.
• Comment-coming into this game, Player A was confident and would have made any of those plays, had Player A been able to sustain that concentration, and confidence.  However, because player B constantly criticized in a non productive manner, Player B inadvertently shot himself/herself in the foot because the game was lost by Player A' indecisiveness, which was caused by Player B's negative comments.

It takes a mature player to be a leader on a team.  A leader understands how to make others around them better.  While Player B may not be able to stand player A, it is important for Player B to understand that he or she needs Player A to play as well as possible.  Playing your best depends on your level of confidence.

Player B will eventually be a good teammate when he/she matures, grows up and learns to tolerate that some of us learn a little slower.  The beautiful thing about being a team is that every member of the group affects every other member of the group.  

Even if you feel, "ah, the coach won't play me anyway, so why try."  Even that is a selfish way to approach a team atmosphere.  Plus it is a cop out.  By blaming coach for your lack of playing time, you are really saying that I don't have to try because nothing I do will have an impact anyway.  And the teams doesn't get any better.

Be a faucet, not a drain!

2/14/06 Coach, where have you been?-Buried.  Simply buried.  No excuses, I just have not had the time to write as often as I would like.  However, here I am.  Fasten your seat belts!

Team Work-Swimming, perhaps the single most offensive word in a water polo player's vocabulary.  Swimming, perhaps the single most important thing in a water polo player's development.  I am asking our water polo players to be involved in club water polo and our swim team this year.  In years past, I have welcomed it, this year I expect it.  There has been a lot of talk about "taking it to the next level," but it is time to see this through.

What does swimming offer a water polo player?

• 1st-Without thinking about it, each water polo player knows on the surface, that three months of swimming is a valuable training base.  Players try to deny this outwardly, however, each of us knows inside that swimming condition is very important to our game.
• 2nd-There is nothing that teaches you how to win like the physical exertion of a swim race.  When you have just completed 150 yards and you are neck and neck with a swimmer in the next lane or across the pool, with two laps to go, one of you will dig down and find that which inside each of us.  It is a will, it is a way.  It is an intangible ingredient, but after competing numerous times, the athlete beings to understand how to reach that point that is past  pain and agony.  The point where the athlete knows how to win.  This becomes very important to us in water polo.  During the course of each game, there comes a point where the winning team and losing team separate from each other.  Usually, it is the losing team, that simply "gives in," rolls over and quits.  The discipline of swimming does not let you quit, and this is a characteristic that each of you should want to have.  Remember, you don't become a great player by going easy on yourself. Yes playing club takes time, and means you will be tired.  No, this is not an excuse for not swimming, it is simply an excuse.  Do both!
• 3rd-Team Chemistry.  All members of our water polo team must experience the same adversity.  Putting in the training with your water polo team mates, creates a powerful bond that strengthens your commitment to each other.  Each water polo player  needs to go through a swim season with his or her team mates, so that they have both been to the wars together.

Perhaps you have never heard it explained to you this way.  Well, now you have.  I believe that great players are those that commit to swimming and club water polo in the off season.  One thing that cannot be denied is that not all teams will do this, many will choose the path of least resistance.  There will however, be some teams that commit to this kind of training.  These are the teams that win championships.

11/28/05 Missing You & Playing Time-There is nothing more important to what we do than having our full group experience the entire adventure together.  When you miss practice or a game, you take something from the rest of us........YOU!!!  It is very important, no, it is the most important aspect of what we do, that we all do it together!

I understand sick, we all get sick and it is no fun.  However, as you know, there are variations of being ill, and sometimes, as a gesture to our team mates who are at practice, putting in the work, we show up and go to work anyway.  At the very least, we show up, and let the coach tell us not to get in.

When you do not show up, you demonstrate to your team mates that you are placing your personal comfort above the rest of the group, it is a subtle message, but one that we all get.  I have asked you to call me when you are going to miss. This is not a invitation to go ahead and miss any way!

Parents will always want to protect their child from illness, and I can respect that, however I also know that children are very often able to persuade parents thinking, I guess I am asking you to consider us, when allowing a little discomfort to keep you from practice.

Standard practice for our team is that you will lose your position on our team for a period of time, upon your return, should you miss a practice.  A starter is relegated to the bench, and a bench player is relegated back as well.  The purpose for this practice is to show the members of the team, that did show up, that their efforts are being appreciated.  This "benching" will continue for an indefinite time.  This has worked for me over the 23 years I have coached.  It is never an attempt to punish you, as much as it is an opportunity to promote someone else, and yes, we do it, even though the perception might be that it weakens our team.  I have tremendous confidence on the members of our team, and I believe that they can "step up" in those crucial moments when a team mate cannot play.

I also believe that a player who is absent from practice misses something crucial in our preparation for an upcoming game.  In the end, it is the age old saying that takes precedence, "don't invent excuses to miss, invent excuses to make!"

10/12/05 Our Greatest Triumph-So help me I know what makes me stay in coaching.  I am keenly aware of why I continue to get up at 3:45 in morning so that I can make practice and continue the grueling schedule.  I question myself, why am I doing this, virtually every day.  The answer?  Because there is absolutely nothing in life that provides as much exhilaration as winning the big game.  I know, I know, there are many things far more important than winning the big game.  Your graduation day, your college graduation day, your wedding, seeing your children being born, all events bigger than any words I could ever think of.  Still, I have not been able to find the shear, raw feelings of exhilaration that I get from winning a big game.  Of seeing 9 or 10 players come together as a single entity that does everything for the betterment on the group, producing the desired result.

That was a wonderful game we played against Troy yesterday.  I have preached and pleaded with the guys all season, "give yourself a chance to experience the exhilaration of a big win this season."   Well, they did.  After the game in our post game meeting, the smiles, the looks of amazement told me that our Lancers were experiencing the euphoria that am talking about.

Upward And Onward-Coupled with Sonora's loss yesterday, we now, once again control our own destiny.  If we win two more league games this season, we guarantee ourselves a playoff spot and a chance to go play Servite in the first round.  If we win our next three league games, we are league champions and will get a better first round opponent. 

9/19/05 Good Ejections/Bad Ejections-Let's make this as clear as possible, there are ejections that are ok for you to take in a game, however there are also some that are very bad.

Good Ejections-Guarding two meters, you are active, and moving, taking strokes on the offensive player, pushing to keep the 2 meter player from being able to grab you, generally out hustling him/her.  In moving, the 2 meter player is able to drop his/her shoulder under you and the official interprets that as you swimming over the 2 meter player.  

While we don't welcome the situation of having to play a "man down," we recognize that ejections do occur and if we can eliminate them to the type that I just mentioned, we will be in every game we play.

Bad Ejections-Personal fouls are going to happen, it is a fact of the game.  The ones that kill us are the ones that could have been avoided.  The ones that happen in our defensive end are tolerable unless a lack of hustle resulted in a player being out of position, and even in that, there are times when the player simply is going to out play you.

The bad ejections, the ones that we cannot tolerate, are the ones that come out of a player's frustration.  Scenario:  You just worked hard on offense, but the goalie made a great save, or you go ball undered.  In frustration you grab your defender as he attempts to counter attack.  Or, you go after a loose ball with the goalie, and the official blows an early whistle.  Frustrated, you give the goalie an extra kick, or dunk.

Another type of bad ejection is the one where you fouled a player, and continued to foul longer than the reasonable time, (continued to sink him/her after the whistle,) or after a foul, you pushed the ball away from the offensive play, or interfering with a free pass.

These bad ejections mean that you have used one of your three lives, (you get three personal fouls in a game of water polo.)

Now, instead of getting three personal fouls to be made while hustling in pool, you only have a chance to get two of the good, hustling types of ejections.

Eliminate the bad ejections from your game, get control of the emotional side of the game, and we will win far more than we lose. 

8/23/05 Hell Week?-Though I detest the thought of our I.F.T. (Intense Fall Training,) being referred to as "Hell Week," I suppose from a player's perspective.....there really isn't anything else to call it.  I prefer IFT.

Unique to Boys' season, because the boys return from a 3 week off period, the problem is that at some point we must get back into shape, and getting back into the routine is well, sort of like, ah....hell.

Getting back to it, legs are the biggest issue.  Many who watch the game assume that the passing and shooting that goes on is "arm generated."  "That player has a great arm."  An easy assumption to make, based on what you see.  However, it is the legs that generate the force that allow players to elevate into those explosive blasts that we all love to see.

Perhaps you have noticed either a teammate or as a fan, a player fumble the ball, trying to pick it up on top.  Typically, a mistake players make is trying to grab a large water polo ball from the top.  Water, hostile defenders and small hands often lead to mishandlings, and some comical situations, (unless you are the coach or the embarrassed player.)  These players, in the heat of the moment, are attempting to gain their needed elevation by pushing down on the most buoyant object they can find, the ball.  Thus, it is a mindset, which is why we condition our mind to summon the legs for shots and passes. Then we condition our legs so that in the heat of battle, they can respond when the mind asks for the explosive burst that is needed for a great shot or pass.

The first two weeks of our season, Coach will spend a significant amount of time, reminding players that it is their legs that help them generate their shots, not their arms. 

I don't like to think of what we do during our IFT as Hell Week.  After all, this period of time lasts two weeks!

7/26/05 Investors-Many of you have been in my classroom at Sunny Hills and, I have noticed, that you spend time, carefully looking at the pictures hanging on the walls.  The pictures are of Sunny Hills Water Polo teams that I have coached and represent 17 years or so of trying to do the right thing, day in and day out.

When I am in my classroom by myself, I often get the feeling that it is not me looking at them, but they, looking at me, kind of sitting in judgment of my efforts.  Perhaps this is "hyper sensitivity" on my part, but in each group that I have coached over 17 or so years, there is a common bond or work ethic that each group has shared.  Each group has been through through similar adversities.  In the 90's our burden was a ridiculous Freeway League winning streak that saw us win 24 straight league championships.  In those days, when we finished off a league championship, we didn't celebrate, we were relieved that we weren't the team that let the streak get broken.  I, all the while knew, that if I was going to have longevity in my job, that I would more than likely be the coach of the team that had the winning streak broken.  The streak of course was broken and I, of course was the coach.  In the later 90's and into the 21st Century, our adversity was trying to win back some respect for a program that had once been great, but now was out of gas.  Man, I did some sole searching in those years, looking at those pictures, wondering what my former players would think of our once great program. 

Having these teams of boys and girls, who are now, many of them, married men and women, watching over me kind of pushes me to keep on grinding.   It gives me a sense of responsibility that I feel obligated to carry on. 

These 300 or so, now young adults, are the investors in our present water polo program.   They made the morning workouts, they played in the long weekend tournaments and each one of them had a hand in creating what we are today.

Do you know what?  They are watching you to.  I think each player should feel the attachment that I feel to these pictures.  Each of you who reads this will likely find your team's picture on Nighswonger's "Wall of fame" some day.  You too, will look down from your place on the wall in my room, and will serve to remind me of what I should be, as a coach, as a teacher.

7/07/05 Supplements-I was very interested to overhear a conversation between one of our players and Strength/Nutrition coach Ha this morning.  The player was inquiring about what he should do to "gain weight."  This player was asking about supplements, proteins and other "enhancements" that the player had seen in a local "nutrition store."  I think it is fantastic that this player was concerned enough about performance that he wondered what he could do to improve his performance.

The problem is today, that everywhere you look, every TV show you watch, it's all over the place.  Enhance, enhance, enhance.  It sort of creates the illusion that we are simply not complete, or good enough.  I hate that.

My thoughts on "enhancements" are that the older you get, the more bombarded you get with advertisements to improve your performance, in a number of areas, through enhancements.  This doesn't mean however, that just because you are young, that you are not subjected to it.  We see reports in the news, day after day about athletes and increased performance through enhancements.  I am very leery about any kind of supplement that enhances one's performance.  An example of this would be products that help you gain weight.  There are many things you can do to increase weight.  However, a lot of the things you might do, might work against what you are.  You could gain 10 or 20 pounds relatively easily but you very well might sacrifice quickness, which in our sport is vital.

In the next couple of weeks, Coach Ha will be working on some dietary plans for each of you.  He will help you set up an "eating schedule" that will help you accomplish the things that will help you accomplish your performance goals.  These schedules will not include "supplements."

Question:  What are supplements?

Answer: Supplements are things, other than foods that you might ingest to help your body perform at a high level.

Question: Does this include vitamins?

Answer: I suppose it does, yet vitamins have traditionally been added to many diets, however, yes, vitamins are considered supplements.

Question: Can we take vitamins?

Answer: Vitamins that have been part of your routine are fine, if you aren't sure, lets ask Coach.

Question: Is food considered a supplement, after all we eat it and it improves our performance?

Answer: Food is not a supplement.

Question: What about Gatorade?  It does restore electrolytes at a faster rate, doesn't that improve performance?

Answer: You have entered a gray area.  Having once dehydrated myself to the point that I needed two IV's of fluid, and never wanting to ever experience that again for myself or my players, I have advocated the use of Gatorade because it does work.  Gatorade is not on any list of banned substances and has very little negative side effect, (it is full of sodium, so if you are not working out, it might not be a good thing to drink a lot of.)  

If you have questions about diet, please ask Coach Ha or myself.  We will make sure you are doing only good things for your self.

6/28/05 Lending a hand-"pick it up on top and you'll do pull outs until tomorrow morning!" I said, exaggerating my point, (I assume you understood I was exaggerating.)  We had just begun a shooting drill and I was growing tired of the blatant ignorance to a point I have tried to stress all Spring and Summer:  We have to get to the point where we pick the ball up underneath. Like so many other things however, I have spent some time this morning thinking about why we "must pick it up underneath."   So many times, and so many coaches that I know make these declarations not because they understand why, but because "they have always been told to do it this way."  While many "old rules of water polo" are correct, many coaches don't understand why they are right, and merely repeat these old rules, so young ears here these comments, and in some cases, young mouths even repeat these things to their teammate, without even understanding why the rule must be obeyed.  Well, to merely repeat a rule, is not be convincing, and I am aware that I may be guilty of not explaining why picking the ball up on top is wrong most of the time.  So, here goes:

When you step out to the ball to make a pass to a teammate or to take a shot out of two meters, your hand is facing away from where you want the ball to go when you grab it on top.  You are literally pointing your hand 180 degrees away from your desired target, (the goal or your teammate.)  If you step to the ball with your hand underneath, it is an easy, natural progression to follow through with the pass or shot.  Now you understand why it is so important to pick up the ball underneath.

6/23/05 Joe Choi-It is with much pride that I congratulate Joe Choi on his acceptance into the United States Naval Academy.  This has been something that Joe has wanted for at least the last two years.  Joe and I spent quite a bit of time, working on the agility tests that were required to be submitted with his application.  It is what Joe told me this morning that really touched me.  "I have good grades, but so does everyone else who applies to an Academy.  Coach what really got me in was Water Polo, the Coach knows I want to come and play, and he got me to the top of the list."

Over the last five years or so, I have seen this happen time and time again.  Working with the Coaches at major universities, Sunny Hills Water Polo players have been able to get in to schools, when others with even better grades, could not.  I had it explained to me by a coach several years ago.  "Our University is not only looking for good grades, EVERY STUDENT WHO APPLIES TO PRINCETON IS A 4.0/1500 SAT!  Our University is looking for what you can bring to us, a special skill, like Water Polo is something the University can use for it's own self promotion, you have to bring something or you don't get in."

I understand that Water Polo teaches all kinds of "life lessons," but it is neat to see our players get a direct benefit, such as a college acceptance because they play Water Polo.

Seeing Things-I find that players in game situations teach me far more, or at least as much as I teach them.  The things that I know to be true about water polo, I have not read about or been lectured to about in a clinic.  They are the things I have seen players do over the course of about 25 years of being a coach.  Recently we have played quite a few games against teams that had dominant two meter players.  We have struggled in half court defensive situations when we defended the dominant two meter player from a position behind him/her, and I have noticed, we have done well when we have taken a side, (not necessarily fronting,) and worked hard to swim behind the offensive 2 meter player to reposition.

You can see in diagram I that by sitting behind the 2 meter player, our 2m defender allows the ball to be passed in directly, from just about anywhere on the defensive perimeter.	When the effort is made to swim behind the 2 meter player it forces the offensive team to pass wide into set, which allows us a better chance to crash.  It also forces the offense to pass around the perimeter which increases our chance to steal passes.

It is such a simple difference in positioning, yet it creates a defensive advantage for us. I saw this work very well for last year's teams.  The defensive "rhythm" you can create doing this will in turn, create good offensive flow, and the "now we're really clicking" confidence that is associated with teams when they get on a hot streak.

6/22/05 More "Being" A Teammate-Gaining acceptance will always be a challenge, particularly when a new player attempts to break into the lineup.  There will be players, who, comfortable with their positions, will resent the challenge of a Maverick.  "Who is this guy/girl who would try to break into our group?"  The team dynamic, the chemistry, if you will, can be fragile, with players "picking sides," depending on where they feel the injustice has been committed.  Suddenly, a promising situation is threatened as the team is divided and we a get a good old fashion, "civil war."

The way acceptance is gained, is over time. The player who is trying to "break into the lineup," shows why he/she belongs, and eventually, the group accepts.  In other words, "we need this player in the lineup."

Recently, we had an interesting situation develop within our girl's team.  Graduation took our "team favorite goalie," the one everybody had developed confidence in, (she by the way, had to break into the lineup as well.)  Who would fill her shoes?  More importantly, will we accept her?  Will she work as hard? What will she do to endear herself to us?  As coach, I have a pretty good idea of how things will turn out, however, those "things," still have to "turn out," if I just jump a player ahead of others, I run the risk of creating a "civil war."  For our girl's team, things have worked out sooner, rather than later.  We played a tournament game recently, and our team jumped up on the opponent by a score of 4-1.  In the second half of the game, I sensed our energy level was starting to deplete.  Our opponent scored to make it 4-2 and then 4-3 and then again, late in the game to tie the score at 4.  In our Summer games, we don't play over time, we go to a shoot out.  A shoot out in which each team sends a shooter to take a 4 meter penalty shot at the other team's goal.  It is played by rounds.  Round one, they shoot, we shoot, Round two the same and so on, until someone scores and the other doesn't.  It a very exciting thing to watch, the goalies hate them.

As things turned out, our "new" goalie, blocked the first penalty shot she faced, we scored on ours and we won the game.  Needless to say, when the team had faltered, run out of gas, allowed the game to slip away, our new goalie, "saved the day" and instantly cemented her place within our team.  The goalie position is probably one of the easier positions for a player to gain acceptance from his or her teammates, simply because, they are going to screw up on defense at some point, you make the save, and the whole world knows you did it.  Field players will have more difficulty because so often, it is the things, other than scoring where the team needs your help.  

Over time, the difference that you make will be noticed.  In the meantime, do everything in your power to show the group you are "down for them."  This may include setting a teammate up for a goal, when you could have just as easily scored yourself.  The gesture, while missed by most people, will reach at least that teammate, and will be a step in the right direction.

When I first came to Sunny Hills High School in 1989, I was new to Orange County Water Polo.  I had been a coach in Los Angeles County, but OC was the BT, (big time.)  When I first led my team into battle with the Corona Del Mars, Newport Harbors and Long Beach Wilsons of the world, I became aware, that my team wasn't getting calls, that we should have been getting.  At the same time, I was aware of who the coaches on the other benches were, John Vargas, (now at Stanford,) Bill Barnet, (US Olympic Coach,) and Ricardo Acevado, (also an Olympic Coach.)  These guys were bigger than life guys, and they knew how to use their years, and reputations with officials.  As an official, if Ricardo Acevado "growls" at you, you know, you must have screwed up, (not really, but he is an intimidating man.)  Suddenly, Sunny Hills High School comes to play Newport Harbor in a CIF Quarter Final Game.  That's Bill Barnett on the bench over there, a Water Polo legend.  Who is the guy on Sunny Hill's Bench?  Exactly.

In those first years at Sunny Hills, I had to fight and scratch to gain respect.  I mean, if there was a close call, as a ref, who were you going to give the call to?  "Breaking in" for me, meant I had to take down one of these "great coaches," so that officials would learn that I belonged.  I even had a ref once say to me, "who are you to question me?"  In the 1989 Quarterfinals we played Newport Harbor, and beat them 7-6.  The calls were very one sided against us, but we played a determined match, never whined, never cried, just stayed determined to play our best.  As the game went on, were we not going to be denied.  We won the game, and I had "broken" into the "brotherhood."  

The moral of all this story is that nobody grants you anything, there are no entitlements.  Getting over means out performing.  That is what it takes.

6/20/05 On "Being" A Teammate-To me, the concept of a teammate is that you have members of a team, who go through a certain amount of adversity together.  Going through this adversity together, creates a common bond.  This common bond, if strong, becomes the "chemistry" of the team.

What does Coach mean by "adversity," do we have to go through a traumatic event, in order to be bonded together?

Not really, but you do have to go through heavy training together.  Training, that if a couple of you don't go through it,  you really haven't made the journey together.  Coaches get in trouble, in terms of losing their teams, when they allow some players to have "special treatment."  We have all seen examples of situations where a player received special treatment, because it is perceived that the player is good, so he/she is not benched because, you know, they are good.  There is no better way to ruin a team's chemistry then for a coach to let the gifted players miss, while making the "less gifted players" make the heavy training.  This is the main reason, Coach N, will bench players, even if it means losing, because in the long run, the group learns to go through the adversity together.

Another form of adversity, is having to sit all day Saturday and all day Sunday in the hot sun, running the score desk at our Summer tournaments.  A lot of players hate doing this, and how can we blame them.  Still, it is adversity, and going through it together, helps develop a stronger bond, not to mention mutual respect.

Players who find ways to sneak out, or miss out on the detail of working the desk, or staying until the end the tournament to help break down the pool, may think they are getting out of work, but what they are really doing, is destroying the chemistry between themselves and their teammates.  Yes, your teammates resent you, and while they may not tell  you to your face, I will.  Our team will be the sum of its parts, however if those parts don't work/fit together, a team will have problems.  So many times, I have encountered teams that have far more talent then is fair for one team to have, yet they fall short of their potential because as a unit, they don't function well.  It would be tragic, to waste talent on a sub par season, simply because the team, never went through the same adversity together.  I have seen this wreck teams.

I am encouraged, because I don't see a lot problems on our team, for the most part, each of you is "there" for your teammates.  A great deal of our strength as a team, I owe in large part, to the fact that we are so cohesive as a group, so together.  So far this Summer, it has allowed both our boys and girls teams to beat teams that had more talent.

6/11/05 Passing Goalies-We often take for granted the importance of goalie passing.  Most people think of a goalie as the one making spectacular saves, and keeping the other team off the scoreboard, but that really couldn't be further from the real value of a goalie.  Sure we like to see them make saves, the position kind of implies that blocking shots is part of the job, but consider this, the goalie is only going to see a shot, when the defense in front of him or her breaks down.  When I look at a box score and see that the goalie made 15 saves, my first thought is wow, that must be a poor defensive team to give up that many shots on goal.  We of course have no way of knowing if these were good shots, but the bottom line, is that goalie had to make 15 saves.

In my way of thinking, a team's goalie can be the leader in offensive assists if he/she can pass well.  So, here goes Nighswonger, taking a position that has defense written all over it and saying that this position, (goalie,) is really the team's most important offensive player?  Within our transition game and in our set offense, that is exactly what I am saying.  In losing to Northwood 6-3 last night, our girls team had no less than six one on nobody lead breaks.  We had another 6 times that our front court was set perfectly with sealed deep wings.  Our goalies simply didn't pass the ball where it needed to be.  How many of those turnovers turned in to goals coming the other way?  I don't know, but you can see how a simple dynamic like being able to deep pass, can change the outcome of a game.

In order of importance, here is what I want our goalies to be able to do:

• Pass the ball from four yard line to four yard line, (hey goalies, you can score if you can throw it goal to goal, how cool would that revenge be?
• Play hips up when ball is being passed in towards your goal and make steals, (if you steal it, they can't shoot it.)
• Make saves.  (Our defense will prevent teams from shooting and the ones that do come, will be ones that you are looking at, so they will be predictable.)

Guardian Lancers-Attention those who are, or those who want to be Guardian Lancers, the Summer Time is when we start earning that honor.  Working the desk and making sure things run well, leadership starts with sacrifice and that's what it takes to earn this honor. When enough players on our team, can put aside their personal agendas and come together for the good of the whole, that's when special things begin to happen for us.  You don't think winning has anything to do with running clocks at Summer Tournaments?  You don't think that winning has anything to helping out?  Well, Coach has news for you, winning is about chemistry and if your teammates resent you, then "the whole" will never reach its full potential.

Both teams, boys and girls, are in search of an identity.  The girls team of last year established our team's program, in fact much of their influence spilled over to the boys team as well.  Now there is a void where there was once leadership.  We are looking for our team's next guardians. 

6/09/05 Coach Doesn't Like Me-Ah, those famous words.  Usually spoken by someone who is finding it difficult to understand his or her role within our program. "Coach doesn't like me."  Many times words spoken by a player who is seeing others pass him / her by.  There is a dynamic of denial in place within the statement, and let's look at it again, "Coach doesn't like me."  Think about it "young grasshopper,"  if the coach indeed doesn't like you, why then, it is a waste of time to try and get better because in trying to get better, that ruthless coach will only overlook you, yet again, because.....Coach doesn't like you.

So there you are.  The coach doesn't like you, so there is no pressure on you to make yourself better.  Look, now you can just stay in the same place you are, never worrying about trying to get better.  You don't have to face the fear that deep down, you know that you might try to get better, but even when trying your very hardest to get better, while sacrificing late night video game sessions, while missing out on life's picnics,.......You could try your hardest and still fail!

I hear students in my classes say this a lot.  "Oh, I'm doing well in my classes except in English, my English teacher doesn't like me."  Oh, at least you have a good excuse for failing.

Believe it or not we all have doubts about ourselves, shoot before the boys made the playoffs last year, coach went seven straight years without making the playoffs, before the girls were league champions last year, coach went four years without winning a league championship.  Shoot folks, coach was part of a winning streak that saw our water polo team win 120 straight league games and 24 league championships in a row.  Now, however, the boys haven't won a league championship since 1993.  Do you think the coach doesn't have some doubts?  You should try fighting some of my internal battles.

"Coach doesn't like me," is the excuse you make for your short comings.  If I don't like you, then you don't have to try to get better.  You don't have to risk failure on trying hard.  You don't have to face your greatest fear........"What if I'm just no good."

You are no good, if you allow your fears to consume you.  You are no good if you live in dread.  It takes blind faith sometimes to get better.  Not knowing where it is going to take me, I blindly follow someone I trust, and put everything I have into it.  Make sure you choose someone to follow who is a good person, we wouldn't want you to follow someone like the Emperor, young Anakin.

Hey!  Coach Loves You Baby!  NOW GET BACK TO WORK!

6/04/05 Here We Go Again- This coming Friday marks the first day that High School Coaches can coach their teams in Summer League play, (per CIF Blue Book,) so needless to say, we will get started.  The Summer season has always been what I believe to be the most crucial time of the year because it represents an opportunity for a player to get caught up, or get started in a Water Polo Career.  Think about this, we will play for seven weeks, each weekend, (Fourth of July is off,) about six games a week between Wednesday night league and weekend tournaments.  Doing the math that adds up to about 42 games (assuming we play about six games a week.)  Now, a normal High School season will consist of about 27 games, so the Summer is an opportunity for a player to squeeze more than an entire season in.  

For a player who didn't play his or her Freshman year, the Summer will allow them to catch up, you can actually play your Freshman year, during the Summer before you become a Sophomore, so you start your 10th grade year, with a season of experience.  Of course, most of the Freshmen who played as Freshmen will also being playing so they will also have an extra year under their belts.

For a player who plays all four years, doing our Summer program and playing during leagues and tournaments can earn as much as seven or even eight years worth of playing by the time they graduate their senior year.

Yes, the Summer is probably the most crucial time of the year for young water polo players.  It is the time that they can grow, and gain much valuable experience.

Family vacations are important and that is why the month of August has been set aside as a non training month.

5/13/05 "You Guys Don't Care."- I over heard a coach scolding his little league team the other day and it got me reflecting on his comments.  All day the words, "You guys don't care," kept coming back at me, over and over again.  I see those little leaguers, all taking a knee, like they are told, listening to the advice of their coach, each hoping to cling to some word of wisdom that will transform them into the champions that they are supposed to be.  And the coach accuses them of "not caring."  Coach, if they didn't care, they would not subject themselves to your "long winded meeting!"

One advantage of having coached for twenty-four years is that you get to see a lot of things in that time.  I have seen a lot of things.  Good things and not so good things.  In my twenty-four years of "teaching kids to play," I have had many different kinds of teams.  I have had my share of teams that played well, and more than my share of teams that struggled.  I have looked at athletes from all angles, trying to figure out what makes them tick, and while I don't have all the answers, I do have some.

That little league coach, I am sure saw a group of players, that he assessed, should be playing better.  He probably noticed that some didn't run off the field or hustle on a ground out.  He might have seen some of them telling jokes on the bench when the team was losing.  I am sure he observed some behavior that in his mind signaled a lack of caring by the players.  I have also, in my years, seen coaches accuse players of being lazy, stemming from some kind of behavior on the field that they, (the coaches,) interpreted as being sluggish or complacent.  

To me, the statements, "you guys don't care," or "you guys are lazy," come from a very primitive mind set, and not one certainly that sees the entire picture.  Look for clues, you will find them.  First of all.  There are some players who don't care, but they are not the ones who are "taking a knee," while you lecture them.  The ones who don't care, found a good excuse and are missing today, because something better came along.  There are some "lazy players" out there.  Again, these are not the guys that you decided were your starting group because they are always on time and at practice.  Coach, you degraded your players by labeling them as "lazy" or "not concerned."

The core of your team is never lazy.  Once more, the core of your team cares very deeply about the outcome.  

"Why then, don't they make plays, like I know they are capable of making?"

You just gave yourself a clue to this entire dilemma.  "You said, why don't they make plays like I know they can make."  Look coach, you picked these guys because you knew they could do it.  They weren't lazy when you picked them, they really cared when you picked them.

"So what's wrong with them then?"

Parents And Coaches, Read Here-What the untrained eye sees as "lazy," is often a lack of confidence.  (Pay attention now fans!)  When I am unsure of myself, do I hesitate?  You bet.  In athletics, do we have to make spontaneous plays, where thinking is not an option?  Yes!  Every pitch, every sprint, every defensive crash, every big move, every shot.  Things we must be able to do in a game situation, without hesitation.  WITHOUT HESITATION! Now, if you are not confident, how will you react when that moment comes along for you to act without hesitation?  That's right, you are going to hesitate.  Did you want to hesitate?  Did you want to come across as being lazy, or seeming like you didn't care?  Of course not!  THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU ACT SON?  THAT PLAY COST US THE GAME!  IF ONLY YOU WOULD HAVE MOVED A LITTLE FASTER, AND HAD BEEN PAYING ATTENTION, THEN WE COULD HAVE WON, YOU HEAR ME, WE COULD HAVE WON!

Well now, nobody, and I mean nobody wants to cost their team the game.  I mean, even if you don't care, then, you still don't want to cost your team the game.

At any given moment on a little league  field, at least half of the players are thinking "please don't hit it to me, please don't hit it to me...."  Why?  Because they don't want to have make the play that decides winning and losing.  The same thing is true in a water polo match.  You are in the game, "yeah, coach put me in, now all I have to do is make sure that I don't handle the ball, or drive the wrong way, or take the wrong shot, or get burned on defense.  I just have to make sure that I blend in."  -The mind set of a player lacking confidence.

If you watch the teams that succeed play, you will notice that the players play without hesitation.

If you watch the successful players play, you will notice that they screw up a lot out there.  In fact, I challenge you to do this.  Pick out one of the best players you see out there, and watch them carefully.  What you will notice is that their mistakes are covered up so quickly by counter moves and adjustments, that they almost don't even look like mistakes.  The point is, that these great players, are so active, that they constantly attempting to make plays, and while they will mess up, they are already on to their next task, which is "how to overcome, the mistake I just made," and they usually do overcome it, and come out looking great!  But you have to watch closely.

Players, Read Here-You need to give up the fear of failing.  Unfortunately, I don't have a supplement that will help you with this one.  This is a barrier that you have to conquer on your own.  Do the older players yell at you?  Do the coaches get mad?  Do the fans in the stands bother you?  You have to let it all go.

I tell our players all of the time that when coach yells at you that is a good thing, (we all have things to work on, mine is making sure that I am not that guy accusing his players of "not caring" or "being lazy.)  If the coach is yelling, or instructing or criticizing, step back and realize that YOU ARE IN THE GAME!  I also tell them that coach is not going to waste his breath if he doesn't believe in you.  This is true of most coaches, even if they don't know it themselves.

Considering a water polo match, the typical player in a 1 minute period of time will have about 10 plays they can make .

• Drive ball side to help a teammate
• Release to a teammate live
• Make a big move to the ball to get a shot off
• Elevate up to pass the ball to a teammate
• Hustle for a loose ball, rebound
• Sprint back on defense
• Swim back to the middle to clog the other team's counter attack
• Sluff back towards set, away from the ball
• Call a switch with your teammate as the other team drives against your drop
• Check the shot clock, 5, 4, 3, take off and counter attack.

Yes, there is a lot going on in there.  10 plays, this player had the opportunity to make.  Let's consider that if you made all ten plays and only made five the right way, then we might have scored a goal, (if they were offensive moves,) we might also have stopped the opponent from scoring.  If you made 7 good plays and 3 bad ones, then we really increased our chances of scoring and keeping them from scoring.

Now consider, if we hesitated and didn't make any of the 10 plays we could have TRIED.  Ten chances, ten times we did nothing, that folks is like going 0-10, in fact, at least if we tried on all ten, then we still were trying.  But if we didn't try, then we have really hurt our team.

The key for a player is to never stop trying.  If you are trying, even when you are screwing up, you will be making those moves to counter the mistakes you have made and very often, those counter moves help us do something good..

It is not a matter of caring, or being lazy.  It is a matter of confidence.  Practice breeds confidence.

5/02/05 It's Almost Time- Water Polo is just around the corner.  Returning boys and girls players should be paying attention to this web page and our school announcements, as we will have general information meetings during the week of May 9-13 and we will be getting our Spring Water Polo started on May 16th.  To those who joined the swim team this season, great job, I am sure your conditioning will be just where it needs to be.  For those who played club water polo, also, good job, I expect the game will come to you easier, as the experience you have gained is priceless.  To those of you who managed to work some of both into your schedule, awesome job.  To those who did nothing?  What were you thinking?  Stay tuned, we will have our meetings posted very soon. 

4/07/05 Study In Winning- I enjoy my Thursday night softball league, for me, it's a chance to be a player for a change.  A chance to work on things that I teach others.  Things like composure, not getting involved in pissy little skirmishes, things that detract from your game.  I have noticed over the last 9 months, how easily drawn into these kinds of things I am, you know, disagreements with an umpire, another player's "trash talk," it has given me some insight into what my players deal with in a water polo match, except that they are getting beatin and sunk.  Yes, composure is something we work on every day of our lives.  Sports, just helps us fine tune it.

I have tried to study what winning teams do, and find myself constantly seeing and learning new things.  I cannot claim to know everything, but time and time again, the formula for what I see as success on the athletic field or in the pool centers around a team's self concept and their level of confidence.  Teams that know they are good, always seem to find a way to bare down, or step up to the task at hand.

The softball team that I am on has some very talented individuals who really understand the game.  I like being in that environment because these guys can really teach you some things about the sport.  We do OK usually, we don't always win, but when we lose, you can usually point to the fact that we were not patient in the batter's box.  When we try to play beyond our means, it usually hurts us.  Case in point-me.  I am not a home run hitter.  My strength as a batter lies in being able to work a pitcher deep into the count.  I can slap one into center or left field, if I have to, but when I am on my game, I am making the pitcher throw strikes because he doesn't want to walk me.  Ok, enough about me.  Alright, one more thing about me-I am at my worst when I go swinging at the first thing the pitcher throws.  I get behind in the count and then have to hit what he wants me to hit.

Our team can be very, very good, when we are disciplined, or we can be very, very bad, when each member goes swinging for the fences.  The other night, we only had 8 players show up for our game.  Ordinarily you would have 10 in "old man softball," but we had only 8.  Compound that with the fact that several of the missing players were among the better players on our team.  Desperately wanting to play, and not forfeit, we took the field with only eight.  As luck would have it, the other team put a couple of players on base with one out.  A line drive to short stop and a quick throw and we had a double play, got out of the inning, not trailing and as a team, you could feel the confidence swell.  When it was our turn to bat, disciplined at bat, after disciplined at bat, produced base runners, a couple of well placed extra base hits put seven runs on the board for us.

You need to know that seven runs in "old man softball," is not a comfortable lead, but, "I would rather lead by seven than trail by seven" any day.  In the next inning we gave up a couple of runs, but got out of the inning on an amazing diving catch made by one of our outfielders.  The game continued that way, we'd get a couple, and extend our lead, they would pick up a couple, but every time they seemed ready to overtake us, one of our 8 fielders would make a heads up play, and get us out of the inning.  We ended up winning that game and it occurred to me that we really had no business winning.  What happened.  A group of players, were determined.  Each of us, knowing that a couple of big bats were missing from our lineup, became determined to do what they had to do to win the game.  In my case, it meant working the count, when I came to bat.  I cannot speak for the other players, but I am sure each player had his own "awakening."  I was focused on what I needed to do, take some balls, work the count to where I knew the pitcher would have to come to me with a strike.  I was four for four with a walk, by far the best hitting game of my life.  That's what our team needed.  I venture to say that each player on the team had a special night in his own way, and that is what had to happen for our team to win.

What does this have to do with Water Polo?  Everything.  All players can reach that point where they are entirely focused on what they need to do to help the team.  If a player doesn't know what they need to do, then perhaps a self inventory is in order.  I wasn't trying to hit home runs, my job was to get on base for the homerun hitters.  Maybe your job is not scoring a lot of goals, maybe your motion, your drive, will clear out a drop, that allows us to pass the ball into set, or maybe by driving, you free someone up for an outside shot.  The dynamics of winning are such an interesting study.  My Thursday night softball has given me an interesting perspective on how I fit into a team setting.

3/18/05 Coach Of The Year? I suppose it is out there now, so it is not like I am beating my own drum.  Besides all of the exciting things that happened this past girls season, I was honored by being named the CIF Division II Coach Of The Year.  A truly great honor that I had no idea I would be considered for, I didn't ever see it coming.  That being said, I would like to comment on the award.  Never having been honored with an award like this, I really didn't know what one does to become "Coach Of The Year," and in reality, I still don't think I know what I did this year, that I haven't done before.  That is the point that must be stated here.  Now that I know what must happen to be named Coach Of The Year, I recognize that it is very little about what I did, as much as what my players did.

There was a point during the season, that it occurred to me that literally whatever I did, turned to gold.  No kidding.  I take an All Freeway League Goalie, and put her in the field, and put a totally untested player in the goal, in front of a group of seniors who very well could have been so set in their ways, that any kind of change could have resulted in a rebellion.   I screw up in a tournament, sending in one player too many into the game inside 15 seconds left and we have the ball,  the official awards the other team a penalty shot and our goalie blocks the 4 meter shot and the rebound shot.  I set up a risky, scrambling defense for the second half of a game in which we trailed 5-0, and we come back and win 10-6.  I give them (our players,) a defensive scheme to run against one of the great teams in our division, (Tustin,) and we beat them three times!   Yes, there was a point, that it dawned on me that this team was good no matter what I did.

What does it take to be Coach Of The Year?  First, I would say you need to have a team of gifted athletes, which there are plenty of in all leagues of CIF.  Next, that team needs to be coach-able, which means, they need to be open to the things you say, and they need to be able to make the things in your head, happen in the pool.  Next, this team of gifted athletes, who can take the things that are in your head and make them happen in the pool, must be able to get along with each other, and must be able to take the petty, little, issues that every team has come up during the middle of the season, and rally around each other, as a group determined not to let little things interfere with their vision, their quest.  As a coach, you need to try and take care of all the things that you have some control over.  Your team can be well conditioned, they can be drilled to have good fundamentals, they can be taught to know the game inside and out.  But even in all of that, their are still a number of things that will come up that you simply will have no control over.  Yes, you are going to need a little bit of luck.  Luck as in, which official gets assigned to your game?  Does the official approve of your aggressive, physical style, or does he call wimpy, little "touch fouls."  Because these things really matter.  You know, if an official calls the automatic perimeter foul when your defender even gets close to ball, this allows the team a free shot or pass outside the seven yard line, and what can you do about that?  Yes, you need to have the ball bounce your way, and the official must like your style of game.

I didn't do anything different this season then in any other of my 22 or so, seasons.  This is why the honor is such a surprise to me.  We had a tremendous group of players, parents, friends, family and determination.  When the stars line up the right way, I suppose these kinds of things can happen.

3/08/05 Thank You Pink And Blue Sometimes when you do something a long, long time you can kind of get in funk of doing things over and over the same way.  There is nothing wrong with doing things the same way day in and day out.....unless of course, your success has dwindled and you are no longer productive in what you are doing.  In coaching, you can get tagged with the label of "the game has passed him by."  Being acutely aware of this, I have spent a great deal of time looking at how I coach, and how I use the players that we have to see if I have missed anything.  Still time passes and you wonder, (at least I wonder.)

Coaching to me is about philosophy, it is about how you view the game, how it should be played and how you inject your philosophy into the game your team plays.  Some coaches believe that you live and die on the counterattack.  Up tempo all the way.  Others believe that it is all about the defense, "defense wins championships."  My philosophy includes aspects of the above things, but goes a little further.  It starts with personal discipline, in the pool, in the classroom, at home and on the town.  I have always felt that if you do enough things right in your personal life, your academic life and in your athletic life, the winning is just a natural by-product.  There, that is a general, overall picture of my approach to coaching the "whole player," not just the water polo player.  As for the water polo player, I believe that personal fundamentals is crucial.  Pick the ball up underneath, pop up on your legs, (don't push up by pushing down on the ball,)  step out to the ball, again on your legs and so on.  Good fundamentals.  Next, and probably the best description of what I believe to be true about water polo, is that defense does win championships, but the best defense, is a good offense.  

You cannot allow a team to get into an up tempo transition.  You cannot allow fast breaks, they will kill you. I don't care how good your half court defense is, if the team is scoring counter attack goals, you won't even get to play in your half court defense.  So, evaluate what your team is good at, do you have a six foot four monster you can stick in the middle, at two meters?  No, Ok, then what is your strength?  Quickness, mobility-yes.  Alright then you run the triple post, always swimming someone to post up and you pass the ball on the perimeter.  See, evaluate your personnel, develop an offense they can play and learn to play it so well that when turnovers occur, (which lead to fast breaks,) they are actually "controlled turnovers," that happened in a predictable place so that your perimeter offensive players can see it before them and can get back into their defensive positions.  

This is my philosophy, build a good half court offense, and control the ball.  As a coach, you wonder.  Is it sound?  Am I still on the ball?  Has the game passed me by?  Thank you 2005, Pink and Blue for validating what I have come to accept as my water polo philosophy.  By the virtue of our great season, you have reminded me that what I thought to be true about the sport, is in fact sound logic.

3/04/05 Long Time-No Write Coach. I haven't checked in to this column for quite a while.  I have had a great sense of emptiness with the loss of Dion Burmaz, a player from our 1993 CIF finals team.  I have kind of been walking around in a daze for the last week or so and am just now starting to come to grips with his death.  Coach worries about you, he really does.  When you leave Sunny Hills and go off to conquer the world, Coach stays here hoping that we sent you off with the right skills to take on challenges and achieve the success and dreams that you are after.  For the most part, I think that when you leave here you are ready to take on the world.  I still worry.  I don't have a lot of contact with every player who has ever played for me.  Some do check in from time to time, and it is a thrill when you do, but you have your lives to live and of course I understand.  I suppose I do my job each day knowing that you are fine, you know, no news is good news, which is why the phone call I got the other morning was so sudden and so much of a jolt.  I have lost  a couple of you now in the last two years.  Many may remember that we lost Josh Burgess '95 in 2003.

It is very important to me that Dion Burmaz is remembered, not just for what he did for our water polo team, but what he did for our country.  After speaking with his parents the other afternoon, I have decided that an award in his name will go to one of our Guardian Lancers each season.  I have talked about what it means to be a Guardian of our program.  I believe that Dion Burmaz takes even that to the next level.  So at our Girl's Banquet, I will give out the first Dion Burmaz Award "For Unselfish Dedication To Our Team."  This award will continue to be given out twice a year, once with the girls and once with the boys.  

2/24/05 Team Meeting We had our annual end of the season team meeting yesterday, I said my piece and then excused the seniors.  It is always interesting to me to see the look on the faces of the underclassmen when they realize that they are now the ones, expected to continue tradition and carry out the legacy.   What we had in that room was a vacuum of leadership, as several very strong voices and examples were no longer in the room.  I explained to the remaining group that it was now their turn, no longer would they be roll players, they would now be the movers and shakers.  Almost immediately I noticed a new wave of leadership, almost as if with an onion, a new layer was waiting for it's turn, as the girls discussed what would be needed in the form of club and swim team commitment.  Our new group will still need to establish it's own unique personality, it will still need it's own identity and as we will discover, you cannot lie to yourself or others very long.  This year's group talked the talk AND WALKED THE WALK.  The Pink And Blue was a bold statement, (hey you better win wearing those suits!)  I don't know if next year's team will make THAT kind of statement, but they will make some kind of statement.  Yesterday I distinctly heard our new players "talking the talk."  Time will tell, I look forward to the challenge and believe that come next year, we will be right there.  It's only been one day since our season ended, but after meeting with next year's team, I can look forward to next year.  Bring It On!

2/23/05 Great Seasons!  I am sure that I will have more to say in the next few days but I just want to congratulate both our boys and girls teams for wonderful seasons.  Both teams had fantastic seasons, and I am grateful for your time and effort.  I want to thank both teams for their dedication both to me and to each other, amazing things are possible when it is a group effort.

I am surrounded by special people and I feel blessed.

2/19/05 Pink And Blue? Who Knew?  When I close my eyes to go to sleep at night, I don't see darkness, I see Pink with Blue Poka-Dots.  As I look at this computer screen, I see, that's right, Pink and Blue Poka-Dots, when I go out to practice in a few minutes, you know what I am going to see?  That's right, Pink and Blue Poka-Dots.  You know what?  I LOVE IT!

The match yesterday was tough, but I felt that we had the upper hand through out even when Tustin tied the score at 5-5, I just thought we had more than they did.  When we stole that ball off of the sprint and scored, that was a lift, but I was not prepared for what happened next.  What I witnessed in the fourth quarter was a wrath of passion, anger, love, fearlessness and precision that I had not seen before.  This bodes well for us in the next rounds because in that seven goal outburst I saw us reach a level of play that is beyond what we have done collectively all season.  We have been good, we have been great, but that was scary good.  It proves to me once again, just as our basketball team did last year, (CIF Champions,) that confident, determined players are dangerous and that is what we have building at this moment.  It is exciting to me to think that at the end of our season, at the end of our first playoff game, after all of the workouts, and all of the drills, that we are hitting a new stride, one that is stronger then we have been.  Many teams, have reached their peak, and have plateaued or even gone into slight slumps,  We played our best quarter of the season, in the fourth quarter of the biggest game for us to date.  There is no limit here.

2/19/05 Pink And Blue? What Are You Going to Do?  It is always difficult to beat a good team once, and to beat that same good team twice in a season is very difficult, which is why I sort of cringed when the final bracketing came out of CIF Headquarters, Sunny Hills vs Tustin.  While we were ranked 4th in our division going into the playoffs, the tournament seeding rules require that the 2nd and 3rd place teams from a league be placed in the bracket opposite the 1st place team in their league.  So, with Villa Park being seeded as the number 3 team in our division, that meant that Tustin (3rd place in VP's league,) and El Dorado, (2nd place in VP's league,) had to land on our side of the bracket, so, well, we get Tustin in the first round.  Let's see now, it is difficult to defeat a good team, it is very difficult to defeat that same team twice in one season, what does that mean about trying to defeat that same strong team three times in a season?  At least we had intimate knowledge of their game.

The game yesterday was nothing short of spectacular.  Tustin's #8 has scored 112 goals this season, and knowing that we would have double down on Tustin #16 I was concerned that #8 might go off-which she did!  Fortunately, I believe our attention to her made her work very hard, so in the fourth quarter, some of those shots bared down and out instead of down and in.  She played great, but we held her to four goals, (yes, held her to four goals, she had six in each of our previous matches and I felt that if we held her to three, we would win.)  She is that good.  What everyone forgets is how good #16 is, she will score if she touches the ball....She didn't yesterday, (touch the ball,) and she didn't yesterday, (score!)  Yes, it is difficult to beat a good team once, very difficult to beat a good team twice in the same season and very, very difficult to beat a good team three times in a season, but you know what?  Tustin still had to beat a very, very, very determined group of girls, and we were not going to let that happen.

After the game, as we gathered, I was trying to think of something meaningful to say to our players, and I mean, we had friends, parents, team mates, my parents, family and all gathered there, all mixed in with the team, the only thing that came to mind was "practice tomorrow morning at 7:00 AM!  (We had made a vow on Thursday evening to have more practices at our pool, no one could bare the thought of that being our last practice.)

Ah-Keep-Oh

2/11/05 We Passed Out Test!  14 straight games, we have brought out the "A Package," 14 straight games.  Yesterday's game was an interesting test.  With 11 exclusions called against us, needless to say we were in serious foul trouble. Coach had to juggle personnel to assure that we would have enough players left in the fourth quarter.  Our second quarter run (4-0 to make the score 6-2,) gave me the luxury of sitting two key starters who had gotten into foul trouble.  Yes, La Habra answered our run with four straight themselves, but again, it was managing the clock and trying to get to the fourth quarter.  From the end of the first quarter, until the end of the third quarter, we did not play with all starters in at the same time, again, that was coach, trying to get us into the fourth quarter with all of our toes and fingers intact.  So, the fact that we were tied going into the last quarter (8-8,) was at the most, a nuisance.  Being able to play the full compliment of our arsenal to start the fourth quarter was a tremendous lift, and we brought out the signature defense and clamped down, finishing with a 4-0 run to seal the deal.

It's A Grind. One of the things that this team learned to do a long time ago, is grind out a win.  By grind out a win, I mean there will be times when factors are present which make playing your game very difficult.  Yesterday we had hostile fans and hostile officials, (by which I mean, the game was called in a manner that makes getting into an offensive flow very difficult.)  We haven't had to play this was very much this season, but it is a style that we learned to deal with during countless Summer tournament games.  We went through a stretch in the 2nd and 3rd quarters where you could count on the official turning the ball over every time we had the ball.  The opposing coach and fans where "in his ear," and he called offensive fouls 3 or 4 possessions in a row, on about three different occasions.  Frustrating?  You bet.  Give up and pout?  No chance.  What do you do?  You grind it out.

Not being allowed to play offense makes winning difficult, imagine a game where you are on defense every time.  Momma said there'd be days like this.  So what do you do?  You fall back and play defense like there is no tomorrow and you wait for your chance.  The one play an official cannot take away from you is the counter attack.  You play defense and you look to get out on the fast transition.  Understand that I am not accusing the officials of being against us.  I am saying that with 500 La Habra fans, standing two feet behind them, that they are influenced by the noise and the threats of bodily harm.  An official can hurt a team, even when he thinks he is doing the right thing.  Call a regular foul right when the team's star two meter player is about to turn and shoot.  When I say that the officials would not let us get into an offensive flow, I mean they really over officiated.  Calling fouls right before we could make a play to score.  This is why I say that getting into a defensive mode, making steals, and counterattacking is the best way to grind out a victory.  Yesterday, an ugly game by many standards.  To me, it was a piece of artwork, painted by a group of artists who took the medium they were given and adjusted their preferred style of play to one that would work.

My Eyes Have Seen The Glory After our game yesterday, I asked our bus driver to drop us off at the back of the school by our swimming pool.  A couple of parents said that they would like to get the girls together to celebrate, win or lose, (of course, win would be better.)  When the bus turned the corner we were greeted by about 20 cars, honking their horns and flashing their headlights, and just about every parent in the program.  I counted over 100 balloons and the food and cake and fellowship as our Lady Lancers celebrated their undefeated championship was wonderful.

I was giddy, and it occurred to me that it is really kind of sad.  Sunny Hills Water Polo, boys and girls, have won many championships but we have never celebrated like last night.  The joy and appreciation that I saw on the faces of players and parents warmed my heart, it is something I will never forget.  If you were part of helping put that celebration together last night, from the bottom of my heart I thank you.

2/10/05 Can You Do It One More Time?  Our Lady Lancers are one victory away from the perfect league season.  Before you think that maybe the competition wasn't strong or that maybe the Lancers have been lucky or whatever fluke you want imagine, let me tell you that the reason we are 9-0 in league this season is because our ladies have "brought it" every game this season.  I have long worried about a double round schedule for league because it requires a team to "get up" twice in a week's time.  This is very hard for high school aged athletes, heck it is difficult for major leaguers!  How many times do you see an NBA team that should dominate, come up flat and get beat by a team they should rock?  The answer is because no matter what level you play at, it is very difficult to bring out the A game every time.  Two rounds of league, it figures that at some point, a team is going to get a flat tire, not have the energy, lack the fire that it takes to put the other team away.  When that happens, weaker teams beat stronger team, pure and simple.  So far in our league season, our girls have been up for every game, and we have won the Freeway League in convincing fashion.  So ladies.......can you do it one more time?   Ah-keep-oh!

2/05/05 Congratulations  Our Lady Lancers have clinched the Freeway League Championship.  We make a point of not talking about it too much because we have some unfinished business.  More and more, as the season has worn on, our goals have changed.  We have won 20 matches this season, (20-4) that is an amazing accomplishment, however 22 is the goal that we have set.  With two games remaining, that means we must win both.   

The Sum Of Our Parts  I wrote about a jig saw puzzle the other day.  I have been thinking about this and will spill a little more here.  How do 10 players, work together, to make themselves better than the total sum of their ingredients?  It is simple.  Each brings something special in her own individual game that makes her teammate better than they could be in another team setting.  Example:

Player A is a great scorer and because of this, other teams focus most of their defensive attention to her.  Player B is an excellent outside shooter.  With an extra defender focusing on Player A-Player B gets more looks, more room and generally more opportunity to get her shots.  Player B becomes better because of the extra room in the offense she gets.

Player C is a lightening quick perimeter defender, and is able to crash on two meters when it would seem to a passer, that she has too far to go to get to the ball.  Player D is an excellent positioning 2 meter defender, who by moving to take away position from the opposing 2 meter offensive player, forces the passes into 2 meters to be 1 or 2 feet wider than they would normally be.  This allows Player C to get to even more loose balls and inbound passes than she might normally get to.  

Player E is a goalie with a tremendous reach.  Players A, C, D, E and F are all "high energy," defenders that crash the ball, and provide pressure all over the defensive perimeter.  As a result, shots that are taken are often funneled directly to Player E, and the ones that do come from a difficult angle are predictable so Player E (goalie,) is able to be there waiting for them.

Players G, H, I, J and K are tremendous workers. In swim sets, in practice drills, in games they continually push the envelope towards getting better and better.  "I am going to race you on this one."  For a player with a lot of pride, which they all have, no challenge can go unmet.  I really cannot imagine any one of our ten players that we could go without and still be the same.

Now, add the extra confidence that these players draw from each other, knowing that I can take a chance on a loose ball, or leave to counter a little early because my teammates will be there to cover, and the sum of your ten players becomes greater than they would be in another team setting.   

1/28/05 A Jig-Saw Puzzle  What a game!  Our Lady Lancers just continue to get better.  I love defense, and we are playing it very well.  It occurs to me that our team chemistry is really good.  A jig saw puzzle is what it reminds me of.  We have ten players on our Varsity team and each one brings something special.  Within a team you will always have the potential for turmoil.  Petty, selfish agendas often overtake the focus of the team.  If you remove one of our pieces, it will resemble our team, but it simply will not be the same.  I commend our girls for their amazing focus.  It also occurs to me that many teams might have ten players, each with his or her own will to accomplish their own agenda, you have a team divided.  But when you have ten "wills" all focused on the same thing, you have a tremendous force that can accomplish amazing things.  They say that the best teams are the teams that together are greater than the sum of their parts.  In other words, when you add each person's contributions, they add up to something bigger and better then the individuals themselves.  Each player's contributions go towards making her teammates better than they would be in another team setting.  That's us.   

1/24/05 Impressive  We played about as well as a team can play in the first quarter of our game against La Habra the other day.  In that first quarter, we scored on 6 of 8 possessions, and hit crossbars on the two we didn't score on.  We accomplished 12 of 13 goals that we have set to accomplish in every quarter, the one that we didn't accomplish was "earning 2 exclusions,-getting two six on five opportunities per quarter."  It was an assume quarter to say the least.  It again brings up the importance of "the run."  In that game, we score six straight goals, before La Habra scored one on a 4 meter shot.  We then scored the next two and had an 8-1 lead at half time.  

I am so impressed with the composure of our girls.  Having to play two league games per week, means having to summon all of your focus and concentration twice in a short period.  So far we have been able to do that.  This may not sound like a big deal, but it is.  Let me assure you that virtually every team in our league could beat us on a day when we didn't bring every ounce of concentration, (we call it our "A" game.)  So far, we have done it, (brought our A game.) A look around the league proves what I am talking about, when you consider that we have two teams that are 3-2 and two that are 2-3.  Because we play two rounds of league in girl's water polo, success in league has always centered on a team's ability to bring focus and concentration into every match.  This is one area where a team's experience is vital.  We have a solid core of senior girls who have gone down this road several times.  Each of the last two seasons.  "Because they have been there, done that, AND bought the tee-shirt," this group of seniors knows what has to be done, and I have witnessed on a number of occasions, one or more from that group, taking a step back, telling the rest of the group to step it up and moving us forward.  It is a blessing to have that kind of leadership.  Troy had that kind of team the last couple of years.  I can remember seeing it in their goalie, their two meter player, and several others.  They had that ability to lift their teammates, when one or more was in need of a lift.

We are 5-0 but now must duplicate that run.  Going 5-0 is difficult, but having to do that again will be even more challenging.  Are you up to it Lancers?  One, twelve, thirteen, giberish-"Uno, dose, trece, A-KEEP-O"  I'll be glad when I don't have to do that anymore!

1/20/05 Taking Care Of Business  Our girl's team took care of business this week by defeating Buena Park 14-7.  I was very encouraged by their effort.  Coach N is on heightened alert these days, looking for any sign of complacency, of settling for what we have, of being content.  It is so important that we stay focused and bring our "A" game every time.  So far, so good.  Today's match will be a test of this focus.  La Habra is a League opponent that is right in the middle of the playoff hunt.  Their record is 2-2, which makes today's match very important for them.  A win, puts them in a playoff spot, a loss puts them out of a playoff spot for now.  All of this makes them a dangerous team.  The Lancers will again be tested.

So You Are A Senior Now.  We have a number of Juniors in our program who may not realize that just because they are still in 11th grade for their academic classes, they are seniors as far as our Water Polo team is concern.  Leadership starts now, if it is going to be "your team" in September, you better start working on that now.  We have a talented group of Sophomores who want this thing bad, and they are swimming, playing club water polo and lifting weights like there is no tomorrow.  When our boy's season rolls around, the leadership will already be in place.  I love the competition, it makes us stronger.

1/15/05 I Told You, I am Very Superstitious!  A reader of this blog, in fact a former player of mine, made this observation:  "i was tickled by your rendering of "one two three team" in Spanish. what u actually wrote is translated "one, twelve, thirteen, gibberish." i think u meant, "uno, dos, tres, equipo." just to be particular...." 

Don't you understand?  I have been doing this the same way, the entire season, if I change now, bad things could happen.  Do I realize that I look as though I am illiterate?  Of course I realize this, but I can't change what has been working.  Can I?  Thank you for caring, but I have to go now.  I need to prepare two pieces of toast, burnt on one side, one slice with peanut butter, the other with grape jelly, applied with a spoon, (the first time had this breakfast, all of the knifes were dirty,) and I need to eat the toast, burnt side facing down.  Hey, I'm just being thoruogh.

1/14/05 Wow!-Did we respond well!  A showdown match with Fullerton, the league's two undefeated teams, one would fall into the pack and the other extend to some breathing room at the top.  Our girls play fantastic today.  In what is our best defensive effort of the season, we just played fantasitc.  I was thinking the other day, that our defense has been good at times this year, but to give up 7 goals vs Sonora and 7 against Troy, had me thinking that something was missing.  Understand that my philosophy about winning games is that you keep the other team from scoring, grind it out, and score when you can.  In our first two league matches, we won because we outscored our opponents.  Duh coach, of course we did.

Year in and year out, players come and go.  As a coach, you won't always have the personnel who can score a lot of goals.  Your team must be able to win with 5 or 6 goals.  Year in and year out, you can train players to play good defense, and keep yourself in the game.  So while we have won our first two games, seven goals is too many to give up.

In our game against Fullerton, I saw a stunning display of defense.  It was text book, from our two meter defensive positioning, which by the way, is where the defense begins, to the weak side crash, all the down to the goal tending, which by the way, was spectacular.  Shauna, again in rare form.  We won a significant game yesterday not just because our stars did their thing, Christina 5 goals, Jennifer 2 goals, Krista 2 goals.  We won yesterday because of the play of our "super sophomores," Karina and Shannon, who shut down the Freeway League's leading scorer, (13 goals in 2 games.)  That FORMER league leading scorer did not score a goal yesterday.  Simply awesome.

I love this game.  I love to see excellent team defense, when 7 players operate as a single unit, each a moving, anticipating part, a function of what the other six parts are doing.  I especially love it when it is my team.  Uno-Dose-Trece-A-Keep-O (phonetic for team in Spanish.)

Very Superstitious-This girl's season is reminding me of how superstitious I am, and it is driving me crazy.  We began using the Spanish word for TEAM early in the season, someone, somehow thought it would be cute if we used it in our team cheer.  We won, we did it again, we won again, and so on, so help me, I say it everyday, even if I don't know how to spell it.  How bad is it?  We have our own bus driver.  This particular driver had us for some of our big early season victories, we had him again yesterday.  Guess what, today I am calling transportation and requesting him for the all of our travel games.  He liked the idea when I told him yesterday.  I take the same route through the hall way each day, I scour the ground, looking for lucky pennies, HELP!

Major league baseball players are the most superstitious of all.  Their season is so long and they have so much time on their hands to focus on performance.  Actually it is not superstition at all.  Top athletes, (I am not placing myself in that category,) are very particular about their training.  They have certain regiments, certain levels of work that they must get done, not only to be fit, but to be confident that they have put in the time needed to be a champion.  With the very best athletes, it is an obsession.  This obsession carries over to everything.  The meal that the athlete ate the night before he or she had a tremendous performance, it may not seem like a big deal to others, but to that athlete every aspect of that meal must be duplicated.  It is not superstition, it is super focus.  When I was eight years old, (a long time ago,)  my mother fixed me a concoction of lemon juice to help me with a difficult stomach that I was experiencing.  I then proceeded to go out smack the ball all over the yard, (I had a little league game, and it was my first big moment in sports.)  From then on, I believe that I had lemon juice before I played.  We had a goalie here at Sunny Hills a number of years ago who needed to have "chicken corn chowder" soup before he played or else he was a mess.

Being thorough may look like obsessive, superstition to those on the outside.  To us, (yes, now I am putting myself in this group,) it is a function of making sure every single little thing that I can control about my performance is under my control.

1/13/05 Two Down-We didn't have our A game going in this match, and that is not to take anything away from Troy, I thought Troy did some very good things that took us our of our rhythm, which made the game a struggle for us offensively, we were terrible on the six on five, going 2 for 8.  If Troy didn't struggle on it's own six on fives, we could have been in some real trouble.  The bottom line is you are going to struggle sometimes.  The way a game is officiated, the way another team plays you, the mood you are in, all can be factors in how you play.  There is a common thread however, you can always play defense.  We really won that game on Tuesday because we outscored Troy 6-1 in the second and third quarters, (there is that concept of the run again,) but it wasn't that we were scoring at will, we couldn't, we played excellent defense during that stretch and kept ourselves in the game by playing some of that signature defense that we know we can play.

It is good to have something like that to fall back on.  It's good to know, that no matter how difficult it is to score goals, that when you can keep the other team off the scoreboard, you have a chance.

We have a giant test today.  Fullerton is undefeated and playing well.  They have some big scorers that we will have to neutralize.  Everything matters.  What you ate last night, what you eat today, how you warm up.  A lot of factors.  

1/08/05 One Down-Interesting game on Thursday, we jumped out quick scoring the first three times we had the ball which is something I have preached to our players.  It is so important to come out with all guns firing.  Our players learned last year about the nature of runs in our sport and in all sports.  A run is just what it sounds like, the other team attempts to distance itself or catch up from a deficit.  Sonora came out of a timeout with a new offensive formation, one that we had worked on anticipating that they could go to that, and they were able to hit a couple of outside shots.  The important thing is that we were able to answer their run.  Between the end of the first and early in the second, Sonora made a run of three straight goals against us and tied the score at 4-4.  We answered with two straight of our own to lead 6-4 at half time, and scored another to start the third quarter, so we had a three goal run of our own to answer their three goal run.  We traded goals the rest of the third period, so we went into the fourth quarter leading 9-7.  We finished with another three goal run to close out and win 12-7.  So the story of the runs looked like this:  Sunny Hills 3 goal run, (we then traded goals,) Sonora, a 3 goal run, Sunny Hills another 3 goal run, (we each traded a pair of goals,) Sunny Hills 3 goal run to close out the game.

It is why coaches call timeouts, stopping the run.  As a player, you must do whatever it takes to answer a team, when it scores against you.  If you study this game long enough, you will discover that the team in any game that makes the game's decisive run, whether it is three, four or five goals, is usually the team that will win, that is unless the other team answers with a run of their own, (Temescal Canyon started the game with a 5-0 run in the San Clemente tournament.  We finished with a 9-0 run in the second half.)

Indicators-I am fascinated with aspects of the game that are determining factors.  Obviously I have said enough about runs.  Two other areas of the game that will determine your outcome are counter attacks and six on fives.  In our game with Sonora, both of these areas fell to our favor.  We scored 4 counterattack goals and did not allow any to be scored against us.  One of those counters that we got came when we were on 5-6 defense, a real back-breaker.  The other indicator that I find to be absolutely the tell tale statistic of every game is the six on five execution.  You show me the winner of a game, and will show you the team that executed better on the six on five, every single time.  Oh sure, you can probably site examples of when your team won a game while doing a lousy on the six on five but I bet the other team also did poorly, hey, somebody has to win the game!

Against Sonora on Thursday the Lancers scored on 6 of 7 extra man chances and scored a penalty shot, which we count in that total, so we were 7 of 8 with the advantage.  That is huge!  Sonora on the other hand had six extra man chances and scored on one.  So, figure that out yourself, 7 of 8 vs 1 of 6.  This is why when you look at our workout, passing, shooting and actual six on five work accounts for about 50% of what we do, (at least it should.)  Excellent job Lancers.

I Won't Do It-I have had a few parents ask me why I don't get after the officials the way some coaches do.  My answer to that is because I think we have to win with dignity, and I would rather not win the other way.  My thoughts about officiating, particularly bad officiating is that when a ref is struggling, he knows he is struggling.  He has ears, he hears the hateful chants from the stands.  My getting involved really won't make the situation much better.  Oh, I do talk to the official, but I don't do it the whole game.  I mean, at what point should the official take me serious?  I want the official to take me seriously when the point is crucial.  If I have a running dialog with an official the whole game, it may look to the audience like I am making calls for him, but what I am really doing is making an ass out of myself.  I don't want to sound like a crybaby, I have said I don't want to win that way.  Coaches have reputations amongst the officiating brotherhood, (oh yes, it is a brotherhood, they talk about us just like we talk about them,) and I want my reputation to be credible, so that when I do have a question it is taken seriously, not ignored.  I want the official to know that he really made a mistake, which is what he will realize if I wait for the right time to say something.

I would much rather concentrate on helping my players adjust to what the official is calling.  On Thursday, I was able to do that from the ref's first call.  He didn't want the girls grabbing suits.  We made the adjustment, Sonora didn't.   

1/06/05 Where We Are Now-Wow, that's about all I can say.  Our girl's team to this point, has achieved virtually every goal we have set out to reach.  I asked them to put ourselves in a position to be highly ranked, going into our league season.  We are 12-4, having lost two games, one to Brea, and one to Granite Hills where we played without a full complement of players, due to an SAT II test and a funeral.  We have defeated Brea, (played them twice,) Riverside North, Canyon, Rosary, Katella, Edison, and Tustin (twice.)  We have shared common opponents with many of the best teams in Division II, (our division,) and are presently ranked 10th in all of Orange County.  I can honestly say that I feel we are achieving what we are capable of, which, in my experience is sometimes difficult to do, because you read your own press clippings, you hear about how good you are and you then rest on your potential.  Potential is so rarely lived up to for precisely this reason:  You know you are good, so you don't work as hard.  We are getting tremendous production from the players who are supposed to be our stars and leaders, however, I believe the big reasons for our success is that our bench strength has developed better than I could have anticipated.  I have been able to play 3 and 4 players deep into our bench and get significant production and defense.  I am also pleasantly surprised with the progress our goal tenders have made.  I now believe that we may have a potential All Freeway League Player in our goal and that is totally awesome.   I am satisfied that we are taking care of business.

There have only been two games this season that I feel bad about, both loses to very good teams.  In the Villa Park Tournament, after leading 3-1 at the end of the first quarter against Top Rated Riverside Poly, (division V, I think,) we got into foul trouble, mainly because we chose to complain and allow officiating to bother us and ended up losing 8-5.  The other game I didn't feel good about came in the first round of the Newport/Corona Del Mar Holiday Cup, when we drew top ranked, (in our division,) CDM.  I listened to the chatter before the game, and I didn't like the team's negative reaction to what was certainly a very good opportunity to see how close were are to being that good.  We played very lack luster, and CDM is the top team right now, but in losing 16-4, I just don't think we are 12 goals behind them, especially after playing them to 10-5 in the playoffs last year.  However, that being said, the rest has been very good.  

We hit a stride in the 4th quarter of our game against Edison.  Going into the fourth quarter, we were tied 4-4 and kind of feeling sorry for ourselves, we were in foul trouble, so I had starters sitting next to me for most of the game.  I was aware that I was impressed with the play of two sophomores, and two juniors who were forced to play extended minutes due to the foul trouble.  Getting to the fourth quarter and still being in the game allowed me to keep those starters on the bench, not risking a 3rd foul and exclusion from the game.  We the full team in to start the fourth quarter, we outscored Edison 6-0 in the fourth quarter and won, running away 10-4.  That game marked the start of our current run.

As we start league play, it occurs to me that we now have some new challenges.  This season, Sunny Hills is the team everyone will be gunning for and that is a position that requires a completely different approach to.  There will be no sneaking up on teams, every game will force us to prove that our pre season was no fluke.  We have had two of the best practices of the season this week, the team is very well focused and I look forward to seeing how this journey turns out.  Anything can and usually does happen in the wild and wholley, Freeway League.  But at least I can say that I think we are ready... Bring it on!

1/03/05 What I Live On-Over the course of my twenty two years as a head coach, there have been times when I have wondered how long to continue doing what I do.  Each time it has come back to me in a similar manner that this is what I have been called to do.  This morning, it must have rained at least one inch between 6:30 and 7:00 AM.  I am not exaggerating, when I say one inch, I mean it rained hard.  As I stood under the canopy in my full rain suit, it struck me so profoundly that the 27 athletes going back and forth, completely, trust and believe in me and the things that I ask them to do.  Now, many people may take this obedience as a power trip, that feeds a hungry ego, and I suppose on some level this does, but for me, seeing those 27 athletes swim lap after lap in a driving rain storm, simply reaffirms to me the supreme responsibility that I have to these young athletes.  It struck me so strongly, that I again realized, like I have so many times before, that if these athletes are willing to do this, place this kind of trust in me, then I am willing to do what I do for them.  Write their letters of recommendation, contact college coaches for them,  set up training schedules, game schedules, Summer schedules, order equipment, deal with referees for crying out loud.  All of it.  

I hope that each of you, anyone who reads this, has a similar reaffirming experience with your own profession or life journey.  It recharges me, and happens over and over.  I suppose that on that day, when it not longer happens, on that day, when the athletes no longer are willing to face the early morning and the rain.  Then, maybe then it will be time for me to step down.  But until that time, I just can't quit this.

I Am Shocked!-It was brought to my attention that my last commentary was kind of a precursor to the tragic events in Southern Asia.  I won't go through them again, because you can read below.  The Earthquake and Tsunami that struck those areas apparently occurred on December 26th.  Another reason to be humble and realize that life is precious and never to be taken for granted.

12/24/04 Happy Holidays Lancers-From my family to yours, we hope that you are with the people that matter most to you this holiday season.  It is always a good opportunity to stop and appreciate what you have and to enjoy the company of people you care about.  This holiday season make a point looking around the room or the yard or the pool, (some of us will be working, -out) take it in for a minute.  You really have it good.  And if you think you don't, if you really feel like your life is difficult, that in all of the world, you have it tougher than others,  buy yourself a news paper, sit down and read the front section.  You could be in Iraq, you could be in Afghanistan, you could be in Somalia, you could be in Croatia.  And do you know what else?  Even if you do find yourself in one of these places, there will be someone, somewhere, who has less than you, who considers himself or herself blessed because they have what they have.  So........take a little time this holiday season and count your blessings.

Newport Holiday Cup-Interesting tournament for our Lady Lancers this week.  The Holiday Cup is the most important tournament we play in each Girl's Season.  While others are "jetting off to Aspen," we stay and work.  I cannot imagine starting Freeway League play without working to keep ourselves sharp during the Holiday.  We started off with a match against Corona Del Mar, the number one ranked team in our division and we played sub-par.  I sensed before the ball was even dropped that some of our own players had written us off.  Didn't think we had a chance to defeat CDM.  Now, let's go back one week.  Last week, we watched Grossmont of San Diego win a stunning victory over San Clemente.  That set up a match between us and that same Grossmont team.  The game was tight but we defeated them 8-6.  The key is that we didn't just defeat them,  we deflated them.  That game against San Clemente was a gigantic win for Grossmont and they played very well.  I watched them the rest of the weekend and again this week and they haven't played as good as they did in that first game of the San Clemente tournament when they defeated San Clemente.  What's more, is that Grossmont has played worse and worse and worse.  They did not win a game the entire tournament.  Grossmont was our second game of the tournament this week, and we played a lazy game, we were vulnerable in that game, however Grossmont didn't put up much of a fight, they are in my view a deflated team.

I am not putting this team down, in fact I have tremendous respect for them.  I watched them frustrate San Clemente and I know how good Grossmont is.  I also understand how important confidence is in athletics.  It is everything.  When Sunny Hills played Corona Del Mar on Tuesday,  the better team won, (CDM 16 Sunny Hills 4,) but they are not 12 goals better than we are.  We sized them up, decided that we didn't have a chance and "pitter-pattered" through the game.  When I saw our fourth quarter effort against Edison and when I saw our four quarters worth of effort against Tustin, I can fairly sum up that we didn't put forth much effort against CDM.  Too bad, it was a real opportunity to lay it out there and serve notice that maybe we aren't ready to beat them yet, but give us a month and then watch out.  Instead, we obediently took our place in the consolation bracket with teams that "we thought we could beat."

Grossmont didn't do that last week.  When the host school of a tournament sets up it's schedule, they pick a first round opponent that they can advance with, in other words, a "sacrificial lamb."  San Clemente expected to to be playing in the Championship bracket, but Grossmont had other ideas.  Nobody told Grossmont that they were suppose to lose that first game, and it they did, Grossmont wasn't listening.  That was a  great win, by a team that didn't care who they were playing, it was simply- "game on."

Officials-Players, coaches, fans need to really take a step back when it comes to officials.  I will not ever apologize for officiating, in fact I go as far as saying that no referee should step on a pool deck if he or she isn't working as hard on his or her game as those players are working on theirs.  Fans, what are you working on?  Anyway, officials are humans, (although, who wares all white?  Where do these guys shop?)  They are prone to human emotions and nobody wants to hear boos or cusses or worse.  Recently a comment was made that they don't like us.  It is not "us" that they don't like, (they don't even know you.  If they spent some time with you, I am sure they would learn what kind, loving, charitable young people you are.)  It's not that they don't like you, it's that they don't like what you do.  (Wow, I am being hissed and booed at this very moment, yes, I am sensitive too.)

I ask our players to endure themselves to the officials in our games.  Does that mean kiss up?  No, not in any way.  It doesn't mean bring flowers and candy.  It means to hustle, officials love when players hustle.  It means don't complain, make faces, put your hands up or react negatively to any call.  Officials are aware that they make mistakes, and many, MANY, are very sensitive.  They don't like being shown up.  We had a game where an official ejected a player, (who clearly hadn't heard the whistle for a foul, so she continued to press the girl she had fouled.) The official should have made his call more clear, but alas, in an imperfect world, he decided to call the exclusion.  Our player, sensitive  to being excluded, gave a bewildered look, asked our bench what she had done, (where the official could hear,) and swam slow, displaying a negative body language that whether she knows or not or even if she will ever understand, showed up that official.  Now,  can he re-eject her for negative body language?  Yes, but that would have been ultra picky and would have really placed himself in a bad light with the fans and this coach. What could he do to show this player he means business?  You guessed it, the next time there is a close call, guess who is not going to get the break?  Late in the game that player made a good play to stop a goal, that resulted in a foul, here momentum resulted in an ever so slight, tap on the ball after the foul was called, you guessed it, that same, sensitive official, excluded her for interfering with a free pass.  Why was that called, the player asked me, now I have explained it.

And Now The Good News-Wow, great games this week.  I believe that we have established ourselves as a major force within our division of CIF.  In this week's Holiday Cup we placed higher, and had favorable scores against several highly ranked division two schools.  Our match with Tustin was a big, big win.  Our goal tending has been spectacular and when we play, as we did against Tustin, zero negative emotion, 100% total team focus on the task at hand.....We are very good.  Good enough to beat CDM?  Good enough to give them a very good run and who knows how good we can be in a month and a half, when CIF begins.  I hope our players are beginning to realize the magnitude of being 11-4 against the kinds of teams we play.  This is good.

It is clear also that many teams in our league are taking us very seriously.  Representatives from several league schools came to watch us play.  Players cannot let this bother them, it is a compliment.  By the way, I am aware that some of our league rivals visit this web site, and read this blog.  Welcome to SHwaterpolo.com.  You are welcome.  What we do here is not especially about winning, it's about living.  If you live the right way, the winning comes as part of the deal.  Water Polo is our anti-drug.

12/20/04 The Real Lancers-It was nice to see the real Lancers show up this weekend for the San Clemente Tournament.  The Lancers finished 3rd, (our highest place ever in the San Clemente Tournament,) and was an excellent display of the kinds of things we want to do as a team.  The Lancer counter attack was in full force, and is becoming more and more efficient with each game we play.  We are also beginning to play some of that excellent defense that we are accustomed to.  Finally, we are seeing more and more motion in our offense as we begin to develop some real fluidity. 

The 3rd place game was one for the ages.  Playing without some key players, we got off to a slow start in the match with Division 5 power, Temescal Canyon, due mainly to some missed shots and some costly ball under calls, (which we are going to work on.)  As a result, we trailed 5-0 at the half.  Starting the 3rd quarter we added a defensive adjustment that seemed to really disrupt what Temescal Canyon was trying to do.  They were flustered, and seemed to deflate.

The Lancers scored nine straight goals, from trailing 6-1 to winning 10-6.

Never Give Up.-Every coach in the world preaches the concept of never giving up, but it is so much easier said than done.  When you trail, you notice when you are tired more, you notice that the chlorine bothers your eyes more, you notice that official calls seem to hurt you more and on and on and on.  It all piles up on you.  In the second half of our game with Temescal Canyon, we were able to turn all of these things around on them.  With a slight tweak of our defensive philosophy, we were able to totally change the rhythm of the game.  When our run of goals had reached three, TC's coach, put the starters back in.  It was too late however.  Our spirits and confidence was up.  Our eyes no longer hurt from chlorine, we got a second wind, the official's calls no longer bothered us.  Our total focus was over taking TC, and nothing else mattered.  On the other hand, we scored twice more against the starters and TC totally deflated.  We scored one last time, late in the quarter on  a backhand and the insurmountable lead had been lost.  As we switched ends between quarters, we could see it in their faces and they could see it in ours.  The fourth quarter was all Sunny Hills.  TC had been hammered by an avalanche of emotions and they could not stop the run.

You simply can never give up, you just don't know what can happen.  In sports and more importantly in life, miracles only happen for those who believe in their hearts that these kinds of things can happen.  

12/17/04 Good Grief-One of the things that I enjoy about coaching a team sport is the thrill I get putting a group through a training regiment that involves quite of bit of adversity.  Getting up and training at 5:00 in the morning? Enough said.  That being said, when the members of a group go through the same trials together, they share the same adversity.  Each member begins to have the same investment of time, energy and effort.  All of this makes letting go, quitting or giving up a much harder thing to do.  It's called bonding.  When everyone in the group goes through the same adversities day in and day out, they grow together, they get stronger and the become a better unit.  -Good Grief.

12/13/04 Reflections-Our girls are off to a 4 and 2 start.  We competed in the Villa Park Tournament this past weekend, defeating Rosery 12-8, Canyon 5-1 and Riverside North 9-8 while losing to Riverside Poly 8-5 and Brea 14-8.  Coach:  Made a real dumb play in our 11th place match vs Riverside North.  Leading 9-8 with 15 seconds left, I used our last timeout to set up a ball control situation to essentially run out the clock.  In setting things up, I put a girl in who hadn't been in.  When we went to put the ball in play, looking into the sun, I counted only five field players in the game.  I quickly sent in another who had been in the game.  Well, smart move coach.  The penalty for having too many players is a four meter penalty shot.  Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. It might be one of my all time brilliant moves as a coach.  Shauna Sinclair proceeded to block the penalty shot, Riverside got the ball on the two yard line with four seconds left.   They ran a play that led to a desperation lob shot that was headed in.  Sinclair again, made the save to preserve the game.  Thank you Shauna.

We are struggling on offense right now, we are taking some bad offensive fouls and are not being patient on offense.  I expect that we will be able to settle ourselves.  From what I see at this point, Corona Del Mar is a clear top team in our division, with Villa Park being second, (they won the tournament this weekend.)  Laguna Beach is proving to be a tough contender and is probably 3rd in our division.  Fourth through tenth is up for grabs.  Certainly Brea, ourselves, El Dorado, Tustin, Northwood and University are bunched up after those top 3 spots.  In the Freeway League La Habra continues to grab attention as does Sonora.

Boy's Water Polo-I have had players ask me during their seasons "what they can do to get better?"  I have had players ask me when I take them out of a game, "what did I do wrong?"  I will always try to give them a constructive answer, but often the real answer is simply that "you are not playing well enough for me to keep you in the game."  Telling a player that does nothing constructive at that moment, so I am telling players these days, in the post season, that next year when I pull you from a game and you ask me that question, the answer will be "you should play water polo in your off season."  While that won't help them during our season, the time is now.  This is the time for them to be involved.  We have a number of players involved in club water polo this off season and it is making a difference.  We will have no guaranteed spots for players next year, it will come down to what they do in the off season.  

For many players, swimming is an issue, and swimming should be part of their off season training.  However, playing water polo against older, stronger players is the best way to improve your game.  Our players are aware of some clubs that are available to them.  Many are taking advantage of this and some are not.  The bottom line is that when you are in competition for a spot, you can ill afford to sleep while others work.

Here's Your Quote-I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.-Thomas Jefferson

12/08/04 Big Win-We looked rusty in our 10-9 victory over Brea yesterday, a giant win no matter how you slice it.  While we did score a significant number of six on five goals, I can think of a couple in the fourth quarter where we seemed to have that "deer in head lights" look and we didn't score.  If we could have put those shots away, the game would have been in the refrigerator.  Still, against a division II, ranked opponent, we got the V and that is something that cannot be erased all season, it is a big deal.  Areas to work on-weak side movement on our offense, that stalled at points yesterday.  Guarding drives, we adjusted to it, but Brea really had a good driving game early and it gave us problems.  Six on five-enough said.

Composure-Yesterday's game was in doubt the whole way as neither team could shake the other, but in the end, it was composure that won out for our team.  Brea's number 10 was a wonderful, left handed 2 meter player.  She scored four goals, and we really had difficulty with her, especially when she came into set off of motion.  In the fourth quarter with us ahead, 10-8 and with three of our starters playing with two fouls, (you only get 3,)  she turned and punched our 2 meter guard after the ball turned over.  In a rare instance of luck, (good for us, bad for them,) the back court official was staring right at her, and called a major foul, excluding her from the remainder of the game.  Brea didn't function well without number 10, the rest of the game and that really took wind from their sails.

You don't personalize the game.  You don't make eye to eye contact with your opponent, because that "mad dog look" calls for automatic escalation, which we don't want.  If you must do something, say "nice punch," or "is that the best you got," and move on.  The best revenge of course is the kind we got yesterday....A Victory.

Comment-Why was the back court official looking behind the play?  Understand that the ball turned over on the perimeter and the play was beyond half court.  Why did the back court official have his attention back in front of our goal?  Just speculation, but probably our player did something, that caused the official to turn and look.  When the retaliation came, THAT'S WHAT HE SAW-GET IT? Never retaliate! 

12/04/04 Six On Five-Of all of the water polo situations probably the six on five is the most important part of the game.  In Water Polo, there are fouls called exclusions in which the defending player must leave the field for twenty "frantic" seconds.  At that point you will notice that defenders move very quickly because, hey, five defenders must now guard six offensive players.  The offensive team usually will adjust to a more spread out formation and attempt to beat the defense with crisp, "hand to hand passing."  It might seem easy to score with a player advantage, but in reality it is very difficult.  Consider this:

• The whole game players play with hips up in a horizontal position to the bottom of the pool.  They are swimming up and back, driving, sloughing, dropping, sprinting.  The game moves fast, so a horizontal position is a must.  In the six on five situation the offense literally plays in a vertical position, as they attempt to move the ball.  NO WHERE ELSE IS PASSING MORE CRITICAL!  The positioning on  the six on five is different.
• During most of the game, the passing focuses on the middle, where the two meter player is.  On a six on five, the offense must attempt to break the defending team down to a 2 on 1 somewhere in the pool and ultimately to a one on nobody, and this is a difficult concept to learn.
• The passing on a six on five must be "dry" or off the water.  We like to call these hand to hand passes.  Hand to hand passes are very difficult for the defense to beat.  Knowing this, there are a large number of hand to hand passes that must be caught as a draw.  That is to say the receiver must catch the ball across his or her body, draw it across their body, turn their shoulder to face the goal or next team mate to pass to.  This takes tremendous skill and is one more reason why the six on five is so difficult.

OK, we know why it is so difficult.  Why is it so important?  You are going to get the ball 7 times against a good team in a seven minute quarter game.  That makes 28 possessions per game.  In a close game, against a good defensive team you are going to score four natural goals, (teams even 6 vs 6,) and you are going to get perhaps 4 to 6 extra player opportunities.  Ok that's 4 goals and six 6 on 5's.  Follow me on this: 

• if you score 1 of 6 you finish with 5 goals and you lose.
• if you score 2 of 6 you finish with 6 goals and you lose.
• if you score 3 of 6 (50%) you finish with 7 goals and might lose or you might win-it is significantly better than 2 of 6.
• if you score 4 of 6 (67%) you finish with 8 goals and you win, 99% of  the time, (it would take an extraordinary effort to beat you.)
• if you score 5 of 6 (85%) you finish with 9  goals and you win, 100% of the time.
• if you score 6 of 6 (100%) you win.

The point is, in a game against a good defensive team, you can expect 10 good chances to score.  4 or 5 will be natural goals, (6 vs 6) but the other 5 or six chances will be on the 6 on 5.  That is the crucial deciding factor.  Let's get to work.

Here's Your Quote-"The way to get things done is not to mind who gets the credit for doing them." Benjamin Jowett

11/25/04 We Looked Good!-I really didn't know what to expect from Northwood in our scrimmage.  I knew that they were a strong program and thought that they would be a good early season opponent to scrimmage against.  They were very strong at 2 meters and their goal tending was impressive.  I like our team.  We demonstrated yesterday that we can go wide, wide middle and beat you on counter attacks, we showed that we can execute in the half court, we can earn ejections and we can score on the 6 on 5.  Defensively, we can be stifling, I didn't count the number of shots on goal, we gave up 4 goals and really controlled the flow.

The big question is how will we be able to react when a game is officiated differently.  We clearly shine in physical games, where we are allowed to defend and officials don't call the petty fouls.  However, where we may still get into trouble is the game where the officials call a lot of touch fouls, and a lot of offensive fouls.  What remains to be seen for us is whether or not we can adjust to the style of officiating.  I liked what I saw. 

11/22/04 Detroit-Indiana: Appalling!-Not just because it was a fight, although that was a sick example of what happens when macho emotions, alcohol and our "me first" society clash on national television.  The thing that bothered me the most, and there was a lot of things that bothered me at many different levels here, was that here are the Indiana Pacers, an elite team in the NBA, with a chance to be world champions.  But here are two or three guys, INDIANA'S THREE BEST PLAYERS, who decide, be it on pure reaction, to settle their personal dispute with a fan.  That selfish, thoughtless, "it's all about me getting even," attitude will cost Indiana a world championship or at least a chance, because now player one is gone for the year, player two is out for 30 games or something like that and player 3 has to miss 10 games.  They just took the entire team's agenda, and basically said, our saving face is more important that us winning a championship.  It is sickening. 

You Never Leave Here-One of the neat things about being a coach is staying in touch with the hundreds, (maybe thousands,) of student athletes that I have had the pleasure of working with.  One such former player is Andrew Tinseth, now of San Clemente.  Andrew was the goalie on our 1989 team and was a dominant force in the cage.  So much so that USC bought him for five years.  Andrew is corresponding regularly with me these days, that is when he is not in China on business.  Andrew submits this tidbit for those who are struggling through the riggers of morning workouts...

"I saw a great commercial on the Internet that I thought was very inspiring and I wanted to share it with you. As I told you previously, I have got into cycling recently and I have found inspiration in Lance Armstrong. This commercial which is about five years old goes like this,"  it has Lance giving blood for a doping test and he says," "This is my body. And I can do whatever I want to it. I can push it. Study it. Tweak it. Listen to it. Everybody wants to know what I'm on. What am I on? I'm on my bike busting my ass, six hours a day. What are YOU on?"

11/18/04 I'm Quitting-I have heard this many times over the twenty-three years that I have been a coach.  Each and every time I hear it, it saddens me, although I admit, often it is not a surprise.  You can see the conflict on the player's face, they are doing it, (the workouts,) but with each day their heart is less and less in it.  Unlike before, they are able to invent more and more excuses as to why they must stay out of the water, or cannot make workout.  There is a certain denial that the quitting player carries with himself or herself, that, while he or she thinks is hidden, is apparent as their frustration builds.  There are definitely times to quit things.  An abusive relationship is a good example of something that you should quit.  

I am not one of those who say, "you should never quit."  The truth is, sometimes you should.

The problem with quitting arises when a player is frustrated with their standing on the team, and simply chooses to "take their ball and  go home."  While the process of quitting is much deeper than that, we often see people who, if they do not get their way, choose the easier way out and quit.  In this day and age there are such tremendous demands on our time.  Students feel that "if I am not a starter, then I should stick to my class work, and not waste all of this practice time."  That student misses out on the rewarding experience of being on a team.  That student misses out on lessons gained by team work that cannot be duplicated anywhere else.  This student is lesson prepared to deal with team situations throughout life, such as the team you are on when you work on a project at work.  

Quitting can become a constant pattern in one's life, when adversity consumes you, you choose the easier way out.  Each person has their own private reasons for what they do.  Why they play and why they choose to quit.  I only wish that I had a magic button I could push that would make our experience a good one for everybody.

Our girls are dealing the with great difficulties of expanded training.  Like the boys, our girls are going through their own version of "hell week (s)"  It is both a necessary and team bonding thing.  It is necessary because we must get over the initial hurdle of getting into good water polo shape.  It is a team bonding experience because when you go through adversity with team mates, you grow because you have something in common.  This period will not last forever, about two weeks, but it is a "hellish situation," because the work is so hard, that a player is bound to question "what am I doing here?"  Seniors and in some cases Juniors have past experience to draw on and while they don't look forward to the strenuous work, they understand it's purpose and are better equipped to deal with it.   I am constantly on the lookout, (sometimes with success, sometimes without,) for that younger player who is conflicted, struggling and questioning whether to stay with it or not.  To that person I say, look around campus, there are a lot of people who do not do what you do.  Who cannot do what you do.  Expanding to our region and beyond, what percent of our school's population,  gets up at 4:45 AM and goes swimming?  Hmm, we have about 22 girls in the morning.  22 out a school population of 2,400.  That works out to .009 %.  The United States is an economically advanced society, far beyond most parts of the world.  So it is probably safe to say that by getting up early in the morning and swimming, you are part of the only .0001% out of a population of 6,000,000,000 in the world who can do what you are doing.  That is pretty amazing.  Keep the faith, keep working hard, believe in yourself, trust me and never give up....Don't prove your doubters right!

Here's Your Quote-It's never over, until you abandon the will to continue.

11/15/04 Congratulations To A Great Group Of Seniors-Friday, our boy's Water Polo team held it's annual debriefing meeting, (a week later than usual!)  It was a proud moment when 25 guys gave the Seniors a well deserved round of applause when I excused the Seniors before further addressing the team.  This year's Seniors got us over a very important hurdle, we're back in the playoffs again.

Perhaps a bit shocking was when I addressed next year's Seniors, (who are themselves still Juniors,) as SENIORS.  They may not of thought of this before, but when that game with Servite ended and our season was over, the Juniors began their Senior year as far as Water Polo and Leadership is concerned.  Next year's season will rest largely on their shoulders.  Suddenly the urgency of your Senior year is staring you right in the face.

I Saw Where Members Of The Pittsburg Steelers And Cleveland Browns Football Teams Got Into A Fight-BEFORE Sunday's important game and it got me thinking, (a very dangerous thing,) about being a team player.  Our sport, is the ultimate contact sport and we don't use helmets or pads, and most of the contact is below the water where the officials can't see it.  The thing that bothers me about the football players is that the couple that were involved we individuals, taking their feud into their own hands.  It wasn't during the game, what does it matter?  First, as a member of a team, you can't do that.  I don't know if anyone was injured, but what if?  I am sure that player was important to his team, what if he were injured and couldn't play?  Then there is the obvious, was the player ejected from the game?  I don't know, but he should have been.  That hurts the team.  Finally, what about the pre game focus, where is that if you are trash talking and fighting before the game, at best, it only fires up the other team, at worst, see the above consequences. 

Here's Your Quote-"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved."  W.J. Bryant

11/11/04 Cliques-Webster's defines a "clique" as a group, circle of friends, set, faction, gang, or elite.  Does your team have cliques?  Well, by definition it has to because at least one of the above terms, maybe two implies what a team is.  We certainly have a "group" of players on our team, hey you can't be a team without a group right?  We may even be a circle of friends, ok, maybe we don't all hang out together every minute of every day, but I think of us as friends.  So by that definition, yes, we are definitely within the realm of a clique.

Why then is the term "clique" so often used in a negative manner?  I mean, I definitely like the boys and girls in our water polo programs, I see very little negative, yet why, if we are a team, a group, a circle of friends, and ok a clique,  Why is that a negative thing?

Let's go a bit deeper into this one, a set is well, you know, a set.  It's identical members of the same group.  We have a set of dishes and matching glass ware at my house.  We are definitely not a set, because we are not identical.  A faction?  Webster's defines faction as being a splinter group, a division or a group within a group holding to it's own agenda.  Oh now I don't like that.

A splinter group is a group within a group who decides they don't like the direction the group is going and they break off and form their own....faction.  I really don't like the word division because a team can't be divided!

A group within a group holding to it's own agenda!?!  What other agenda is there?  Hey aren't we a team focused on the same goals?

We are starting to see why the word clique is used so often in a negative manner.  What we have on our teams are year groups of players.  

Seniors have been doing this four years, they are at the end of their run.  Urgency is high as time is running out. They have been through the wars together and have bonded.  They have braved many morning workouts, been yelled at collectively by coaches and have lived to tell about it.  Seniors are reluctant to include underclassmen often because the attitude of the underclassman is often "happy go lucky," "fun before business," and in some cases, "I have next year to be good."  This won't do for a senior.  Sometimes an underclassmen is accepted into this group, but he/she must have something that is needed by the group, talent, speed, determination, leadership or effort.  Two or three times over the past 15 years, I have attempted to do the near impossible:  Replace a somewhat popular senior goalie who was flaky and not leading the team well, with a freshman or sophomore goalie who had a promising future.  In each case the new kid on the block was met with reluctance and was alienated......until the underclassman saved the day.  Stopped a breakaway in a big game, blocked a four meter caused a poor defensive play made by a senior, somehow bailed them out.  Get it.  An underclassman will have to bring something special to get into this group and once he/she does, there may still be skeptical eyes watching, particularly if that underclassman has taken the job of a Senior.

Juniors may gain some acceptance to the group of seniors because by the time a player reaches his or her Junior year, they can have been involved in enough of the struggles to have been accepted by the group of seniors.  Generally however, some of the Juniors resent the Seniors and don't understand why they cannot gain acceptance to the club.  What the Junior doesn't understand is that you must earn your way into this group, (whether this is good or bad is beside the point,) by bringing something that the group needs.  It's very much a generation gap, only we are talking about a single year.  The Juniors that realize that they must work harder to hone their craft, and bring something that makes the group better are the ones who gain acceptance.  The Juniors who fail to realize this or who choose to resent the older players do two things that ultimately hurt us, they fail to develop faster in their own game and they fail to make us a better team.

Sophomores really have a struggle on their hands because not only must they be accepted by the Seniors, they have another group that they must gain acceptance to and that of course is the group of Juniors.  Often, talented Sophomores can push Juniors, even taking their playing time.  Often it is the Juniors who have chosen to resent the Seniors rather than work hard at their craft who get passed up by hard working Sophomores.  Still, Sophomores rarely understand the urgency experienced by the two older groups who see their time as fleeting.

Freshmen are new and have no idea what they are getting themselves into.  The danger of groups, cliques if you will is that Freshmen can become so alienated that they don't feel apart of something and in up quitting or getting involved in another group on campus.

The challenge to all of our Lancer Water Polo players is to try and understand the plight of the other groups they co-exist with and to try and see it from their point of view.  Our Lancer Water Polo program has done a pretty good job of dealing with the negative aspects of cliques, but we should always be on guard.

Here's Your Quote-"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain."

11/05/04 What Kind Of Teammate Are You?-Would you like you to be on your team?  I realize that there are some athletes who would like to be the team, but I sincerely would like you to consider if you think you are good for your teammates.  Do you help them get better?  Or do you make them feel hesitant and fearful of making a mistake?  Do you need all of your teammates, or do you only need those who are better than you to help you with your weak points, for example:  "I want Fred on my team, when I get burned on defense, he is always there to cover up, or Jim can catch whatever kind of pass I throw him good or bad."

Some of you are going to be leaving us this year, and you know what?  Your legacy will stay.  When you are gone next year, what will this year's underclassmen say about you?  Will you be the model that all the great leaders try to live up to, or will you be regarded as that jerk that always cussed me out when I made a bad play, but never said nice job when I made a good play, and NEVER SAID MY BAD, WHEN YOU SCREWED UP?  People do notice.  So, would you like you to be on your team?

Here's Your Quote-"Winning is important to me, but what brings me real joy is the experience of being fully engaged in whatever I'm doing. -Phil Jackson

10/28/04 The Boston Red Sox, An Study In Winning-Still feeling the sting from being defeated in a big game yesterday, I, like millions of others last night tuned in to see if the Red Sox could shake off their demons. As I watched them totally own the Cardinals, Baseball's best team during the regular season, it occurred to me that what the Red Sox have been dealing with all along, this dreaded "curse of the Bambino," was merely in the heads of Red Sox fans all along.  Getting over the top in sports is one of the most difficult things to do.  "Getting over the top," killing off all of your demons, (see curse of the Bambino,) means to shed all of your self doubt.  That city has carried a tremendous chip on it's shoulders for 86 years.  There has been numerous times when it looked liked the curse was over, but then something would happen, a ball would roll under a player's glove or something strange like that.  

Often, many times, so many that it is well, haunting, we assign our difficulties to something mystical.  "It was the curse of the Bambino!"  Follow me now.  It is easier to find a reason for why something bad happened to us, then to admit that we were outplayed, outworked and yes, out coached. There are no curses.  There is playing club all year long, going to practices late at night when it is cold and maybe even raining.  The officials hammered us!  Again, looking for a curse, not wanting to look into the real reasons we struggled.  True a game style may not have fit our preferred style of play, but the other team adjusted.  Again, transferring blame.

Confidence is the wild card in what I do as a coach.  In twenty three years of coaching, it is still the thing I try to put my finger on in terms of how do I turn it on, and why does it turn itself off sometimes at the most inappropriate times?  Yesterday's match with La Habra was one of those moments when for whatever unexplained reason, we decided to become tentative in our decision making, our play making and execution.  Hey, let's make sure and give that coach, (Coach N) his fair share.  On our first six on five, I knew I had two inexperienced players in the game, and my left hander on the bench, and Coach Lim, nudging me to call a timeout, but I let em roll.  Indecision.

Make no excuses, La Habra put pressure on us and we didn't handle it well.

The hurdle is how do we get over the top, (and win league?)  I saw a lot of fear on the faces of players yesterday in our team huddles during time outs and in between quarters.  Things weren't going well and we had lost our swagger.  I think I even heard a player tell another that this game was over, early in the game when it clearly was not.  The curse of the Bambino?  Clearly not.  The officials? While the style was not to our liking, what are you going to do?  We have not been able to get over the top in a long time in this program, (winning a League Championship.)  There are a lot of "tops" to get over and we have clearly been able to get over some "tops" but we still have our sights set at bigger and better things.  Here is what I mean:

• We hadn't won a league game in four years before defeating Fullerton last year.  That was a "top" we finally got over.  The previous year, we lost all five league games, two by two goals in which we led going into the fourth quarter, one by one goal in overtime.
• We hadn't qualified for CIF since 1997.  That is "top" we got over this year by defeating Troy, Fullerton and Buena Park.
• We haven't won a League Title since 1993.  A "top" that La Habra just wasn't going to let us have.  Neither will Sonora.
• La Habra hasn't been able to get past the quarterfinals.  A "top" that haunts that coach, he tells me every season.

We all have our Tops to get over.  The Red Sox got over theirs last night.  We can get over one of ours next week at Sonora.

Here's Your Quote: Troubles are usually brooms and shovels that smooth the road to the good man's fortune, and many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away hunger

10/21/04 We Expected To Win-Interesting, but a phenomenon that I am beginning to notice is how we expect to win the games that we are playing as opposed to other years where we "hoped we could win."  This, I believe is a signal that the program has started to turn around.  We have now qualified for the CIF playoffs, something we haven't done since 1997.  That feels good, but I have a growing sense that just qualifying for the playoffs will not be good enough.  Do you understand? Last year we were devastated when we lost our final game to Troy 8-6 in overtime.  The loss meant that we would not qualify for the playoffs.  This year we are 3-0 and have a legitimate chance to win our final two league games.  It is good that just making the playoffs will not be enough for this year's group.

10/18/04 It's Red Ribbon Week-Student-athletes who play for me know where I stand on the consumption of alcohol and drugs.  I think it is very appropriate for our school, (our society,) to take time to at least think about the consequences that go with that kind of consumption.  I also think that it is appropriate to remind everyone that drugs and alcohol cannot be part of what we do in the Water Polo program, and to further remind you that there are severe team consequences should you decide to take part in the consumption of these things.  Life is so good without that stuff.  Sure yo.u might feel inadequate sometimes, perhaps the pressure of peers might make you feel like you need to "join the team," (as in the team of so called friends who say we're doing it, why don't you?) But you already have a team, AND WE DON'T DO THAT KIND OF THING.  Remember who your real team mates are, remember who really cares about you, and if you are still struggling with it, talk to me.

Today's Thought-"Each success only buys an admission ticket to a more difficult problem." 1-2-3-TEAM

10/14/04 We Passed Out Test!-I really like the mind set of our boy's team.  After a big win last week, it would be easy to size up this week's opponent and "phone it in."  Instead, we attacked the game from the first whistle and blitzed a decent Fullerton team.  It is always important to take care of a team you should beat early, and by half time, with a 10-1 lead, the game was in hand.  I like that we had that "killer instinct" and put the game away early.

Who Are Those Guys? Suddenly we have found our six on five.  The longer you watch water polo there more you will realize that winning games depends on how well you convert your six on fives.  When a defender takes an exclusion penalty his team is down a player for 20 seconds.  The nature of the exclusion penalty is that the foul, probably prevented a goal from being score, so you can see how important it is to convert the chances, if not for the fouls, a goal would have been scored.  The Lancers have gone 5-8, 5-6 and 5-6 in our last three games and it has given us a huge lift.  Why are we doing so much better?  Largely that our players are understanding how to read the defense.  It makes all of the difference in the world.

When You Play For Us, You Are Part Of The Family. I invest a lot of energy into your development both as players, students and yes, people.  This is why we like to hear from you after you graduate.  I just had a contact with Andrew Tinseth, who graduated in 1989.  Andrew was an All-American Goalie and received a scholarship to play at USC.  Since he finished college, nobody knows what happened to Andrew.  I am happy to say that Andrew is married and living in San Clemente.  I am looking forward to seeing him and meeting the woman that must now put up with him.  Welcome Back Andrew!

Quote-The Ornament Of A House Is The Friends Who Frequent It.  1-2-3-TEAM

10/13/04 Big Test!-Our boy's team today, much like our girl's team will in their season, is facing the challenge of being the favorite in today's match with Fullerton.  This is unfamiliar ground for our boy's team that is desperately trying to make the playoffs for the first time since 1997.  How will we respond to a league team that we should beat?  It will certainly be a test in terms of how we warm up, what kind of demeanor we bring and generally how serious we are.  Make no mistake, we can lose this game, Fullerton always plays hard and will push us.  If we are the team we collectively say we are, we will be ready at the opening whistle.  Big Test.

Quote-"Be a fountain, not a drain." 1-2-3-TEAM

10/12/04 No Foul!-We have been doing a lot work on perimeter defense lately with the intent of not fouling.  Now, sometimes officials are just going to call anything that resembles a foul, and we just have to live with it, but when you make the effort not to foul, most officials catch on very quick to what you are doing, and will let you play.  Forcing an opponent to pass under pressure, allows your team mates to do things like switch on drives and slough down to steal incoming passes.  NO FOUL!

Defend Yourself-When playing 2 meters it is inevitable that you are going to be attacked, the location of the position in proximity to your opponent's goal makes it eminent.  The key to offensive success at 2 meters is an initial big move to the ball.  Starting with your back squared to the defender, turn an roll, getting your head on the defender's inside shoulder.  Next when the ball comes in, step to the ball, making sure that you get your legs out ahead of you and under the ball.  Getting your legs under the ball will give you a tremendous leg kick when you take your shot.   Having made a big move to the ball, the defender now has to reach out to stop you, when the defender lunges to engage you, use your left hand (if you are right handed,) to hook his/her left hip, and turn the defender, or use your left hand on the defenders' right hip to deflect their lunge and you can step to the left of the goal to get a shot.

Ah-Keep-Oh!

(Team!)

"This is my body. And I can do whatever I want to it. I can push it. Study it. Tweak it. Listen to it. Everybody wants to know what I'm on. What am I on? I'm on my bike busting my ass, six hours a day. What are YOU on?"-Lance Armstrong

"Be a fountain, not a drain."