National Team Week 2

We are fast approaching our end of week 2.  Lupo and Scott have split the groups up. A group preparing for Pan Am Cup, and a group preparing for World Grand Prix.   We now have some A players training with the B team.  This is an interesting summer as there are lots of playing opportunities for the team.

Lupo has been very conscious of making sure all the players are going to be fully prepared for this summer. After the World Championship Qualifier, Lupo let Shanice Marcelle, Dana Cranston and Jaime Thibault have an extended break. Those three returned quickly from their pro teams for the qualifier. A rest was well earned and appreciated.

Playing in the Pan Am Cup, World Grande Prix and the World Championships is quite different then what a lot of these athletes are used to. Most of them come from situations where you train all week, controlling energy levels so you can be your best for 2 or 3 matches max on a weekend.  In contrast to 7 matches in 11 days, or travelling from Peru to Belgium and back to Argentina in 3 weeks.  The big difference is fatigue. The athletes have to learn how to generate their own energy, play when they are tired. Find away to stay fresh. 

The trick is to try to mimic this in practice and still have the athletes healthy and fresh for the actual competition. The ability to have a ice bath on the road is difficult. There is a study out of Australia using net ball teams and the use of cold showers as therapy. The premiss of an ice bath is that the blood flow slows down to the extremities and protects the core. When the athlete leaves the icebath blood flow returns and helps clear our waste. The study in Australia suggests and cold shower on the core of the body will achieve the same thing. The benefit is more when the body is still warmed up from playing. It could possibly help with volleyball who are playing many matches over a short term.

 Every athlete here is extremely competitive and want to contribute when they get a chance. There is a fine line between learning and performing in the matches. Every 6 vs 6 drill has had stats taken. This goes back to the point of trusting our eyes or the stats.  Lupo will be announcing the travelling 12 later this week. This also adds more stress to the week.

Also this week the University of Central Floirida is up here training and playing matches against the B team and scrimmaging with the A girls.  It is a chance for the B girls to wear the Maple Leaf in a competition for the first time.  It is a feeling they will never forget.  A fun side note to this competition is that Central Florida is playing NCAA rules and the B Team is playing FIVB rules.  This is definitely a contrast in styles. I am pretty sure this is the first time a Libero has served in an official match in this gym.