Today was a pretty good day. Started out with breakfast, then Adam Toffan, our strength and conditioning coach, worked the team through a activation session. They found a grassy spot and did some body weight and tubing excercises.
After the session the team met for video and watched Peru from last years Pan Am Cup. We focused on two of there top players showing some tendencies. The reality is we will have to adjust during the match as we learn information about each player. The basic serving scheme was pressure then location. If we serve too easy they will side out well. We need our serve to create an out of system opportunity.
We had a couple hours before lunch then heading to the gym. Once we arrived at the gym we warmed up in the practice facility. Teams only get 22 mins on the competition court for hitting and anthems.
We started Kelci French setting, Kyla Richey and Britt Page at left side, Lisa Barclay at Rightside, Lucy Charuk and Marissa Field in mids. Tesca Andrews-Wasylik as libs. The first set went fairly well for us. Peru came out serving short,our middles did a great job passing and being available for an attack. The first set we scored a lot in first tempo. We won the first set 25-18
The second set error flu hit us. We started making errors all over the place. One person would make an error then another person would make an error. It felt contagious. In the first technical timeout Lupo noticed Britt Page was looking tired, he asked her how she felt. Her answer was I feel really tired but I am good to go. A great honest answer and also a good example of wanting to fight through it. Britt had been sick for the first two days and finally ate more than soup at lunch. Considering that and the altitude of Mexico City she should feel exhausted. Lupo subbed Marie Pierre Methot into the match for Britt. Marie did a great job passing ans blocking as soon as she got in.
At one point we were down by 7. A double sub really changed momentum of the match. Dani Smith setting and Becky Pavan at Right side. (Marie Sophie Nadeau is at the hotel with the flu. Couldn't make it out of her room without being sick.)
Becky matched up really well with one of Peru's top attackers. A couple of slow downs and one monster block with Lucy made Peru go to another attacker and we were able to dig her then score transition points.
Kelci and Lisa came back in and finished what that group started. As we came back to win 26 -24. A great lesson to know this group is never out of it, plus was a good example of being in the moment and not allowing the score to dictate mental state.
The third set started off much of the same as second. We missed a lot of serves and hit some shots out of bounds or into the net. Peru continued to serve short to our left side bUt now they also served some deep to one. Trying to put us on a bit of a yo yo situation but our passers held fast. We dug a little to big of a whole, we battled back again on the arm of Kyla Ritchie and MP. The Peru team started releasing out to left side any time our middles went behind setter,trying to put more pressure on the two players. Our middles were effective in front late in the set but we came up just short. Losing 23-25.
The players ran the break in between the two sets encouraging each other to bring more of a push in the fourth. Kelci started out again running our middles. We jumped out to commanding lead at the first technical time out. The middles had scored enough that Peru had to honour them again and that opened the three outsides again. Another effective double sub and another huge stuff block just to show everyone our depth. We then cruise to a 25-20 victory.
Marissa Field had a huge day with 22 points and she passed 7 balls for a 3.3 average. Kyla Ritchie had 14 points and passed a 2.9, Lucy Charuk had 13 pts. 
At the end of the match Bryon Bahniuk introduced the impact player of the game hat. Most NHL hockey teams have the same tradition, our Winnipeg Jets have a fighter pilot helmet. Our first recipient was Janie Gumond for her defence and poise on the court. The remaining time Joey and Byron will select the winner but the previous winner has to present it to the next winner. I think this is a great team building idea.
After the match the team stayed and watch 1 set of Trinidad and Dominican play before heading home for supper. The coaches stayed with Shane Smith (ours scout) for the remaining of match and 1 set of the Cuba vs Mexico match.
No comments:
Post a Comment