After a week where there has been no matches due to the National Team Nordic Championship, we now face a week with 4 matches of which 3 will be due or die..
We began this week with a match in Århus against ASV(now 1-4) and the plan was simple from the start... We needed to perform well, execute fast and sparing some of the starters if possible.
The match got off to a perfect start with good serves and a steady side-out. ASV had a lot of problems finding answers to our speed in offense which gave our outsides 1 on 1 in the block a lot of the time.
1st game ends 25-11 in our favour.
2nd game and the picture was the same. We dominated ASV in all aspects and even though they faught well for every ball, the difference in level was too big.
Score in the 2nd game was 25-11.
3rd game and time to seal the deal. We always talk a lot about staying focussed during the games, but somehow 3rd game being up 2-0 is always a hard one.... but not today.
The girls performed close to perfection and they never gave ASV a chance to bring their middles into play.
Score was - believe it or not, 25-11...:0)
A victory 3 times 25-11 bringing us to a 3-1 division score, and we got to spare Kristen, Caley and Juliane who all stood out the whole match. I could not have asked for a better scenario even in my dreams.!
Julie(OH) played her first full match for the team and so did Jane(MB). They both showed the level needed, and fully lived up to my expectations. And as a coach it is nice to test your squad depth.
Quaterfinal coming up in the Cup tournament..
We are back in action already Tuesday playing KSV(now 3-2 in the league below us). The match is played 7.30 PM in Copenhagen and any match on a weekly day is always wierd. Most players on the teams are working a regular job before they play volleyball, so many things during a day can influence how each player is motivated for the match, so a big task is at hand for us coaches to make sure the team is ready - physically and mentally!
On Tuesday we are back to our normal starting line-up, eventhough the team performed well this Saturday, the Cup is just too important to take any chances.
KSV is a team fighting hard in defense and they played in the best league last year. We need to bring our very best to ensure a comfortable win, which is what we are going for.
Nordic Club Championship around the corner...
Friday we leave for Finland to play the 1st round in the N.C.C. and it is one of our season goals to promote to the final round. To reach that goal we need to win both matches in Finland, and there is no doubt that we will have a battle at hand. Generally the teams in Sweden and Finland are at a higher level than the Danish teams, but the last couple of years we have seen the Danish teams competing to the fullest with the rest of Scandinavia.
We play Saturday and Sunday but before that we have a chance to watch our opponents in action on Friday where they open the tournament. This will be the 2nd N.C.C. for me personally, and last year my team was there to learn, this year we are here to win.
I expect to be facing higher blocks, faster offense and tougher serving, but I also believe that we can bring the same to the table. I don't think we have seen our own full potential yet, and what better ocation that the N.C.C..?
All players are fit to play coming in to this week, and our focus at practise should bring everyone whos been out, up to speed. Dorthe(S) is playing the best I have seen from her side, and Jeanette(L) is showing more and more confidense both in passing and defense.
That's all for now, next time I write I hope to write about wins in the N.C.C.. We are bringing a smaller team(11 players and 2 coaches) so we will probably be outnumbered, "but better to bring 5 lions than 500 Sheep"
Michael
Monday, October 26, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Week 3 and we are still improving
3rd game of the season was played this Saturday, and facing us were Frederiksberg(now 2-1) who is expected to be a contender for the final 4 in the league.
We came in to the match feeling confident after last weeks win against Broendby(now 1-1). Expecting our block/defense to stay as disciplined as last week, we have had focus on offense rhythm during this weeks practise, and it was a goal for us to be effective in transition - converting our defensive digs in to points would be a game deciding part of this match.
Frederiksberg is know for good serves and solid blocking, so a bit of pressure on our passers to step up and play big.... and so they did!
1st game got off a bit slow for us, where we served without pressure and lacked discipline in our blocks and that kept the game close all the way to the mid of the game. Our sideout worked very well and that was why we were able to stay with them. In the end of the game we stepped up in serving and made a point in every of our last 4 serves which gave us a 25-19 win.
Before the 2nd game we talked about our blocks and how we needed to adjust, and on top of that we wanted to stay focussed on keeping momentum from the end of the 1st game.
The girls went on court and executed to perfection giving up only 13 points in the entire game. We served with way more pressure which kept their middles from getting involved, and our passers led by our libero Jeanette passed perfectly which gave Dorthe(S) super conditions and in the 2nd game she set the middles 50% of the times and they responded by winning 70% in this game.
The game ends 25-13.
3rd game and time to close the match. Mentally always a tough game with 2-0 lead, but the girls again showed their potential and served/blocked Frederiksberg out of the gym. Right from the beginning of the 3rd game we played disciplined and organized. We took chances in our serve and were successful and the game and thereby the match ended with a 25-11 win.
Kristen played rightside in this game with an injured thigh, nonetheless, she played a super match with several good digs, she picked up her blocking after a slow start and finished off the 3rd game with 3 straight kills.
Our leftside hitters got 65% of all sets in the match, and both Katherine(OH) and Caley(OH) finished the match with a 65% kill rate.
Middleblockers Juliane and Lotte finshed the match with a 50% kill rate and with ratings like that there is no way we could have lost that match. Superb setting by Dorthe especially in the 2nd and 3rd game, and our offense is looking stronger and stronger by the day.
MVP was Katherine who played her best match so far for the team, but several players got votes and that clearly signaled that it was a teamperformance this Saturday.
I have installed a link to the standing on the left side of the blog under "links" and there you can follow the standings in the Danish elitedivision.
Mini
"We came, we saw and we won"
We came in to the match feeling confident after last weeks win against Broendby(now 1-1). Expecting our block/defense to stay as disciplined as last week, we have had focus on offense rhythm during this weeks practise, and it was a goal for us to be effective in transition - converting our defensive digs in to points would be a game deciding part of this match.
Frederiksberg is know for good serves and solid blocking, so a bit of pressure on our passers to step up and play big.... and so they did!
1st game got off a bit slow for us, where we served without pressure and lacked discipline in our blocks and that kept the game close all the way to the mid of the game. Our sideout worked very well and that was why we were able to stay with them. In the end of the game we stepped up in serving and made a point in every of our last 4 serves which gave us a 25-19 win.
Before the 2nd game we talked about our blocks and how we needed to adjust, and on top of that we wanted to stay focussed on keeping momentum from the end of the 1st game.
The girls went on court and executed to perfection giving up only 13 points in the entire game. We served with way more pressure which kept their middles from getting involved, and our passers led by our libero Jeanette passed perfectly which gave Dorthe(S) super conditions and in the 2nd game she set the middles 50% of the times and they responded by winning 70% in this game.
The game ends 25-13.
3rd game and time to close the match. Mentally always a tough game with 2-0 lead, but the girls again showed their potential and served/blocked Frederiksberg out of the gym. Right from the beginning of the 3rd game we played disciplined and organized. We took chances in our serve and were successful and the game and thereby the match ended with a 25-11 win.
Kristen played rightside in this game with an injured thigh, nonetheless, she played a super match with several good digs, she picked up her blocking after a slow start and finished off the 3rd game with 3 straight kills.
Our leftside hitters got 65% of all sets in the match, and both Katherine(OH) and Caley(OH) finished the match with a 65% kill rate.
Middleblockers Juliane and Lotte finshed the match with a 50% kill rate and with ratings like that there is no way we could have lost that match. Superb setting by Dorthe especially in the 2nd and 3rd game, and our offense is looking stronger and stronger by the day.
MVP was Katherine who played her best match so far for the team, but several players got votes and that clearly signaled that it was a teamperformance this Saturday.
I have installed a link to the standing on the left side of the blog under "links" and there you can follow the standings in the Danish elitedivision.
Mini
"We came, we saw and we won"
Sunday, October 4, 2009
First 2 matches, Obama and the refs...
First of all sorry for the lack of updates this past week. With the season opener and a lot going on in the club at the same time, I had a hard time getting to the keyboard..
We lost last weeks opener against the reigning champions who proved to be way further in their cooperation, communication and rhythm than we were. At the same time the players looked tense and uncomfortable on the court, so it did not take Holte IF(now 2-0) long to break down our sideout and thereby basically winning the match very easy 3-0.
A huge disappointment for me and the players since we felt ready to perform and we were prepared for what Holte were bringing to the table. But failing to execute our chances along side an unbalanced block/defence, really left us with very little chance in that match.
Second match of the season and again against one of the contenders for the titel this year. BrøndbyVolley(now 1-1) who finished 4th last year after a dramatic loss in the semifinals against our team Fortuna-Odense(now 1-1), is coming in to the new season with a lot of changes to their squad. No less than 4 new foreigners are what they have signed, and we were of course very excited to go up against them all…
After last weekends loss in the season opener in a match far from the level we know we are able to produce, we have spend all week with full focus on our block/defence and converting digs into points.
So coming into the match this Saturday, we had full focus on our own side of the net and our preparations had been 100% about ourselves as a team, and not about our opponents.
We took charge very early in the 1st game and scored 11 points in the first 6 rotations. And the result of our full week of focussing on block/defence was dominating the picture completely. We still were struggling with our rhythm in offense, but our hitters today chose to “take the bone in the other hand” and were all tooling at a high level.
We win 1st game comfortably 25-22.
2nd game starts off best for Brøndby, but we quickly get back on track from the 1st game, and once we found our rhythm it seemed like they had a hard time finding answers to get us out of our comfort zone. Making points in every serve for 6 rotations gave us a solid lead, and a serving streak from first Katherine(OH) and later Caley(OH) gave us a very safe win 25-13.
Dorthe(S) who in the late 1st game was starting to get the middles very much involved, were now playing very comfortably all round. And with the good passing we provided she was setting very solid throughout the game.
Being up 2-0 the 3rd game is usually a tough one and today was no exception. Brøndby came with more spirit and will having their backs against the wall, and we were struggling a bit in the early game. However with a few streaks in first Juliane’s(MB) and then Dorthe’s(S) serve gave us a 5 point lead. Up about 21-16 it was time to close the game and thereby the match, we ran in to 3 serving errors in a row and before we knew it Brøndby had a gamepoint at 24-23. In this part of the match the ref. decided to bring 4 completely wrong calls to the table leaving both sides of the net in extreme frustration, but we kept our cool and closed the match 27-25 where Kristen(S) came in and made 2 digs and 2 blocks in the last 7 balls of the game setting up our win.
Obama and the pack in Copenhagen
As many of you probably know, U.S. president Obama was in Copenhagen hoping to influence the IOC voters to vote for Chicago as Olympic city 2016. Success or not I’ll let you decide, but for us his visit was very exciting indeed. 2 members of his wolf pack decided to stay behind and came to our match in Brøndby. For security reason I can’t give out their names ;0) but in terms of motivation, having them on the sideline this Saturday along side my mom, really gave that extra which we needed, and I can’t thank them enough for finding time in their busy program to stop by. And to Mr. Obama I can only say from my heart “… I’ll never forget him THE LEADER OF THE PACK” :0)
A new line on technique or maybe not…!
I have to admit I was one of the people who was very excited about the refs announcing to ease up on the technical demand on our players, I have always wanted the game to be decided by the players and not the ref., but has it really changed?
What we saw in our match against Holte a week ago the demands had evidently changed, and after that match I told myself to expect that from now on.
This weekends match against Brøndby however, was a different story. The match began as the last one where EVERYTHING was allowed, but the from mid of the 2nd game the ref decided to change his line by making a very bad double call on our setter, and from then on he literally called everything remotely close to a lift or a double. After the match I wanted to talk to him about it, but I decided not to cuz at the end of the day the line proves to be as it has been always – very much depending on who the ref is and how he feels in the particular moment. Now I am not saying all refs are not consistent, some are consistently hard on technique and some are loose, but degree of confusement is high.
What is the new line if there is one and what can we as coaches and players expect?
I really hope the refs talk more this year than what has been the case other years, cuz if we are trying to find a new line closer to the international line, then it should be consistent from ref. to ref. and it should be published so everyone knows what to expect.
That is all for now, next weekend we are playing FrederiksbergVolley(now 1-0) at home and I look very much forward seeing my good friend William who is coaching the Frederiksberg team.
“Today we took many small steps as individuals but one big one as a team, and that is what makes the difference between winning or losing”
We lost last weeks opener against the reigning champions who proved to be way further in their cooperation, communication and rhythm than we were. At the same time the players looked tense and uncomfortable on the court, so it did not take Holte IF(now 2-0) long to break down our sideout and thereby basically winning the match very easy 3-0.
A huge disappointment for me and the players since we felt ready to perform and we were prepared for what Holte were bringing to the table. But failing to execute our chances along side an unbalanced block/defence, really left us with very little chance in that match.
Second match of the season and again against one of the contenders for the titel this year. BrøndbyVolley(now 1-1) who finished 4th last year after a dramatic loss in the semifinals against our team Fortuna-Odense(now 1-1), is coming in to the new season with a lot of changes to their squad. No less than 4 new foreigners are what they have signed, and we were of course very excited to go up against them all…
After last weekends loss in the season opener in a match far from the level we know we are able to produce, we have spend all week with full focus on our block/defence and converting digs into points.
So coming into the match this Saturday, we had full focus on our own side of the net and our preparations had been 100% about ourselves as a team, and not about our opponents.
We took charge very early in the 1st game and scored 11 points in the first 6 rotations. And the result of our full week of focussing on block/defence was dominating the picture completely. We still were struggling with our rhythm in offense, but our hitters today chose to “take the bone in the other hand” and were all tooling at a high level.
We win 1st game comfortably 25-22.
2nd game starts off best for Brøndby, but we quickly get back on track from the 1st game, and once we found our rhythm it seemed like they had a hard time finding answers to get us out of our comfort zone. Making points in every serve for 6 rotations gave us a solid lead, and a serving streak from first Katherine(OH) and later Caley(OH) gave us a very safe win 25-13.
Dorthe(S) who in the late 1st game was starting to get the middles very much involved, were now playing very comfortably all round. And with the good passing we provided she was setting very solid throughout the game.
Being up 2-0 the 3rd game is usually a tough one and today was no exception. Brøndby came with more spirit and will having their backs against the wall, and we were struggling a bit in the early game. However with a few streaks in first Juliane’s(MB) and then Dorthe’s(S) serve gave us a 5 point lead. Up about 21-16 it was time to close the game and thereby the match, we ran in to 3 serving errors in a row and before we knew it Brøndby had a gamepoint at 24-23. In this part of the match the ref. decided to bring 4 completely wrong calls to the table leaving both sides of the net in extreme frustration, but we kept our cool and closed the match 27-25 where Kristen(S) came in and made 2 digs and 2 blocks in the last 7 balls of the game setting up our win.
Obama and the pack in Copenhagen
As many of you probably know, U.S. president Obama was in Copenhagen hoping to influence the IOC voters to vote for Chicago as Olympic city 2016. Success or not I’ll let you decide, but for us his visit was very exciting indeed. 2 members of his wolf pack decided to stay behind and came to our match in Brøndby. For security reason I can’t give out their names ;0) but in terms of motivation, having them on the sideline this Saturday along side my mom, really gave that extra which we needed, and I can’t thank them enough for finding time in their busy program to stop by. And to Mr. Obama I can only say from my heart “… I’ll never forget him THE LEADER OF THE PACK” :0)
A new line on technique or maybe not…!
I have to admit I was one of the people who was very excited about the refs announcing to ease up on the technical demand on our players, I have always wanted the game to be decided by the players and not the ref., but has it really changed?
What we saw in our match against Holte a week ago the demands had evidently changed, and after that match I told myself to expect that from now on.
This weekends match against Brøndby however, was a different story. The match began as the last one where EVERYTHING was allowed, but the from mid of the 2nd game the ref decided to change his line by making a very bad double call on our setter, and from then on he literally called everything remotely close to a lift or a double. After the match I wanted to talk to him about it, but I decided not to cuz at the end of the day the line proves to be as it has been always – very much depending on who the ref is and how he feels in the particular moment. Now I am not saying all refs are not consistent, some are consistently hard on technique and some are loose, but degree of confusement is high.
What is the new line if there is one and what can we as coaches and players expect?
I really hope the refs talk more this year than what has been the case other years, cuz if we are trying to find a new line closer to the international line, then it should be consistent from ref. to ref. and it should be published so everyone knows what to expect.
That is all for now, next weekend we are playing FrederiksbergVolley(now 1-0) at home and I look very much forward seeing my good friend William who is coaching the Frederiksberg team.
“Today we took many small steps as individuals but one big one as a team, and that is what makes the difference between winning or losing”
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