Christmas Break and what a season so far..

We came out of November with a great Cup gold and as a group it was time to pick up the harder and heavier physical training to get everyone in shape for January where we need to peak once again.
We had a nerve-racking derby against Örebro early December which never became a pretty affair but we fought hard and the girls really showed the right mentality when it was needed and we pulled off a 3-1 win on their home court.
After that we could finish off with 3 home matches against Falköping, Svedala and Sollentuna. The first 2 gave us a fast 3-0 win in both cases, and it left us on 4th place in the standings before the last match against Sollentuna.
To stay in 4th place we needed to win against Sollentuna and if things worked out the way we wanted we could finish in 2nd place before Christmas break. On gameday all the girls were 100% fit and ready to go and we went on court taking home a solid 3-0 win after trailing with 4 points in both 1st and 2nd set, but once again we proved to be the resilient team we aim to be and we kept the leagues top scorer to 5 kills.

The wins in December gave us qualification to Grand Prix in January and with other results going our way we end up in 2nd place which means we will play Sollentuna in the Semifinal of the Grand Prix on Wednesday the 5th of January.

As a team we are where we want to be looking at results. We have been able to do what it took to win when we needed to, and even though it can’t always be as pretty as we would like, in a long season you need to appreciate a win whenever you get them and the goal is to always be part of the fun matches.. matches where we get a chance to play for medals.. matches that require us to perform our best if we want to win.. matches which are the reason we practice to hard every day.. And so far we have been part of all of those matches available.

Christmas break is upon us and I wish everyone happy holidays. We start practice again on the 28th and then go on until Grand Prix, but first it is time to enjoy quality hours with family and friends..;0)

Merry Christmas

Michael


"Rise and Rise again until Lambs become Lions"

November is almost over..

Sorry for the lack of updates this past month, but it has been a heavy one and we have had so many important matches to play..

To start it off from where I left off last time.. We needed a win against Gislaved in our 2nd league match to get over the loss in the first round to Hylte/Halmstad. We went there and won the match 3-0 and basically left Gislaved with no chance at any point of the match.

Nordic Championship..

A week later we were off to Stavanger on a 13 hour drive to play 3 matches in the 1st round of Nordic Championship.. Fortuna was the opponent in the first match and again a fast 3-0 where the opponent never really were able to push us.
2nd match we played Oslo who had lost 3-1 to Stavanger on the day before. We got off to a flying start and were riding on all gears in the first set. We managed to get so much down after that start and ended up losing the 2nd set... a lost that would prove to be costly.
We finished the match fairly fast after that without impressing anyone and it was a tired group of girls in the locker room after a 3-1 win.
Sunday it was time for the "final" and knowing the results from the other groups we would have to win the match because of our lost set frm the day before.
We came out with high energy and a lot to prove and we took the match 3-1.. Big match by both of our outisdes Margie and Klaudia in that match against Stavanger.

Home court premier...

Coming home monday morning after another 13 hours in car, we had 3 days until the next big thing.. our first home match of the season in the new arena against Katrineholm. The day before the match Jeanette sprained her ankle but we were able to patch her up well enough to play the match... Winning the first 2 sets in front of about 500 people was the best possible start, we about 45 min. later Katrineholm had taken momentum and tied the match at 2-2 AND they had a lead of 10-6 in the 5th set... Again proving to be resilient and unbreakable we pulled off a crazy comeback and won the match 3-2 with 15-12 in the 5th set... A huge win for a very tired team and the crowd LOVED the drama they saw on court.

Playing the top team...

3 days later it was time to drive to Engelholm and play yet another tough match.. We started out perfect and took the 1st set, but slowly Engelholm got better and we did the opposite.. Maybe the hard program had finally caught up with us.. Engelholm won the next 3 sets and delivered us our 2nd loss in the league.

This leads us to the just ended week where we spend most of it recovering and trying to find a good balance between still practising and at the same time healing injuries both physical and mental.

The Cup Finals...

This Saturday we played our cup semifinal against Gislaved.. Again a fairly fast 3-0 win, but looking at the 2 matches we played against them within a month, our own level had dropped somewhat all in all.. We played with less tempo and struggled far more in passing.
Sunday it was time for the Final against Hylte and we felt we needed to prove that we could beat this team.
Off to a bad start with many errors in serving and passing and we lost the first set. 2nd set was a slightly different story and after an intense finish we won it 31-28.. After that we started playing with confidense and tempo like we want to and we took the following 2 set 25-23, 25-20 and thereby the Cup gold.. A HUGE relief for the team, for me and for the club.. Defending the title that the club won last year had been a priority from the beginning and after such a schedule stacked with do or die matches I am extremely impressed with the girls, and I know that they are very proud as well.

Now... here... Monday the 22nd of November at 23.53 in the evening I can take a look back on 3 weeks with 8 matches, 7 wins and 1 loss, 5 points in the league, qualification to the Nordic finals in January and a gold medal around my neck... Had you asked me 3 weeks ago if I would be happy with that my answer would be a big YES.. And that is what I am.. Happy..!
I feel like we have developed a lot during this period, and even though we probably at no point during this month played at the high level we have done earlier this season, I can be nothing but satisfied with what we have accomplished and how the girls have responded to the meetings we've had, the practices I've run and the tactics we have made.. The potential in this team is amazing and we will work hard to reach it when the time is right... But winning along the way means a lot to all of us and it is just as impressive an accomplishment as the development in itself.

On Saturday we face Falköping who are currently right in front of us in the league.. It is a match we need to win to keep the hope alive of participation in Grand Prix in January. First though we need to recover physically after these past 3 weeks, and then prepare for a tough match against some of Swedens biggest talents and I am sure they are hungry for a win.. This will be the 5th time we play these girls and we have won the first 4 including 2 finals of 2 preseason tournaments.

Michael

"Rise and Rise again until Lambs become Lions.."

ONE...

A lot has happened over the last week and a half.. As most of you probably saw online we lost our match number ONE in the season to a well playing Hylte/Halmstad team. We ourselves did not play a good match at all, and more than the defeat bringing down our spirits it was the ways of the defeat.

We started the match without balance between our mental excitement and our physical abilities.. This caused us to make a lot of unforced errors and our offense was without timing for the first 2 sets.
There is a 10min. break between 2nd and 3rd set here in Sweden and it was a break we really needed.. We had a good and honest talk in the locker room and we came out as a new team… Blowing past Hylte in the 3rd set and had our chances in the 4th with ONE set point included.. We did not know our visiting hours and with a couple of unforced errors in the end of the set we threw away a chance to take the match to 5 sets.

A tough loss of course considering the preseason we have had so far and maybe even more devastating it was a big knock down on our confidence.. We came in to the match a bit nervous having said goodbye to Sam, but of course we still had confidence in our abilities and we expected to be able to stay organized and in system at the least.. We did not manage to live up to our own expectations for more than about ONE and a half set and that is not enough to win a volleyball match.

As a coach you always think about how to rebound from a tough loss… How will the team react and what do you need to do to make them trust in themselves, in the system, the tactics and in each other… There is no ONE certain or ONE correct answer to that question because I believe that it is very different from team to team and from coach to coach. ONE thing is for sure though, we should always strive to take from the loss everything we are able to use to our advantage.. It is important to lose some matches now and then to have teams better than you that day show you where you are doing things wrong… That is at least my approach to it and that was what I chose to do.. We spend some time watching the video of the match and watching some of the things we did wrong and were we ended up being weak ONE time after another.
Of course a couple of the girls quickly ask the question; “are we going to spend time watching the things we did well?” A very just and understandable question, and my answer was that generally yes of course we are, but right now after the match we just played.. No..! We have won 19 of 21 matches or something like that and that is our reward for doing a lot of things well.. So I will use the 2[read: two] losses to point out the things we are not doing well enough. This is to make sure that each victory is more appreciated, every kill has a higher meaning, every defensive play is an opportunity and every loss is a lesson.

We have had some good practices since our loss 2 weeks ago, and our free weekend probably came at a good time… We have had time to be frustrated, time to be disappointed and now we have time to rebuild some of the things we need to move forward.
Intensity, aggressiveness, resilience and opportunism are the key words for our team. We have had to change a couple of things with our new squad lineout and I feel like it is changes for the better! Now it is time to show each other and show our opponents that ONE loss will never be enough to take us down, beating us ONCE will not equal us laying our weapons, and ONE defeat gives us twice the will to come back…

We are entering a pretty important and tough month here in November.. We play Gislaved this Sunday away(5.5 hours of driving each way). We have Nordic Championship in Stavanger the weekend after with 3 matches in 3 days, we play the reigning Swedish champions from Katrineholm Thursday after we come back from Stavanger in our first home match of the season, only to finish off the week with another 5 hour drive to play Engelholm away on Sunday.
6 matches in 2 weeks and all 6 requiring the girls to perform at their best if we are to come out of it with the results we want.
It is a big goal for us to reach the final round of the Nordic Championship so we have to win all 3 matches in round ONE. Playing Grand Prix in January requires a top4 position in the league at Xmas time and that means we need 2 wins out of the 3 league matches we have in these coming 2 weeks to keep that goal within reach. All in all a lot of pressure but the only way to deal with it is to play ONE match at a time and prepare the best we can for every single ONE of them.

In all my years of coaching at elite level, all the way back to my first season in Lyngby I have never been ONE to give up.. I remember us playing the 2nd final in best of 3 against Fortuna that year. We had lost the first ONE and we were down 2-0 in the 2nd final at home.. We did not give up, we picked up our weapons an chose to fight still.. We won the match 3-2 and pushed the finals to a 3rd match. And year by year I feel I have been in situations playing for medals where it just looked like a match was lost, a goal was out of reach… The year after still with Lyngby we played the Cup Final.. My starting setter called me ONE month before and told me that she was pregnant and as it turned out she would be unable to play. My backup setter had from the start of the season told me that should we make the Cup Final she would be unable to play do to some business travel.. We went in to that match playing a 18 year old setter who had joined the team just a few weeks before and we chose to fight… We lost the match 3-0 but we had 8 set points total in the 3 sets.

Last year in Fortuna is pretty well known history and now again I have managed to put myself and my team in a spot where pressure is on us and the odds are against us yet somehow I have very much confidence in the girls and that we can make this happen. I have talked a couple of times with Morten Piil(Danish journalist) about what the key to get out of those situations is, and my answer is always; to believe.. But it would probably help to not get in those situations to begin with.. ;0) except it is in those situations that medals are won, history is written and where glory and honour is at stake.. And it is here true competitors should feel the most at home..!

We have a lot of hard work in front of us and the girls are working really hard, maybe too hard at times.. But we are finding each other as times goes by and we help each other find a balance so that we can all feel ready for the next big task.

Michael


“Rise and Rise again, until Lambs become Lions”

Season begins in Swedish womens elite… A lot of excitement..!!

We have been waiting for so long to get started and finally the weekend is here. As many might have read we have said goodbye to Samantha for now. She has decided to skip this season of volleyball to attend her family home in the US and she has been supported by the whole club and her team mates.
Now anyone who has followed our preseason will know that the loss of Sam is bound to have an influence on our team. Both on and off the court Sam was a HUGE asset to this team and we will surely miss her personality, crazy stories and many many jokes as much as her points on the court.
We will see you soon Sam – E.L.E.

We will take our time to regroup and we have brought in a new girl, Sara Fredrickson(USA) to compete with Kaisa and Margie on leftside. Sara(29 years old) is an allround hitter who played both middle, leftside and rightside in college and has spend the last many years on the AVP tour in the US playing beach volley. We expect that Sara in time will be able to push Kaisa and Margie to reach even further, but her versatility will be an asset to the team right away since she is a great block player and she can pass as well.

As a group I believe we can get stronger by this.. I have experienced setbacks before as a coach – huge setbacks, but nothing can make a team grow stronger than coming out on the other side realizing that you are still a strong team.. We WILL find ways to win games and nothing will stop us from working hard to reach the places we has set out to reach…

This weekend we play Hylte/Halmstad on the road and other than the 5 hour drive there we are all very excited. Taking a glance on the list of names on the Hylte player list it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that this will be a very tough match. 4 pro. Players and a very talented setter is what await us in Hylte and I am sure the see us as wounded animal right now, and if so we will be there to show something different.!
It is my opinion that the team able and willing to put the highest pressure in their serves will come away with the win. Both teams obviously hold a lot of quality player by player and experience on both sides of the net gives high promises of a match with few errors and a lot of disciplined volleyball.
We are coming there to win and we will do everything in our power to get the best possible start to the Swedish Championship season.


Other matches in the elitedivision…

Anyone who knows me just a little bit knows that I am a bit of a competitor and reading the Swedish volleyball Federations website the other day I found an article by a respected coach from last years Örebro team, Jonas Håård writing his bids for the outcome of the first round.. He guessed the following;

Gislaved - Örebro 1-3
Hylte/Halmstad – Lindesberg 3-2
Katrineholm - RIG Falköping 1-3
Engelholm – Sollentuna 3-2

Now you all quickly realize at least one match where I picture a different result.. ;0) but let me give a crack at the rest of them even though my knowledge of the teams in Sweden is still very limited. I like a fun challenge, and I believe it brings a little spicy taste to the sport..

Gislaved vs. Örebro
I have seen both teams this preseason and based on that alone Örebro must be quite big favourites in this one… Gislaved looked a bit unorganized last time I saw them and they have had a lot of changes on important positions. Örebro has pretty much the same starting line-up as last year and that also talks in favour of an away win… However a bird is singing of an Örebro team showing up with a few injuries AND missing staring libero and setter do to administrative “blunders” .. Could prove to be a costly mistake and my guess is that it will be. 3 – 2 Gislaved.

Katrineholm vs. RIG Falköping
Falköping has very quickly become a favourite team of mine… We have played them 4 times in preseason and it is an inspiration to see both the young girls and their coach with such a high level of devotion and passion. Nonetheless, playing the reigning champions away from the warm walls of the Gymnasium I have a hard time seeing them come away with a win. Katrineholm is a new team compared to last year, but we have played them once and it is a team with extreme quality. Both outside hitters can do almost what they like with the ball, and with a new setter filling out big shoes after last years big player, Agne Zakarauskaite a lot of pressure will is on to make the offence run – can she do it?? I believe she can from what I have seen. 3 – 1 Katrineholm

Engelholm vs. Sollentuna
As I see this match there can’t be much doubt that Engelholm is the favourites… They have the foundation of last years team – their Japanese setter, back in action and Tina has always been know for a very organized and disciplined squad. I can’t see many holes for Sollentuna to exploit but if one it would be the passing line of Engelholm. A new and young libero playing for a team with the highest goals and high expectations… A lot of pressure for young Karin but I believe that she has all the help she needs from their outsides and coach. 3 – 0 Engelholm.


That was my guesses for this round.. Of course I tip my own team to win if anyone was waiting for that.. ;0)
Either way I wish everyone good luck and I hope for a great start of this years league. I have been waiting for this day since late April where it became a fact that I was going to be the headcoach here in Lindesberg.

Michael

"This suspense is terrible... I hope it will last."

P.s. the match can be followed live on volleykanalen.se.. use our link from www.lindesbergvolley.se

Last team standing...

So this weekend we had a tournament in Stockholm(Sollentuna) and it was our last tournament in our preseason...

The team has at this moment played 63 sets in 19 matches against 12 different opponents over the last month. No surprise that the girls are tired at and they have been awaiting the next 2 free weekends with great excitement.

Now the tournament…

We played Sollentuna on Friday night and that match was over in 3 fast sets. Sollentuna has improved a lot since the first 2 times we played against them, and after the match we talked about the importance of our own continues development as a team and later each individual on the team..

For the first and only time the girls got to stay at a Hotel for the weekend.. A well deserved price after a lot of gym floors, airbeds and self cooking.. Scandic Hotel took care of us with the perfect breakfast – sorry there were no bacon Sam..!

Saturday after the amazing breakfast and a very nice lunch at Sollentuna’s new Arena, we played against Katrineholm who are the reigning Swedish Champions. A match we had looked forward to for a while and the intensity was there from the beginning.
We won the first 2 sets fairly safe but in the 3rd set it seemed like Katrineholm turned it up a bit and we struggled for some time with our passing especially. Down 20-14 and the last time-out taken all there was left to do was to wait for the girls to respond – so they did… In a nerve wrecking finish we rallied to catch them at 24-24 and went past them 26-24 to make it a 3-0 win.. Fantastic win for so many reasons which I will not bore you with now, but to me and the girls the way we came back and the attitude the girls showed at the end meant the world to us. ALMOST a reminder of several play-off games from last season..

Last match of the tournament was set for Sunday against Brøndby, but we had agreed to play a friendly match against them on Saturday night as well to make the trip worth their while and to take advantage of the opportunity to play against a foreign team 2 times now they were here.
We won the friendly match 2-1 with some different line-ups on both sides, and besides the loss in the 3rd set we all felt good about our performance.

Sunday morning after another amazing breakfast we played the “real” match against Brøndby and this time we won it 3-0 without much trouble. Brøndby has an extremely high toplevel but they struggle a bit to stay up there for long at a time, and when they go down they fall deep. Especially passing was a problem for them throughout the game.


What did we take with us..?

4 matches played and 11-1 in set score. The pure result was more than satisfying but so was the knowledge we gained about our team and of course 2 of our competitors in the Swedish elitedivision.
We found out how vulnerable we are when our passing line is broken and we struggle to fix it fast enough.
We also learned(/confirmed what we already knew) that we have more than just 7 starters on this team, we can play pretty much any line-up and still put a very strong team on court.
We had a teambuilding weekend early in September where we talked about a couple of key words we thought should represent this team, and this weekend we saw that the work we have been doing so far is leading us in the right direction.


Recharge and reload…

This week we have 4 days off, 2 days of practice and 1 cup match against Orion from 2nd division. The next 2 weekends will be without volleyball for the girls. It is time to nurse family, friends and love ones and recharge batteries so that we are 100% ready both physically and mentally for our season opener against Hylte/Halmstad on October 16th.
I am very proud of the work the girls have done this preseason and sitting here now with the results we have gotten so far, I can’t help but be happy about all the hard work the club and I did over summer putting together this team. Finding the right girls, making sure everyone knew what they said yes to when they signed with the team and last but not least making sure everyone were ready to work their hardest for the team.

Many have had their doubts… people on and around the team and many more… doubts that we could put this team together, doubts that this small club could rise with such a challenge, doubts that a silly Dane and a group of 9 new players plus 2 “old” ones could get this off to a great start… Well many things can be said about doubt and one of them is that if you doubt that you can accomplish something you will accomplish nothing.. challenge your doubt with action.. you need to have confidence in your abilities and then be tough enough to follow through... We have shown that we are tough, we dare to follow through and as time has gone by our confidence has gone up..!

We know the season is long and we are ready to face the future we are presented with. We know we have far to go and only hard work will get us where we want to end up. 7 months is a lot of time..

Finally I would like to send a big THANK YOU to Morten Piil who chose to visit us in Stockholm this weekend and with his enthusiasm he made a big impression on a lot of the players there. Morten your passion for volleyball can’t be questioned and Jeanette and I thank you for making us feel a little special this weekend.

Michael

“The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a time.”

First trophy in Lindesberg..

This weekends tournament was suppose to be in Norway, then we changed it to Denmark and then on Thursday evening we ended up deciding to play Knallecuppen in Borås.
Plans changed on us several times and every time it was without our own influence, but at the end of the day we learned how to roll with the punches and got the best out of it.

Friday we played 3 sets against Engelholm. We drove down there(5.5 hours) and played at 15.30. We lost the match 2-1 to a well organized and tough serving Engelholm team who looks like being the team to beat if we want to go all the way this year.. It is still early to say anything for sure, but they look strong this early.

After the match we drove to Borås which was about 3 hours north and on the way we needed to pick up Josephine(setter) in blablabla city ;0) where she would be arriving with the train.. Check this out – her train had hit a MOOSE on the way and was thereby delayed for 2.5 hours.. A f..in MOOSE.. That made me think of my old team in Lyngby and all the amazing times I’ve shared with those guys…!

We got her picked up and headed for Borås where the girls checked in to a small apartment complex while Oskar and I shared 2m2 of space.. Talk about being VIP..

Day 1

Saturday we played Oslo who we are playing in our Nordic Championship group and that match was over pretty fast. 2-0(25-6, 25-20) against a slow starting Norwegian team(which later showed a lot more quality than that morning match).

Next up was Örebro our local rivals and we lost the first set to a very engaged and loud team. We spend the time between 1st and 2nd set re-loading and talking some things through and came out unstoppable… 25-10 and 15-9(if I remember correctly) was the score..

3rd and last match of the day was against our friends from Falköping RIG and the young girls again showed how talented they are pushing us in an intense fight which we won 2-1. We won the 1st and 3rd set of the match but I don’t remember the scores at all.

Winner of the group, and a semifinal on Sunday against Hylte-Halmstad with 2 Polish stars and a newly acquired Brazilian outside was waiting for us Sunday.

The girls spend the evening with a player meeting and story-telling, while Oskar and I had a quite and loooong coach meeting with the coaches of Gislaved and Ljungby at the Grand Hotel.

Day 2:

We all came out Sunday morning with clear minds ready to take on Hylte-Halmstad and we made it very clear from the start of the match that we wanted to go to the final. A quick win in 2 sets and ready we were..

And who was waiting for us in the final – Falköping RIG who beat the English development team in their semifinal. This would be the 4th time we would play Falköping in just over a week. We expected a group of young girls who wanted this win more than anything and we tried to built a strong mentality to resist them, but we started the match with a lot of easy errors and that gave Falköping all the room they needed to unfold their potential, and we were never close to win the first set which finished 19-25 or so..
We made a few subs between the 2 sets and agreed to start over, but we were still not at all close to the level we have shown these past few weeks, and it took a bit of an attitude from me in a time-out before the team started to respond, and once we got started we never looked back.
High pressure in serving, stability in passing topped off with opportunistic and fast offence gave us a big win in the last 2 sets 25-10, 15-10… and our first gold medals as a team.

What did we take with us…

Other than the medals and the cup to bring back to a proud club president, I really feel we grew as a team this weekend. We had good talks with the full team trying to learn from each match we played, and the girls got a chance to work with the internal agreements on the team. The individual improvement for each player is not a high priority of mine right now. First of all the players all have a really high level already, but more importantly we have a lot of work to do as a team, and once the players are working for and with each other I believe the individual improvement will be much more efficient.
I have a really good group of girls again this year and the opportunities are endless with the sky as the limit… Chemistry off the court seems extremely well and has been focus for me from the beginning which so far seems to have paid off. On the court we are still finding each other, but with each ball we play and each point we win or lose, we take a big step in getting to where we want to be as a team and I am proud that the girls are working so hard as they are, and they are doing everything I ask of them which makes my job a real pleasure.

Tournament player in my book was Kaisa Wallin who quickly has taken a really important role on the team putting the S in stability when it comes to passing and defence AND a big A in aggression at the net where she along side Sam has been the teams most scoring players so far this preseason. Well done Kaisa and grats to the whole team.. not only for the title but also for the progression you have made as a team this weekend.

Michael

“Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant”

Tournament in Lindesberg and Nordic Championship

This past weekend we played our 2nd preseason tournament and this time at home in the great new Lindesberg Arena. Results on www.lindesbergvolley.se

Teams participating were: Stavanger(NOR), Falköping RIG(SWE), Sollentuna(SWE) and Lindesberg(SWE).

We opened the weekend with a friendly match against Stavanger on their night of arrival and it pretty fast became clear that they hadn’t gotten the 6 hour drive out of their legs. We won easily 3-0 in less than 1 hour.

Saturday the tournament started and we opened against Stavanger… This morning Stavanger came with the intention of paying back for their loss the night before. They served tougher and put more pressure on our hitters with great blocking, but the girls showed true toughness and pulled off a 2-0 win in 2 pretty close sets.
2nd match for us was against Falköping RIG and the young and very talented squad counting about 95% of the Swedish youth national team fought hard to compete, but in the long run we proved to be the better team looking at stability and discipline. Another 2-0 win for Linde.

3rd and last match Saturday was against Sollentuna and almost before the match got started it was over in a very clear 2-0 win. Both teams saved a couple of key players and that seemed to hurt Sollentuna more than it did us.

Group stage results:

Lindesberg 3 wins, 0 losses
Stavanger 2 wins, 1 loss
Falköping 1 win, 2 losses
Sollentuna 0 wins, 3 losses

1st place in the group stage of the tournament and we would be facing Sollentuna in the Semifinale Sunday morning.
We expected a tougher match up this time as Sollentuna lined up a stronger line up, but we stepped up to the task as competition got tougher and won 2-0 without struggle.

In the Final awaited Falköping RIG who beat Stavanger in a close and intense semifinal 2-1. A small upset by the young and talented squad, but to the story belongs the fact that Stavanger played without libero the entire tournament because she was away with the Finnish national team, and passing line proved to be what Stavanger struggled with the most this weekend.

We entered the final as favourites and after about 45 minutes the match was over with a 2-0 win. But the win did not come as easy as the first time we played them on Saturday. This time the young girls showed amazing ability to fight for every point, converting defensive plays into points and tough serving. 2nd set finished 27-25 after several long and intense rallies, and in this part of the game we lacked “coolness” and aggressiveness which resulted in too many safe serves and attacks. However, the girls came out with the win and we can’t really complain about that, but it is our intention to stay aggressive even when the score is 25-25.

Player of the tournament in my eyes was Klaudia Grelowska. She played her first matches as middle due to some injuries on our team and she played the tournament very impressively. Also Jeanette played a great tournament with passing at the level of last season and defence which kept the 50 – 70 people in the crowd on their toes most of the time.

What is next...

Next weekend we are off to Denmark to play a small tournament with Brøndby(DK), Gentofte(DK) and Svedala(SWE). This weeks practice will be with focus on technique and resting so we are all ready for the 2nd half of preseason.
So far we are satisfied with our level and accomplishments in the 2 tournaments we have played, but have a long ways to go before season begins and before the 1st big test which will be Nordic Championship November 5th – 7th.

Our group in Nordic Championship will be played in Stavanger and it looks like this:

Lindesberg(SWE)
Stavanger(NOR)
Oslo(NOR)
Fortuna-Odense(DEN)

It will be exciting to play Fortuna(my team from last year) and also a rematch against Stavanger is something we look forward to.

Michael

“Your eyes can’t hit what your eyes can’t see, move like a butterfly and sting like a Bee”

Time for a small update on things..

Regis University has been on a tour of Denmark and Sweden – they came, they saw and they conquered.!!

My good friends from Denver, Colorado came for a 10 days visit as part of their preparation for their season which starts this coming weekend.
I will spare you the details of the “tourist” part of the trip and just give you a recap of their volleyball performance here…

Day1 – Fortuna were taught a lesson in organisation and efficiency as they lost big in 3 fast sets on the night of Regis’ arrival.

Day2 – Brøndby were the opponent and again Regis proved to be the better of the two sides denying Brøndby any chance in the first 3 sets, but Brøndby showed strength and squad depth by winning the extra 4th set where both teams played some of their back-ups, but Regis took care of business in 5th set which they won pretty comfortably.

Day3 – Another trip to Copenhagen and a match against Frederiksberg. Regis won all 5 sets pretty easy and again a demonstration of organisation, great leadership and a strong level in ability to convert defensive plays into points made the big difference.

Day5 – The team had a day off from volleyball on Saturday just to prepare for 4 matches on Sunday against Skovbakken, Brøndby, Fortuna and Vordingborg on Sunday. All 4 matches was won pretty comfortably, but both Vordingborg and Brøndby managed to take a game off Regis to force them to a deciding 3rd set. In both matches Regis showed true colours in the 3rd set and won them with ease.

Day6 – travelling to Sweden to play Lindesberg and Örebro.

Day7 – It was time for my team to get their fingers stuck in the well-oiled Regis motor and even though we forced Regis to play some of the best they had done on the trip so far, we still lost the match 3-1. In the 5th set Regis won again without too much struggle.

Day8 – Örebro came to Lindesberg to play against Regis but unfortunately I was unable to see the match. However Örebro did perhaps the best job pushing Regis in their 3-1 loss. Örebro won the 1st game and kept pushing Regis in the rest of the match.

9 matches played in 8 days and with 9 wins as a result. The biggest difference between the Scandinavian teams and Regis seemed to be organisation and discipline which the Americans showed several levels higher class in than what we normally see. I would also like to bring out the Setter from Regis who as a Senior in college is at her highest level yet, and she really gave show of her skill in several occasions.

On behalf of Regis University I would like to thank all the teams in both Denmark and Sweden for picking up weapons and fighting… You were all great hosts.


Back to reality…

After Regis went home last Thursday I have been back in Lindesberg and picked up the work on my own team and all our preparations.

Pre-season has picked up the pace and we have been on our first trip. The team is pretty set for now, unfortunately we lost one of our middles, Sara T., so we are in need of a middle blocker pretty badly.

Our first trip took us to Denmark where we played against Hamburg and Fortuna in Odense. 2 matches Saturday and 2 matches Sunday would be our first real tests on squad depth, top and bottom level and how resilient we are as a team at this point.

We lost both matches against Hamburg but managed to take a set from them and pushed them in a couple more.
Fortuna has still a long way to go before reaching the level that brought home double gold last year, but the girls work hard and the new coach seems set on making it work, so I am sure they will get there. In this weekend however, they had no real chance against neither teams and we won 3-0, 3-0 in those 2 matches.

During the 4 matches we showed a really high top level, but it also came to show that when we are pushed consistently we struggle to push back, and it is still obvious that we are a new team with 8 new players compared to last year so organisation and chaos walk hand in hand…:0)

The girls all work really hard at practice and we are all very mindset on getting to a high level before our first big test which will be Nordic Championship group stage. Lady luck had a sense of irony when the groups were found. We are playing against Team BK(Iceland), Stavanger(Norway) and HolteIF(Denmark). It will be a very special experience to play against Holte again. Many friends on the other side of the net and it will be a very emotional match for me in so many ways. I am sure we will face a top tuned Holte team who would love nothing more than a chance to pay back for the lost Championship finals last season, but of course we will do everything we can to make sure that exactly that will not happen.
The Norwegian champions from Stavanger have 2 players on their team who I have signed in my job as an agent, and one of them, Robyn Devlin is a close friend of mine on top of that. All in all a very tough group where I expect a full weekends work to promote to the final round which is a big goal for us this season.


That’s all for now, we continue building on the “team” in the team, and we have our eyes on the prize…

Michael

“It takes a lot of hard work to be able to sit back and be satisfied… we don’t sit back because we are not satisfied”

Player presentation of Lindesberg Volley 2010/2011 season…

Setters:
Matilda Wikander(age 27): Matilda is a tall and physical setter with a great technique. She joins our team this year from Aachen in Germany where she has played the last 2 years. Matilda has played 29 matches for the Swedish national team.

Josephine Tegefalk(age 22): Josephine is a smaller and faster setter. Jose played on the team last year where she lead them to Swedish cup championship. Josephine is a setter of the future and her drive and ambition will take her far this season.

Erika Larsson(age 23): Erika is the 3rd setter on our team. She starts for the clubs 2nd team and has been part of the elite squad for some time now. She will help push our 2 other setters and bring more squad depth at practice. The goal is for Erika to develop her setting skills even more so that she in the future can join the elite team for full real. She is a hardworking setter who reads the game really well.


Outside hitters:
Margie Giordano(age 23): Margie joins us from America where she graduated in 2009 from Arizona State University. Margie played and started all 4 college years for her team in the Pac10 conference which is considered the best in the US. Margie is an amazing passer and has a great mind in offense. She will be a big help for us in reaching our goals as a team.

Samantha Williams(age 23): Sammie joins the team from Pittsberg State University in Kansas where she graduated in 2009. Samantha has been recruited for her hitting abilities. She is a tall and physical player with great potential to be a big player in Sweden in the future.

Kaisa Wallin(age 23): Kaisa is joining us from last seasons Swedish champions Katrineholm where she had a big influence on the team reaching last years finals. Kaisa is a shorter outside with amazing passing and defence abilities. Kaisa is brought in to complete our outside position where we will have 3 potential starters with her addition to the team.

Therese Granlund(age 21): Therese played on the team last year as well. She a very talented all round player who will help the team as an outside as well as back up libero. Therese has an extremely fast arm swing and is one of the best defensive players on the team.


Rightside hitters:
Anna Sörensen(age 27): Anna is the 3rd Swedish national team player joining the squad this year. Last season Anna played for Örebro in the Swedish league, but we are very excited that she has decided to continue her career in Lindesberg. Anna brings a lot of experience and her natural calm attitude will have a good effect on our young players on the team.


Middle blockers:
Anna Rönnbäck(age 29): Anna joins the team from Aachen where she played with Matilda. Anna is a very experienced middle player who is considered one of the absolutely best in Sweden. She has played 51 matches for the Swedish national team and we are very sure she will do great things for us in Lindesberg.

Crystal Palmer(age 26): Crystal is our 3rd American player. She played on the team last year as well and was a dominating middle in the Swedish league. We are very happy Crystal has decided to come back and a huge goal for her this year is to further develop her passing since she dreams of becoming an outside in the future. Crystal has a lot of energy on court and will contribute a lot to the positive overall atmosphere on the team. Crystal will also back up the squad on the rightside hitter position where her hitting and blocking abilities will be very valuable.

Sara Thörnberg(age 22): Sara is another players who was on the team last year. Sara is a middle blocker in development. She has a lot of potential and will work hard this season to reach that potential. Lisa is a great addition to our two profiles on the middle position and she will see a lot of court time this season to help her improvement.

Kristin Sörman(age 22): Kristin is our 4th middle player. She played on the team last year as well and will complete the competition on her position. Kristin has the level to compete for a starting job on the team, and her young age gives her a bright future as well. Kristin is the shortest of our middles but she reads the game very well and she is super fast at the net.


Libero:
Jeanette Ellekjær Hansen(age 24): Jeanette is joining the team in Lindesberg coming off a championship season in Denmark with Fortuna. She was one of my most important players on that team and I am extremely happy she has decided to follow me to Sweden. Jeanette got MVP of the final series in Denmark last year and is one of the fastest and most stabile on the libero position. Jeanette has been around the Danish national teams several times and she will be of big importance for our team this year.


That is how our team looks for next year and what a team it is. We have been able to bring in a lot of talent combined with some national team experience and that will put us side by side with the best teams in Sweden. We realize that is will require a full season of hard work and a little bit of luck to make it all the way, but the goal is set and we are willing to put in the hours at the factory…

For myself I am getting ready to move out of my place in Denmark… Putting the last things in boxes I came to find a speech I wrote last season to my team after having lost the 4th final. It made me remember so many things from the past year and even though I am moving on to new and very exciting times, I found myself missing all the players, the club and everyone around Fortuna.. It was a great year… So here is a final SHOUT OUT to; Dorthe, Katie, Kristen, Lise, Katherine, Caley, Julie, Maja, Juliane, Jane, Jette, Lotte, Jeanette, Mille and Eva.

“It is in these hours after defeat that we lick our wounds, we regroup in the name of our pride and we thank God that we survived the battle, and that we STILL have a chance for glory… I urge all of you to find every bit of strength, every bit of courage and all of your pride – bring it to the gym tomorrow and let us prepare…Together! I have an answer and the price is nothing less, but I need all the hearts on this team to make a stand… Come tomorrow and expect to be enlightened, expect to be motivated and I promise you all … TOGETHER WE WILL MAKE READY.! The gold is what we want, this win is our way to get it and our hearts, skills and courage will be our means of weapon… I BELIEVE..!”

Michael

2010/2011 new things ahead…

Time for a small update here in the rather quite summertime..

The 2009/2010 season finished with double gold and I had actually for a while expected to re-sign with Fortuna, especially after that kind of ending to a season. However, a nice opportunity came up when the Swedish team Lindesberg contacted me with the offer of becoming their new headcoach. First of all the facilities in the club are amazing with a brand new gym, fitnesscenter, restaurant, full coaching staff around the team and a very ambitious board. Second of all they wanted to hire me to do nothing but coach volleyball which has been my goal for a really long time, so obviously it did not take me very long to decide that I wanted to go there.

Saying goodbye to Fortuna was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do… But the club supported my decision of going and they understood my reasons for wanting to try this thing out. The whole finish of the season and getting to say goodbye to everyone was all done in a bit of a hurry.. A couple of players left for travels right after the 5th final, and somehow it all just ended with a lot of emotions all over the place.
One more time I would like to send a HUGE thank you to the 2009/2010 Fortuna team, you were an amazing group of girls and we really did some amazing results.

I left to go work in the US early May and I am here until August. As soon as I get home I am leaving for Lindesberg and a season with a new group of girls and a new team to build. We are aiming for the stars without a doubt and a gold medal is our goal. The team had a – in many ways – rough season last year both on and off the court, and there will be a big task in rebuilding a culture in the club where athletes are feeling part of a family.
I am very excited for the coming season, but before all the work with the players start, we have to sign the players and that is always a full summers work. We are hiring 2 American outsides and the rest will be Swedish or Danish girls. So far it looks good but there are still a few steps to be taken before I will “go on vacation”… But it is an exciting process and fun to be a part of.

Recently I started working with an agency to help more players that loves the game and wants to play pro or semi-pro. My job will be to match players with teams in all of Europe to what will hopefully be a great experience for both parties. I have meet a lot of people in the US over the years I have been there, and it all just makes more sense that I end up helping players come from the US to Europe to play..

The Danish league 2010/2011

Lastly I hope to be able to follow the Danish league closely even though I will not be coaching there and that I will probably be busy with my own team and job most of the time. I think it looks to be an exciting year in Denmark. Last years silver medallists from Holte have added 2 starting players to their roster. Both of them with National team experience so there is no doubt that it will be a stronger team than last year. If you look to the other contenders for the gold, Fortuna has lost their entire starting 6 line-up from last year, including 3 players from team of the year AND 2 times league MVP Katherine Whitney who signed with a top team in France for next year(good luck Kat, I know you will do great). Also 5 year allstar Caley Carter Knudsen has decided to put her kneepads on the shelve and will start a life with her husband BT in the US.
Obviously Fortuna’s season will be depending on the new signings, but returned from a pro life as a Beach volleyball player, Stine Andreasen has decided to try a career as a setter and she will bring both experience and winner mentality to the team. Add to that 3-4 foreign signings and all the talents from the roster last year like Lise and Julie who both keeps getting better, I have no doubt that they will contend for the gold.. Time will tell if it is enough.!
Brøndby who finished 3rd last year will probably be the team most “experts” view as main contender for Holte. Brøndby has the leagues best setter in my opinion, and if their rightside Julie Guldager is back from injury she will be dominating as well.. However they have lost their libero, both their outsides and both middles from last years team. I think these players are possible to replace though. Brøndby have a solid talent factory of their own, and the club is also investing in at least 3 foreign players. If you look at the 3 players they signed last year I think they can do better for themselves with that money. One outside got hurt halfway through season and didn’t practice most of the time and the other outside ended up playing libero. The only really successful story would be their tall middle Jolene, but even Jolene struggled at the end of season. I hope for the competition that Brøndby find more luck in this years “draft” of foreigners, and if they do then they will be one of my favorits to go all the way.

The last team in top4 from last year would be Frederiksberg. They were a team that found themselves a bit in the middle of nowhere. They were better than 5 and down, but basically had no hopes of beating Holte in best of 5 matches in the semifinals. Headcoach William has aired a will to purchase a foreign player if he sees that as a breaking point in the teams goal to make the finals.. Most of the squad from last year will continue and a few new additions can prove to be just what they need to make top3.

Generally I think it will be very interesting to see how the best teams will do without a Katherine Whitney, Caley Carter or Pia Larsen. Players like that are hard to find in a small league like our, and I feel we have been blessed with their years playing for our top teams. Now it is time for new Danish girls to pick up the pace and time for the teams to strike the gold again when hiring their professional players. I personally see Holte as main favourites because the above mentioned 3 players are not in the league anymore, and unless other teams find a new game changing player it is hard to see how they can compete with Holte in this coming season. Holte is pretty much an equal with the Danish national team, so unless a few non Danish girls are ready to compete, the best of the best are in Holte..

That was all for now, enjoy your summer everyone and have fun on the beach tour.

Michael

Damelandsholdet og spiller frustration..

Hep.. Lige et indlæg på dansk.

Nu er Landsholdssæsonen i gang, og alle spillere er til og fra landsholds træning hele ugen igennem.. Det bringer flere samtaler med disse spillere på bordet, samtaler der ikke er nye men dog bliver frisket op hvert år omkring denne tid.

Noget af det der gør at jeg har følt et behov for at skrive dette indlæg, er en nu 3årig periode hvor jeg har været rigtig tæt på flere spillere på landsholdet. Spillere som alle er dybt loyale overfor landsholdet og den præstige der følger med, og de stiller troligt op år efter år. Omvendt er det også spillere som kæmper en indre konflikt mellem klub og landshold.
En konflikt skabt af manglende samarbejde mellem klubtræner og landstræner, OG en konflikt der i MINE øjne i høj grad har at gøre med den danske landstræner.

Tony har sit syn på volleyball og har en meget beundringsværdig og stålfast mening om hvordan volleyball skal spilles. Det er enhver træners ret og det vil altid være arbejdsgiverens beslutning hvor længe det skal stå på. Så længe resultater målt i sejre og nederlag, udvikling af spillere etc. er i orden så fortsætter man naturligvis samarbejdet...!

I Danmark har vi 8 klubber i elitedivisionen og det er stort set det marked landstræneren har at finde sine spillere henne. Ud af de 8 klubber er der kun 1 elitetræner dvs. klub der deler landstrænerens syn på taktik og spillestil. Det er målt på antallet af spillere der ikke er brugbare på landsholdet med det spil de har allerede via den træning de får i klubberne, hvilket resulterer i at spilleren radikalt skal ændre sit spil for at være brugbar på det danske landshold.
Det vil altid være klubbens eget valg udfra valget af træner, hvilken spillestil eliteholdet skal have og dermed spillerne udvikles i, og situationen i Danmark er at Holte har valgt den samme tilgang til volleyball spillet som man har på landsholdet. Det har først klubben til rigtig mange medaljer og flotte resultater, så ikke en finger at sætte på dette.
Men hvad sker der så med de spillere der kommer fra alle de andre klubber når det er tid til landsholds samling?

Dette bringer os frem til den indre konflikt jeg talte om før...

En spiller der ikke træner den samme spillestil som benyttes på landsholdet, mødes med en hurtig kommentar fra Tony om at det hun har lært hele året i sin klub, det er fuldstændig forkert... Og det kan kun gå for langsomt med at få lavet det om.! Og nu siger jeg ikke at manden ikke har ret ift. hvad han ønsker spilleren skal bruge på landsholdet, for det er jo hans valg, men er det ikke liiiiige lovlig naivt og egocentreret at mene, at man har patent på hvad der er rigtigt og forkert i volleyball? - JO!

Disse spillere sidder så pludselig i en situation når de kommer tilbage til klubtræningen hvor de så skal diskutere det samme med deres klubtræner. I sidste ende står spilleren jo med et valg om at gøre enten som hendes hold i klubben stiler efter, eller som hendes karriere på det Danske landshold kræver. Alternativt kan man vælge at skifte til en klub hvor de to ting går hånd i hånd, og det har vi jo også set rigeligt med eksempler på, men det er nu ikke min pointe her så lad os lade det ligge.

Nej det jeg vil frem til er, at hvis vi i 7 ud af 8 eliteklubber er SÅ ELENDIGE til at udvikle spillere til det danske landshold, og hvis vores tanker om volley og hvordan det spilles bedst er HELT FORKERTE, så står Dansk volleyball, forbund, klubber, landshold og spillere i en ganske uheldig situation. Og som volleynation må vi vel træffe et valg om hvor længe vi vil stå i den uheldige situation, for der er ikke forbedringer forude, tværtimod... og det ses jo tydeligt på nedenstående liste:

Damelandsholdet:

Eva Mielskov Bang, hæver – Brøndby VK (backup)
Jindra Knudsen, hæver – Holte IF (starter)
Mia Kloth-Jørgensen, libero – Holte IF (starter)
Lykke Groot Degner, center – Holte IF (starter)
Juliane Graff Daugaard, center - Fortuna (Holte IF) (backup)
Christina Marie Stenvig Jensen, center – Brøndby VK (starter)
Mie Lindgren, kant – Brøndby VK (Holte IF) (backup)
Louise Johnsen Alrø, kant – Örebro VS (SWE) (starter)
Melcijana Salispahic, kant – Holte IF (starter)
Natja Bech Kjeldsen, kant - Skovbakken (backup)
Karen Helmer-Hansen, kant – Holte IF (starter)
Majken Asmussen, kant – Holte IF (backup)

Jeg tror min pointe er ret klar, og jeg synes ikke at det er en særlig god situation for dansk volleyball... I virkeligheden er den ganske forfærdelig! I hvert fald så længe der udtages spillere til landsholdet som kommer dertil glade og med tro på sig selv(ellers var de der jo ikke) for så at vende tilbage til klubben helt uden selvtillid og i dyb personlig konflikt i frygt for at spilde sin relativt korte volley karriere på at lære nogle forkerte ting...

Min besked til Tony er ganske klar... Udtag de spillere du mener passer i det system du gerne vil køre. LAD VÆRE med at udtage spillere der ikke passer for så at lave om på dem og BILDE DEM IND at den eneste rigtige måde er DIN måde.. for det er direkte LØGN! Det kunne helt sikkert gavne at at spillere lærer mere end 1 måde at spille på, men det skal gøres på en måde så det gavner spilleren, og ikke ødelægger deres tillid til sig selv og til deres klub.

Ja jeg ved godt at det her indlæg kommer til at gøre nogle meget vigtige herre meget sure, men jeg er 100% ærlig når jeg siger at jeg ALDRIG har set nogen være så dårlig til at bygge en spiller op mentalt som du er det Tony, og det gør mig pisse sur at der er en hel del menneskers hårde arbejde gennem flere sæsoner, som du bare samler op og kaster ud af vinduet.. det lader sig kun gøre af én eneste grund, og det er ikke fordi du ved bedre for det gør du ikke, men fordi du er landstræner og spillerne respektere de ting du siger og lære fra dig.. Men det handler kun om dig i din verden, og din verden er sgu ikke stor nok i mine øjne.. ØV!

Mini

"Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong"

The double is back in Odense... We came, we saw and we conquered!!!

20 games, 5 matches and 16 days is what it took to bring the national championship and thereby the double gold in a perfect season..

Describing all 5 finals would take forever to do. Both teams played with very few errors most of the time but also with a low aggressiveness which made the rallies long and full of amazing defence. The first 4 finals both teams won their matches on the road but lost at home, so before the 5th final which we had to play away from home, the statistics were on our side. However, the loss in the 4th final at home with 0-3 was hurting a lot on the whole team, the club and all the fans. Spirit was down and everyone just seemed a bit more tired than usual.

We spend 3 days on rebuilding and re-motivation the girls and we chose a completely different style of play going in to the last final. Having a tired team I chose to let everyone loose and just go for every possible kill in the match. It is often more fun to play that way, and when you have fun you forget you are tired… The girls went on court this Sunday at 2pm and played the best match they have played since we won the Cup final in January. We lost the 1st game 25-23 but then took the next 3 in a row 25-20, 25-18, 26-24. The gym went absolutely crazy among our fans and the rest of the crowd seemed kind a stunned. The way we entered this match, took control and never let go until it was over came as a surprise to everyone but us and that was exactly what we wanted…

On top of the 2 gold medals this season the team got 6 player awards as well… Juliane Daugaard made team of the year as a middle, Kristen Karlik made it as rightside, Katherine as outside. Katherine also got MVP of the league(2nd year in a row) and she got MVP in the Cup final as well. Jeanette(libero) was awarded the fighter award in the final series. 6 player awards that sends a clear signal to the rest of volley Denmark that this year our team was the strongest, and I think the club can be very proud to have put together a team like this, especially taking into consideration that the team lost a star player in outside hitter Caley Carter-Knudsen in January.

Season is over …. Saying goodbye!

When a season ends no matter winning or losing there is always the inevitable shower of tears from players, coaches and club members. Tears because you at the end of a road with your team. Next year the team will be different no matter what, and that is always a heartbreaking thing to go through. This year maybe more than normally since we have 3 players from our squad who is at the end of their volleyball career. Lotte Hauge(middle), Jette Breuning(middle) and Dorthe Windeleff(setter) are all quitting. On top of that our National team middle Juliane Daugaard is moving to Copenhagen for school and is therefore playing in a different team next season.
All 4 players will be missed beyond words and they will be close to impossible to replace. A big thanks to all 4 of them, Lotte, Dorthe and Jette good luck in your new life without elite volleyball, I wish you the best of things. Juliane you have the support of the whole team and the club making you changes to Copenhagen, and remember that the bond you have with these teammates will never go away no matter where you play.

At the same time our 3 American players are leaving to go home, and rather they are coming back or not is still not settled. The negotiations are in process and time will tell, but most likely scenario when looking at history is that 1 of them at the most will return but maybe none of them at all.

This leaves 7 big holes on the team compared to the team that won the finals and there is a big job at hand for the club over the next few months. First of all a new set of goals needs to be made, then a coaching staff that lives up to the goals set by the club and then rebuilding the team to match the goals and the coaching staff. All of those things depending on ability to raise money and support from the local industry and the city to reach those goals.

The above written also means that I myself have not yet decided where I will be going from here. The support from the team has been indescribable and there is no doubt that the club and I will work to re-sign the contract, but nothing is sure for now and even though both parts are interested there are still many things that needs to be taken in to consideration.
So for now I would like to send out a huge thanks to the club and the board for the big work they have been doing over the last 9 months. Bringing the gold back to town is also a result of the hard work being done behind the curtains. Congratulations!!

A big thanks to all the sponsors for their support, without you it would never have been even close to possible, and this also goes for the city and all the support the local media shows in the work we do in Fortuna. Thank you all a ton..!!

Right now it is time to celebrate and in a little while I will figure out what the future brings for me, all I know for sure is that I will be involved in volleyball and I want to be coaching as much as I can.

Mini


“Our house… In the middle of our street… our house…!”

Finals....!

The semi’es are over and we won in 3.. Something I could only dream of before the matches were actually played, but none the less it is true.

Firstblood..

The first semifinal we played at home and with an enthusiastic crowd, and we had high hopes… Brøndby came with the same aggressive style of play that we saw in our loss last time, and we had no answers in the beginning. We lost 1st game 25-23. 2nd game started and Brøndby came out serving us out of the court. We were down 12-0 when I had taken both time-outs and made 2 subs – nothing helped. We lost the game 25-8.. :0/

3rd game came up and I decided to sub all my tall players on court from the beginning to get some momentum in block/defense, and it worked perfectly.. We started out with 5 blocks in 7 points and won the game 25-20. We brought momentum to the 4th game and came out on top with a 25-19 win based on blocks and hard serving pressure.

5th game was close all the way to the end, but we kept our cool in the end and completed the comeback with a 15-11 win.

Double kill..

2nd semifinal was played away in a very small and intense gym. We expected Brøndby to be over us like white on rise and we felt ready to resist. We came out aggressive, and with big leads in both 1st and 2nd game it seemed we were doing the right thing. But both games ended with a 25-23 defeat and suddenly we were back where we started in the match before. 3rd game was the same from the start.. We came out charging and swinging at every possible ball, but this time we kept it going throughout the game and won it 25-16.

4th game and we wanted to repeat last match, but Brøndby had a different idea and the came to an early lead of 4 points. We closed the gap to 22-20 and the survived 2 matchpoints at 24-22 to win the game 26-24.

5th game and we wanted to keep the momentum going for us. We agreed to be loud before, during and after every point and take advantage of us being on our way to a comeback and the pressure being on Brøndby. We changed sides down 8-6 but tied it at 8-8, and from then on we didn’t look back winning 15-12.

Killing spree...

3rd semifinal was played yesterday and now it was up to us to win the series in 3 matches. We were at home, our gym, our crowd and nothing would mean more to us then give the crowd a win.

1st game and we came out hammering balls to the ground and block/defense worked like a charm. We got to a 9 point lead early on and didn’t let go. 25-17.
2nd game had the same start as the first, but Brøndby hung in there and didn’t give up. Half way through the game we threw away a few stupid points hitting the ball out and a couple of bad serves tied up the game. In the end though we overcame our small slump and took the game 25-23.

3rd game and time to close it up. The gym was ready to explode and I think we all knew what we were about to do.
We started out with a 4-1 lead and it looked like we were on our way, but in a last effort to turn things around, Brøndby took more chances hitting and they served tougher. Midway through we were down by 4 or 5 points, and the players started to look tired. Both sides had a hard time killing the balls so the rallies were VERY long… Good times for the crowd, but hard for the players and coaches..:0)
I decided to take out 3 players, Jette(MB), Dorthe(S) and Maja(OH) to get fresh energy on court, and in came Julie, Jane and Katie. All 3 added considerably to our comeback which was completed after 3 setpoints to Brøndby and 3 matchpoints to us in a dramatic finish to a super intense and well played semifinal series. 30-28 was the final score and thereby a 3-0 win.

Time to re-charge and re-load..

We stand here now having killed off a very tough opponent 3 matches in a row. It has taken such a hard effort by every individual around the team, and an even bigger effort by the whole team as a unit to win this series.
Last match in regular season we lost our starting middle, Lotte who is out for season. Same match Kristen sprained her ankle but has been able to play through the pain in the semi’es. Those injuries together with our 3-0 loss against Brøndby in February made us a minor underdog coming in to the play-offs, but I feel we have answered a few questions with our performance in these last 3 matches.

We will spend the weekend resting and then start Monday with an easy practice mainly about tactics before the final. After practice the team is going to Copenhagen to watch the 4th semifinal between Holte(#1) and Frederiksberg(#4) where Holte leads the series 2-1 and are favorites to proceed to the finals. Tuesday and Wednesday we will pick up the intensity at practice and make sure everyone is fit and ready to perform their best on Friday 9th which is when the first final is played.

I am super proud of the girls for making the finals. We have already won 1 gold medal this season in the Cup, now let’s make it one more to become National Champions.


“We came, we saw and WE WON!!!”

Mortimer we're BACK!

Finally it is time for a new word from my side of town.. :0) I apologies for the long wait, but I have been struggling a little bit with finding time and motivation these last few weeks, to write on my blog. Mainly because so many things have been going on all at the same time that it just looked to be an enormous article..;0)


Off the court...

Since we won the Cup Final late January, we have lost one of our starting outside hitters, Caley Cater Knudsen. Caley got an offer to join a Finnish team late in their season to try to help them avoid relegation. It has been a dream of hers to go play in a bigger league, and Finland has some of the best teams in Scandinavia, so when she decided to go there were no sour faces from anyone. The word from Finland is that Caley personally has been playing super well and has more than filled out the role she was brought in to play, but her team still finished in the lower half of the league so now they have to play to avoid relegation instead of playing for medals.

Losing a starting player with the skills Caley possesses is never an easy thing for a team. We have had to find a new plan A first of all. The new plan A was to give the chance to fill out the hole Caley left to a young outside on our team, Julie Pedersen so we got on it right away. Having a young and untried outside hitter in your starting line-up 2 months before the semifinals, you quickly realize that you need plan B and C ready just in case plan A does not work out from time to time… Let me start by saying that Julie has done a good job trying to fill in for Caley and she is working really hard. But even when you work really hard and feel like you do your very best, sometimes it will still be necessary to bring in plan B or C. As a coach it is my biggest concern to make sure it is always beneficial for the young player AND for the team to have her on the court, and that is a fine line between success and fiasco right there… So far we have beaten the league’s top team with Julie as a starter, but then we’ve also lost to the 3rd team in the league. Many things went really well in the win against Holte(now 18-1) including Julie playing a match at her highest level. Just as many things went bad in the loss against Brøndby(now 14-5) also really pointing out the situations where Caley could have been the difference between a win and a loss.

Status off the court is this… We are sure to finish 2nd in the base stage of our league and our current regular season record is 16-3. Finishing 2nd means that we will have to play Brøndby who is in 3rd in the semifinals beginning March 27th. We play best of 5 matches all best of 5 games.
So needless to say all our focus has been on getting ready to play this team that beat us 3-0 last time we played them, but ever since the Cup win we have been struggling with injuries on several players, although none of the players have been hurt seriously. This has made me change the line up several times over the last couple of matches and we haven’t played to our full potential as a team since the win against Holte early February. Something that could come back to haunt me the rest of my summer if it turns out we are not able to perform in the semifinals, but my money is still on us to get ready and that it has been the right way to go to get as fit as a team as possible.


On the court…

Plan A I have already mentioned. Plan B and C both involve 2 very experienced outside hitters who both only practices 2 times a week. Plan B is Maja Pilgaard who is an experienced passer and defense specialist who has played libero at the highest level in the league. Maja also swings pretty well at the net and she brings more experience to the team as well as fighting spirit. Maja has practiced with the team almost since the beginning of the season, but she has not been involved in matches before Caley left.

Plan C involves moving one of our middle hitters to the outside, but moving a starting player from one spot to another seems like moving the problem from one spot to another, and these last 2 months has more than anything else been about testing our squad depth, and finding out which plan will bring us closest to the gold medals. All 3 plans have been tested at different times and I think I need to listen to my gut feeling when deciding which plan to go with at which times. If the semifinals end up going to 5 matches there is no doubt we will need our full squad, but the trick is to find out how and when to move things around.


Back to “off the court…”

Having played volleyball myself for almost 16 years and more then a handful in the elitedivision, you start to trust your gut feeling more than anything else when it comes to the “money time decisions”. I feel more this season than earlier that I need to trust what I feel is right in the moment more than what a number on the stats sheet tells me, or if there might be another way to go that seems more obvious. I think that gut feeling is something shared between many coaches who have been playing a lot of volleyball themselves.
Now nothing comes without an opposite, and I have this year been faced with another way of doing things. In Fortuna they have won gold medal after gold medal over the last 5 years or so, and there is no doubt that many of the people involved in the club knows what they are talking about. This year I have been introduced to more video analyzing and stats taking than I could have ever imagined, and I have had a hard time letting it take over in my decision making what the numbers where telling me, if it was going against my gut feeling.

In the middle of where I came from and where I am right now I keep running in to Coach Mizuno who is the assistant coach in my team. Assistant meaning he is in charge of 2 practices a week but is never at matches. I feel Mizuno has found the golden middle ground between both sides of coaching. He is the Headcoach of a mens team on the same island and I have seen several of his matches. He has an amazing ability to see what his team needs right in this instant, and then make the changes needed. And talking to him after a match or a practice he is the one asking me questions about numbers on the stat sheet but also the one saying that some things just can’t be read from numbers.
I am definitely not as close to finding the middle ground as Mizuno is, but coaching with him every week and talking to him is getting me there. I know that Fortuna wants me to develop that side of my coaching much more than it is now, and I feel I am going the right direction it is just hard to go against your gut feeling, it almost feels like letting go of the control when really you are maybe gaining even more control if you can learn to use both sides and take the full advantage from each side.

There is no ONE STYLE OF COACHING and gold medals have been won and lost for several other reasons than the style of coaching, but I am trying my hardest to find my style and I hope one day it will help me and my team to win gold medals. I realize that we have won the Cup gold already, but it takes more than 1 gold medal for me to say that I am doing things the right way… I felt good about my own performance during the Cup Final and I made some decisions leading up to that match that could have gone both ways, and to my luck it went the right way. But reflecting over what more experienced people and players said after the match, the gold maybe didn’t taste just as wonderful as it did at first. And that is why I want to win more… When you lose matches or games from bad decision making people look to the coach and say “what were you thinking?” and for a while after the Cup Final some people outside our team and outside our club managed to take away that proud feeling I had from winning the Cup Final, and it was only during this last month of “soul searching” that I rediscovered the trust in myself that makes me capable of being the coach I am now and have been all season.
I want to develop every day and I am open to learn from the people more experienced than me and the opportunities to do exactly that in Fortuna, with all the experienced people in the club, are endless, but I will try never again to let anyone make me doubt myself, cuz the moment I do will be the moment I am letting down my team.


Back to “on the court…”

The last 3 matches we have won pretty easy. Our level however, is far from where it needs to be to win against Brøndby. We have had problems in passing, but more with stability than capability. We have 3 of the best passers in the league in our starting 6, so I know we have what it takes to give us the chances to win, but still 1 or 2 teams have been able to break down our passing and that is something we have to accept and then deal with. Exactly in this part of the game is where Maja can become an X-factor for us in the semifinals, and we work hard to get a good confidence and communication at its highest between our passers in different line-ups to prepare ourselves for a very strong serving Brøndby team.

At the net we have been struggling a lot with timing between setters and middles. Why the timing has been gone is hard to explain, but the hard work looks to be paying off finally… This week has been one of the best in a long time for our middle hitters and the time to peak is right around the corner so I couldn’t be more excited. Good job girls, we are definitely getting closer.!

Aggression at the net has been another issue for us.. With Caley leaving almost 1/3 of the points our team made left with her, so we have had to change our style of play a little bit to involve more players and dividing the load. Katherine was just like Caley making a lot of points in every match so we can’t really expect her to make more.. But getting Kristen involved a whole lot more and rediscovering our middle attack is what is going to carry us through to the finals. That has been our focus the last month and we are getting to a point where we all feel more and more confident that we can find that 1/3 we lost with Caley leaving.


That ended up being a really long article, but if you’re still reading then thanks for hanging in there.. ;0)

I would like to send a shout out to Kumo and Mr. Jeremiah in Louisville.. I hear stories of a big dog getting bigger with new fur and I thank you both for ready my tails here.. ;0)
Also a hello to Deb, Bill, John, Frank and Joel.. I hope you are all doing great.

Michael

“People ask me how we can win coming from where we were at not too long ago… We will make them an offer they can’t refuse”

We did it and we did it well..!

We won the Cup this Sunday in a beautiful setting with 2.000 in the crowd and all the tention and excitment one can ask for.

Like I described in my previous article, the Cup tournament is single elimination going over 4 months with 1 match per month ending with the final i January. What makes it so special is that every match is do or die, kill or be killed, you snooze you lose etc. and that goes for the 1/16 final to the actual final. To win the final a team has to be able to handle these situations, making plays from 1st whistle to the last, sticking to tactics and be able to adjust during the match, because there is no tomorrow!
We were the best team at doing all of those things this Sunday and that is why we won. Holte was unbeaten by a Danish team this whole season and obviously that demands respect. We had that respect preparing ourselves and we played with that respect all throughout the match, knowing that if we stopped creating the match they would take over right away.
How to stay in such control of emotions in a match like this requires experience and God given ability to stay cool, and I think that proved to be the biggest difference between the 2 teams.

On our side of the net we had only 2 players that had never played and won a final before, and adding to that the difference in outside hitters on the two teams. Outside hitters get most sets in almost every match in womens volleyball so you need a certain level on that position to win. Both teams have great outside hitters, but when you look on experience or clutch time performances we outscored them by far.
Caley has since she came to Denmark won 3 Cup finals(now 4) and 3 championships and in each of those finals she has been a deciding player for her team and an MVP outside hitter.
Katherine has in her one and a half season in Denmark won 1 cup final(now 2) and 1 championship getting MVP award in all 3 finals.
Some hard statistics to match and it continues looking to the setter position and middle blockers where we have more experience when it comes to number of played and won finals.

Holte looked like they struggled with nerves and when that is hounting only 1 of 2 teams the outcome often will go only one way.

We won 3-0(25-21, 25-19, 25-20) after big leads in both 1st and 2nd game, but the 3rd game was close all the way to the end when Holte had a 19-17 lead. Katherine and Lotte won a couple of big points at the net, Kristen served a few points home and Jeanette and Caley made big defensive plays winning the last 10 points 8-2 and thereby the match.
Throughout the match our passing lead by Jeanette(L) was bulletproof giving Dorthe perfect conditions to do as she pleased, and she played her best game yet this season. One thing we did different this time playing Holte was keeping our middles in the game and really giving them more and more at the end of the match. We have struggled with that earlier this season but Sunday they both stayed in there and made crutial points.
The biggest thing for us though was our serving. We played almost without errors and still maintained a great pressure making Holte's offense onesided.

Celebrations and then back to work...

We spend last night celebrating in style with champagne, good food and good music. The girls have had today off but tomorrow we start working our way towards the play-offs. Still remaining is 8 matches of regular season and we strive to win them all in the small hope of still making the 1st round seed and having homecourt advantage in the play-offs.
We still need to improve a lot in our blocking and we need to further develop our offensive systems.

We will have a team meeting this week to adjust our goals for the rest of the season having made the 1st goal with the cup win. Next Sunday we travel to Copenhagen to play Lyngby(now 4-8). It is my old club and many of my friends still play on the team so it will be something special I think. Important for us will be to get focussed after this weekend and not allow Lyngby to stay in their comfort zone.

Michael

"We are the Champions my friend, and we'll keep on fighting to the end. . . . we are the champions WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS, NO TIME FOR LOSERS CUZ WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS..."

The Cup final

So it is tomorrow Sunday that we play Holte in the big arena in Odense. The Cup and what is stands for is a difficult thing to describe if you dont know it already, but I'll try anyways..:0)

Along side the regular tournament going from September to April deciding who will be the national champions, we play a single elimination tournament called the Cup. All teams from the best and 2nd best division are allowed to compete and it starts out with more than 20 teams going through 1/16 finals, 1/8 finals, 1/4 finals, 1/2 finals and then the final.

The final is the biggest single match event in our season being watched by more than 2.000 spectators and sometimes live TV as well. Being part of this match means a whole lot to players, coaches and clubs because it is a great chance to show off your sponsors, to test your team in a high intensity match and last but not least an experience not all players get to have because of the long way to the final in the single elimination.

This Sunday will be my 2nd final in a 4 year coaching carreer, and I feel blessed to get this 2nd chance already having lost my 1st final in a really tight match to, funny enough, my new team Fortuna Odense.
We come in to this final having lost 3 matches this season. 1 was lost 3-2 at the Nordic Championship to Somero(FIN) and 2 matches we have lost to Holte who will also be our opponent in the Cup Final on Sunday. Simular for all 3 losses has been our incapability to play to our full potential, when being under a high serving pressure and the lack of experience as a team has been our biggest weakness. A weakness that is being fixed slowly with every match we play and every practise we have, so we all have a lot of confidense that we are ready to finally do well when it matters the most.

As a coach one of the biggest fears coming in to the last week before the final is injuries... Will one of your players get hurt - on or off the court, what will you do in that case etc.. It may sound silly to anyone not a coach, but knowing the big effort the players put in to making it to these finals, and all the excitment we all feel as Sunday comes closer, you just don't want anyone to miss out and you obviously don't want to have your chances of winning reduced by an injury.

This week we have had great and intens practises and eventhough we have been careful we still have had 2 players twisting their ankles in a gamerelated situation, and the immidiate reaction from the player is tears. Maybe not due to the pain as much as the fear of not being able to play in the final. Fortunate for us both cases were only mild sprains, and both players will be up to the task of playing this Sunday.


Keeping your eyes on the prize..

Needless to say I haven't gotten a whole lot of sleep this week due to the above mentioned incidents, and adding to once lack of energy is the 100 things that needs to be made ready for this big event. Players having family come over, preparing the team, making all the arragements as the club that is hosting the big festival going on Saturday and Sunday before the Final with more than 1.000 players playing a tournament over 2 days, doing interviews with the local media etc. etc., but it is all worth it knowing what comes next.

1st of all I am SO excited for all the familymembers showing interest in this match. My own family is coming from Copenhagen, and players are having people coming in from USA just to watch this match. It gives us all those 5% extra knowing that other people care about what is going on.
2nd of all the local media interest is outstanding and their involvement is really a big part of the match being as hyped as it is. To both family, friends and media I would like to send out a BIG thanks.. You have all done yours to make this a final to remember, now we will try to do our part and win it on Sunday!

Mini


Bob Marley once said "Don't gain the world and lose your soul, wisdom is better than silver or gold..." ... NOT THIS SUNDAY ... ;0)

2010 ... Exciting times !!

So we got in to the new year and thereby the 2nd half of the season including a Cup final, the end of regular season with the race to finish 1st and thereby have the homecourt advantage throughout the play-offs and then ofcourse the play-offs.

To top it all off we, the coaching staff in Fortuna along with the board, spend Christmas break adding a new player to the team roster for the remaining part of this season.
Her name is Katie Jo Lorenzen, setter and 25 years of age. Graduated from the College of Wisconsin i 2007 playing all 4 years of College for their division 1 team making the Elite 8 in 2004 and 2005.

Katie will complete our squad becoming our 2nd setter on the team. The goal is to incorporate Katie in to our offence and have her and Dorthe compliment eachother getting the best from them both.
The biggest reason for us bringing in Katie was that she will be at every practise and thereby increase the level at every practise. For the team to have 2 setters and at least 1 setter at every practise will be a huge improvement and help us bring our hitters to the next level.


First win in 2010..

During this first week of the new year with the national teams playing, we got a head start on this half of the season. We played ASV(now 1-11) this Saturday in a 3-0 homecourt win in Klostermarken, taking us to a 10-2 record.

The match was never exciting for that the difference in level was too big. ASV came out going all in with their serves, but our passes got over a sloppy start and overcame the pressure.
Dorthe played a great match earning the MVP for our team, giving our hitters many options to show what they can do. We never reached our full potential in a win that never asked for it, but we got to show that we are over the Christmas break with a reasonable level and we will be working hard to get even more sharp as the cup final gets closer.

We have to get more stable in our passing getting back to the high level we had before the break, and also finetune rhytme over the middle. The coming week will be spend on preparing for the match against Skovbakken(now 3-8) on Sunday the 16th. Walking hand in hand with that working on getting to the level we know we have and we know we will need to beat Holte on January 24th.


How to get ready..!

Coming back from 2 weeks off it is an extremly important part of the season eventhough January often can seem a bit far away from any determinating moments with the finals 4 months away(not including the cup). But getting off to a good start in January has in my experience proven to be very important. If you start off slow as a team losing a couple of matches where you never really show up, it will hount you in the end. Eventhough 1, 2, 3 and 4 in the league will make the play-offs it makes a big difference finishing 1st or 2nd compared to 3rd or 4th. Homecourt advantage in the semifinal where we play best of 5 matches with the determining 3rd or 5th match on your homecourt can very well be making the difference weither you go to the final or not.

I have earlier in my career coached a team that had a bad habit of getting off to a slow start in a new year, and counting our points in April we have fallen short on 2nd place once and 3rd place once, all going back to some dumb loses in January.
Now with that in perspective Saturdays win was very important and so will the match next Sunday against Skovbakken be, and we will not make the mistake of being not focussed on the task ahead.

We will work hard within the coaching staff to make sure the girls are as ready as can be to perform when it matters. Disciplin on and off the court is a key for us!!

Mini


“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.”