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..."
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
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)
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)
Sunday, January 10, 2010
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.”
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.”
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