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.”