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”