Update with Grand Prix and Nordic Championship

It has been a while since my last article and for those who follow I appologize..

January has been an extremely long month with no less than 8 matches out of which 7 was against top teams.

We have played Hylte/Halmstad, Gislaved and Katrineholm in the Swedish elite series where we beat Hylte/Halmstad and Gislaved at home but lost to Katrineholm away. We have played Sollentuna and Engelholm in Grand Prix where we won the semifinal against Sollentuna but lost the final to Engelholm.
Finally we have played Katrineholm, Brøndby and Engelholm in Nordic Championship and it ended up with a loss to Katrineholm but a win against Engelholm and Brøndby.


Grand Prix...

It is the 2nd most prestige full event in Sweden only outranked by the Swedish Championship and we went there with hopes of another gold medal.

On day 1 we faced Sollentuna who we have beaten 3-0 in the league but they played better this time and pushed us more in their serves. We ended up winning though, 3-1 and thereby qualified for the Final on day 2.
In the final Engelholm was waiting after they beaat the home team Katrineholm in the semifinal, and after a close 1st set where we lost by 2, Engelholm ran away with the titel after a 3-0 win.

We left Grand Prix with a little less confidense and we had expected more from ourselves. You can't always win but you can always be a part of how you lose a match and that final was one where we never gave everything we had.

So Engelholm took their 1st gold of the season and proved that they are the team to beat in Sweden.!!


The league...

In the league we have played 3 matches in January and after finishing in 2nd place at Christmas time with 7 wins and 2 losses we had hopes of improving that record since the only 2 losses we have had has been away from home after many hours of driving.
1st chance to improve was at home against Hylte who beat us in the first match of the season, but this time we took no prisoners and gave them a big 3-0 beating. So off to a good start in the league.

wnd match of the year was against Gislaved who is last in the league and the difference between the 2 teams was very clear throughout the entire match. Another big 3-0 win at home and confidense was growing.

3rd league match was against Katrineholm away and they never really gave us a chance. We took 1 set from them, but in the end we never played the level we know we have and therefore they could hand us the 1st loss in the league since nov. 14th 2010.. With that win Katrineholm also took the 2nd place in the league for now.. The importance of 2nd place is due to the fact that should a team reach the semifinals then it will be the highest seed who has homecourt advantage.

With that loss we are now forced to go through the rest of the season without losing to have a chance to get 2nd place and we have many tough matches to come.. 1st one is this Sunday where Engelholm is visiting.


Nordic Championship(Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Iceland)..

In the resent weekend we played Nordic Championship Finals in Engelholm. A tournament with the 4 best ranked teams after the group stage of the tournament and those 4 teams was; Katrineholm(SWE), Engelholm(SWE), Lindesberg(SWE) and Brøndby(DEN).

Day 1 we faced Katrineholm again with a chance to take back the pride we lost after the match in the league on Wednesday.. But Katrineholm wanted something different and after we beat them big in the 1st set we eased up the grip on the match and let Katrineholm take control.. They thanked us by taking the next 3 straight sets to win it 3-1 and give us the worst possible start to the Finals.

Day 2 was time for a war against the only Danish team in the tournament and of course a special match for myself and Jeanette since we know all the players and coaches on the other team so well.. We took an early lead in the 1st set but again failed to maintain focus and Brøndby came back in the end.. It was a nerveracking last 10 balls of the 1st set because we knew that a set loss here would basically take away our chances of gold. We kept cool though and won it by 2 points and took the next 2 sets to win it 3-0.

Day 3 and a win against season undefeated Engelholm to have a chance for gold.. We prepared as well as we could and off we went.. Losing the 1st set 25-21 after we had an early lead but failed to close the grip.
After that we went off on a killing spree and basically handed Engelholm the biggest loss I believe they have received in a loooooooong time against a Swedish team. Unfortunately we needed 4 more balls against Engelholm to win the gold.. But no matter how we twist and turn it there is no way we could have hoped for a better finish than what we gave/got/TOOK.. A 3-0 win would have gotten us the gold, but beating Engelholm by 16points is close to the best one can hope for..

Looking back I guess we can be sad about losing to Katrineholm but then again they played much better than we did.. We can also be sad about not beating Brøndby big enough but I feel sad that it is the team that loses everything 3-0 that ends up with the deciding piece.

All in all we took Silver at Nordic Finals and that is of course worth taking back home. Engelholm won their 2nd gold medal this season and they are doing an amazing hob staying consistant and not giving anything away for free.. They fully deserve so be the number 1 right now.


We will go back home and remember the things we learned this weekend.. about ourselves and our closest opponents. Next challenge is AGAIN Engelholm this Sunday the 6th at 14.00(2pm) at home.. SUPER BOWL Sunday by the way..

"I don't know what to say really.
Three minutes to the biggest battle of our professional lives.. all comes down to today.
Either we heal as a team or we are going to crumble.
Inch by inch... play by play... till we're finished.
We are in hell right now, gentlemen believe me...
and we can stay here and get the shit kicked out of us... or we can fight our way
back into the light.
We can climb out of hell... One inch, at a time.

Now I can't do it for you... I'm too old.
I look around and I see these young faces and I think... I mean, I made every wrong choice a middle age man could make.
I uh.... I pissed away all my money believe it or not.
I chased off anyone who has ever loved me... And lately, I can't even stand the face I see in the mirror.

You know when you get old in life things get taken from you.
That's, that's part of life... But you only learn that when you start losing stuff.
You find out that life is just a game of inches... So is football.
Because in either game, life or football, the margin for error is so small.
I mean... one half step too late or to early, you don't quite make it.
One half second too slow or too fast, and you don't quite catch it.
The inches we need are everywhere around us. They are in ever break of the game
every minute, every second.

On this team, we fight for that inch
On this team, we tear ourselves, and everyone around us
to pieces for that inch.
We CLAW with our finger nails for that inch.
Cause we know... when we add up all those inches... that's going to make the fucking difference between WINNING and LOSING... between LIVING and DYING.

I'll tell you this.. in any fight it is the guy who is willing to die
who is going to win that inch.
And I know, if I am going to have any life anymore it is because, I am still willing to fight, and die for that inch... because that is what LIVING is.
The six inches in front of your face.

Now I can't make you do it.
You gotta look at the guy next to you.
Look into his eyes.
Now I think you are going to see a guy who will go that inch with you.
You are going to see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team because he knows when it comes down to it, you are gonna do the same thing for him.

That's a team, gentlemen
and either we heal now, as a team, or we will die as individuals.
That's football guys.
That's all it is.
Now, whattaya gonna do?"