I really don’t know what to say…a lot comes to mind but there is still more volleyball to be played. To be as honest as possible in this forum, our team played without intuition, discipline, anticipation, or heart. On the National Team we joke about the term “Heart” but at the end of the day, everyone takes it very seriously and it is vital to a teams success. Without it, that extra push, extra focus, extra touch…its very hard to win against a team like Iskra. I really think we missed a great opportunity to salvage what has been a very frustrating season for our team. But when the pressure was on, we resorted to old habits dating back to the beginning of this season, namely tentative decisions and poor execution. Iskra exploited our weaknesses and had a distinct game plan against us…we never responded even though we were off to great starts in both matches. The pressure inevitably came as it always does and we caved. Exhale….
As I mentioned, were aren’t done by any means and we have a very difficult road ahead. Dinamo advanced to the Final Four beating UFA so we will head to UFA in a couple weeks to begin a 5 match series. Many wonder why we are still playing…but according to the structure of professional Volleyball in Europe, the leagues have to play out to 5th because the 5th place team will qualify their club for the European CEV Cup the following season.
I am reminded of something Doug Beal said to me back in 2001 that has stuck with me throughout my professional career, “You don’t just GET to win.” Simple yes, but it has left an impression on me. If we don’t adjust how we are competing, things could get worse. My dad opened his first book with the Chinese proverb that say something like, “If you don’t change your direction, you’re likely to end up where you’re headed.” Now, more than ever, I wish I could speak and understand Russian and communicate with my teammates. I know everyone wants to win and rally together but there seems to be a gap in execution. I hope for all of our sakes, we can dig deep and find that inner drive that refuses to be outworked and beaten in any matchup. We are not a team of dominate players, but a team of distinct parts…we have played the entire season without a system and it has cost us. We need to return to playing within a system with discipline, roles, responsibilities and take care of the ball on our side of the net. If we can do that, we will begin to realize our potential. Here are some clips of last nights match.
We are flying to Moscow today. We will be playing versus Iskra on Wednesday at their place and then returning to Novosibirsk for the second match on Saturday. It is a best of 3 series to reach the Final Four.
If you didn’t get a chance to hear the first broadcast of THE NET LIVE click on the link and download for your mobile device and listen on the go!
Richie and his Russian team Lokomotiv Belogord beat Panathiakos today in Athens 3-1 to become CEV CUP Champions. Nice work Richie!! For more info LINK HERE.
Kevin Barnett and I have been working for a while on launching a Radio Broadcast about everything VOLLEYBALL. Well, we are going for it in mere hours…LIVE! We have chosen to get out feet wet first and launch on a grass-roots level and judge the response from there. So we are only using our online networks to spread the WORD. Tune in today, March 21, 2009 at 9:30am PST (10:30pm Novosibirsk) for an hour with special guests Misty May-Treanor, Hugh McCutcheon and Kevin Hansen. Clcik here to be directed to THE NET LIVE.
Capping off the regular season with a win is great. I know everyone is stoked to have won our last three…some much need momentum heading into the playoffs. So we won’t be competing until the end of the month and as the dust settled from last nights matches across Russia, we will be matched up against Iskra in the first round. They of course have home court advantage being the #2 seed. All signs are indicating that the first round of playoffs will be a best of 3 series. So we will head to Moscow to play Iskra there and then head back to Novosibirsk for the second match. It goes without saying how important that first match can be.
We are all familiar with those players who take celebration a bit too far. This takes the cake! And who said white guys can’t dance…these moves remind me of Hansen on the dance floor! hey-oh!
Anybody have this guys contact info…I want to book him for my 6-man team this year.
Above are two graphics that show the current Russian Super-League standings and the upcoming final weekend match-ups. We were on the road this past weekend facing #1 Fakel. They have been on a tear this season and are very good at playing like a team. Kevin Hansen runs the offense and Sean Rooney is one of the outsides. Its always good to connect with USA teammates. It was a back and forth match and we were able to come out on top. It may not be the last time we face Fakel as we come into the final regular season match this weekend and playoff match-ups are all but set. The match to keep an eye on this coming weekend is Fakel vs Belogord in Belogord. They both have a lot at stake…Fakel can clinch the #1 spot with a 3-0, 3-1 win (anything else will depend on other match results) and Belogord (Richie Lambourne’s team) will be fighting for home court advantage in the playoffs. We are tied with UFA so in theory, we could switch positions with them however they are playing against the last place team in the league and even if we both take 3 points, they have a better win ratio. So it appears as though we will be playing the #2 team in the first round of playoffs in an best of 3 series. We’ll have to wait and see who that will be…
Now that our Slingbox is fully functioning we are completely connected and current on the news of today…but as I am finding, it seems to be adding more stress than joy. For those of you who don’t know, Slingbox is a device that enables you access to watch your home cable/satellite system through the internet. So no matter where you are in the world, so long as there is a good internet connection, you are dialed into your home TV setup. Lindsay and I made the investment hoping that it would help us feel more connected to home being here in Siberia. That it does, however, the flavor of current events aren’t the most uplifting…
We are down to the final two matches of the regular season. Lokomotiv has had its ups and downs and we are preparing to play Fakel who is #1 in the rankings this weekend. They are playing great volleyball right now and we have our work cut out for us. The result of the final two matches won’t change won’t change our particular standing in the rankings but we are hoping to enter the playoffs with some “Mo”. We take off Friday to play the match on Saturday. Check volleyservice.ru and sportbox.ru for results, video and more.
