When I first started coaching volleyball I wanted to be able to coach at the Western Midget Elites. Too be able to say I was part of the provincial team was something amazing. I remember getting into a fight with a friend over my team Alberta sweat shirt that was given to me.
After I had the opportunity to coach in the Elites, I wanted to coach at the NTTC's. When we won gold as an assistant coach I wanted to coach at the Elites as a Head coach, then at NTTC's as a head coach and finally at Canada Games as a coach. All of those things were fulfilled, just keep trying hard.
When I was coaching the elite's I met Nando Covelli, he would always talk about watching the Italian team. They are constantly top 8 in the world and have many World championship medals. So I had this dream of coaching against them one day.
Well today was that day!! Italy is a really physical team with good ball control. They had a tough pool, probably ours and theirs were the two toughest. After their loss to Brazil (another world power) they ended up on the B side with something to prove. They handled Norway in their first match without any problems. I felt after they watched our video they probably felt we were going to be a push over as well.
We had prepped the team very well, Alain laid out a very specific game plan and the team was very focused on this. Again we started Jaki, Krista, Marie Sophie, Shanice, Jaimie and Tricia was inserted back into the line up as a middle.
We came out strong and were ahead at both technical timeouts. But then Italy's rightside took over the match. She scored hard down the line or high off hands. We struggled to slow her down losing the set 25-21. But we played respectable.
The second set we followed the instructions to the letter. We served really tough taking more risks on that end, a few more errors but kept them out of system and we were able to then get our block defensive game going. Noe and Shanice passed the bulk of the balls and were solid for us. We even played our setter out of six a couple of times after her serve because they were running the slide and attacking back cross court. This worked in our favour, Jaki actually hit a solid pipe on a set from Noe and we won the rally. You then realize everything is going well. We won that set 25-21, putting a really different feel in the gym.
The crowd of 1500 was definitely on our side and really encouraging the girls to play their best by celebrating for/with them. But Italy was the more consistent team the next two sets. Our team battled hard and made them earn points. There was some amazing defence and rallies happening. We subbed Alicia in for Jaimie in the fourth set and she had an immediate impact with a stuff block and a good run of serving. Beth was always a factor , she has a great serve and always brings a ton of energy when she plays. Even though we lost in four it felt like we played well and they were just a better team tonight.
We earned their respect.
I think this past two weeks will pay off in spades for our National team program. These athletes realize they can compete with the best. They understand why fitness is so important for playing this length of tournament. World championships are a longer competition than this tourney.
Tommorrow is our last match here against Hong Kong. It will be interesting.
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