Nado Natterings Back to Islandersports
A weekly column by David Axelson

Nado Natterings
by David Axelson, Chief Executive Officer
The Islander Sports Foundation

27 August 2008 Issue No. 32

When last we met at this location a week ago, the U.S. Men’s Water Polo Team had qualified for the Beijing Games medal round, or in other parlance, the Olympic version of the Final Four. Keep in mind that entering the Games, the U.S. was ranked ninth in the world and hadn’t earned a medal of any hue in 20 years. As a reminder, the U.S. team in 2008 features two Coronado High School graduates, Layne Beaubien and Jesse Smith.

In the semi-finals the U.S. drew Serbia as their opponent. The feeling quietly expressed in and around the water polo community was that the Serbs lost intentionally in the final round of pool play so that they could face the Americans in the first game of the medal round.

For the past few weeks, ‘Nado Natterings’ has been permitted access to U.S. Men’s Water Polo Head Coach Terry Schroeder’s personal journal, as passed along by USA Water Polo Public Relations Director Wayne Bean. Schroeder picks up the narrative prior to the U.S. vs. Serbia contest. “The two extra days rest should be a real edge for us. I have watched many games over this past week and many of the teams have slowed down a little. Serbia looked good today (an elimination round victory over Spain), but I am thinking that we will be at our best Friday.

We had two good days of pretty light training, just going over and refining little things that we can do better. We switched over to more of an evening schedule today because I wanted to get the guys moving and working at close to the same time that we will be playing tomorrow. After training tonight we had dinner together and then went over video to review the Serbian tendencies. They have their vulnerabilities. We need to set the tempo and we need to make them move and play defense. We are rested and healthy and all systems are a ‘go’.”

Schroeder then discussed the beginning of the training for the team, which began with practices at the Brian Bent Memorial Aquatics Center in Coronado, in late December 2007. “Most of all I want to say ‘thank you’ to all the guys who were a part of our program this year. We started out with 24 players and only 13 made the final team. As I told the guys when they were let go, each of them has helped this team to become more successful. They all worked hard and challenged one another to be better. We are where we are today (The Final Four) largely because all of those guys that did not make the team made the final 13 players work that much harder. You will all be an important part of where the USA Men’s program goes in the future.”

So how do Olympic caliber coaches prepare themselves for a big game? They watch movies about other major athletic milestone contests, as Schroeder details. “I then went back to my room and finished watching “Miracle” (about the U.S. Men’s Hockey at Lake Placid, NY in 1980). I actually just wanted to go back and review some of my favorite parts of the movie. I watched the highlights of the team coming back and beating Russia (actually I watched that part a few times) and then I watched the ending. It was more than a hockey game as (the late U.S. Hockey head coach) Herb Brooks said. It was a life changing experience for all of those involved.  I can’t help but believe that these guys have all experienced that here at these Olympic Games. They have learned the power of teamwork at the highest level and they have learned about believing.”

Then Coach Schroeder’s journal turned to the details of the USA vs. Serbia contest. “The game started tight. Serbia was trying to do what I thought they would do, which was to slow the pace of the game. I knew we could not fall into that trap and reminded the guys that we needed to push the tempo. Layne Beaubien scored an early goal to break the ice and we were on our way. The first goal was huge since we had only scored twice on them in our previous game. Then Tony Azevedo scored we were on our way. Although the score was close at the half, I knew that we would wear them down. As the game went on, our defense grew more and more confident. We were up 7-5 heading into the fourth quarter and Serbia was dragging. Serbia would not score again and we pulled away with three more goals to win 10-5. It was a huge team win. These guys are playing well.

It’s hard for me even to fathom just how far this team has come in the past eight months. When we were training with Serbia in February of this year, they were blowing us out of the water in every scrimmage. We lost the first day 17-3.”

Coming out of the other side of the bracket were the two-time defending Olympic champions from Hungary, a team that proved to be a formidable opponent. Schroeder updated his journal after the Gold Medal game. “Unfortunately the dream was not fully completed. We lost 14-10 to a powerful Hungarian team. We had gone through the Olympic tournament allowing an average of six goals per game until this contest. In the first quarter of this game alone, we gave up six goals.

We were playing well on offense and we stayed with them. They seemed to jump out by one or two goals and then we would fight back and tie the score. We never really got into any kind of rhythm on our defense. At the end of the first half, the score was 9-8 in favor of Hungary and I felt like we had played an entire game. We were scrambling to keep up. Our defense continued to struggle against the hot-shooting Hungarian team and we eventually just could not keep up on offense. We still had some chances going down the stretch, but we ran out of gas on offense and our 6-on-5 failed in the third and fourth quarter. It was heartbreaking to say the least. I have been in the same position, so I know exactly how it feels.

I told the guys after the game that I was very proud of them. They had exceeded everyone’s expectations and gained many new fans back home. They have brought honor and respect back to the USA Men’s Water Polo program. I told them that there were no words that I could say right in that moment that would take the sting away from losing. But, I reminded them that as time went on they would all come to realize what a huge accomplishment this was.

I thanked them for all being a part of this incredible journey and for allowing me to be their coach. I told them that they allowed me to live out my dream of coaching the Olympic Team. Although all of our dreams full just a little short; in the long run we have all grown so much and learned a great deal from this experience together. No one can take this from us. We are Olympic medalists.

These guys have created a legacy that will help our program for years to come. I have also had a great deal of positive feedback from the United States Olympic Committee. I believe that they will be on board to do whatever they can do to help us be successful over the next quadrennial. We made it back to the podium after 20 years. Amazing happened!”

Coronado Middle School Sports Registration Information

Perhaps the fastest growing athletic segment in Coronado is the Islander Sports Foundation’s sports program at Coronado Middle School. Last year alone there were 568 sports participations (one student playing one sport) spread over a total of 13 sports at the middle school level.

For the 2008-09 school year, and due to the growing popularity of the on-campus Brian Bent Memorial Aquatics Facility, swimming will be added to the list of sports offerings for fall 2008. Other fall sports include boys and girls cross country, girls lacrosse and girls volleyball.

Registration for fall sports will be held Wednesday, September 10^th at Granzier Hall at CMS. The session will run from 6:30 to 7:30 pm and it is important that you attend. The most critical element for parents to prepare for is that your student-athlete is not permitted to try out for or participate on a team until they have a valid physical form, signed by a physician. You may download this form from the ISF website, which is IslanderSportsFoundation.com.

Registration fees are $110 per sport, per child. Please refer to the ISF website for additional information. If you would like to have a two page information sheet E-mailed to you, please contact me at Ax@san.rr.com.

CIF San Diego Section Update

Last week Your Natterer and other media types attended the annual CIF Media Day, which was a luncheon and informal press conference with CIF Commissioner Dennis Ackerman. Basically we sat around, talked and had a free meal.

Some actual news came from the gathering, including the fact that the State Championships in Football have been expanded from four games to five for the 2008 season. Friday, Dec. 19th two games will be played, with the opening contest at 4:30 pm featuring the Small Schools Division. The Division I title game will be played at 8 pm. Saturday the Division III game will be held at noon, Division II at 4 pm and the Open Division final will be played at 8 pm.

The Open Division game is new to the format this year, according to state CIF Executive Director Marie M. Ishida. “With the creation of the Open Division, fans across the state and the nation will be able to see a game between two of the top high school teams California has to offer, regardless of the enrollment of each school.” The Open Division contest will in theory pit the best team from Northern California, against the best team from Southern California, setting up a mythical state title game. The other four games follow the same North vs. South format, but have enrollment-based parameters for the contestants.

All five games will be played at the 27,000 seat Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, which won the right to host the games in 2008 and 2009. For those of you with short memories (including me) Oceanside High School was the lone San Diego representative in the football playoffs a year ago, winning the Division II title.

According to Ackerman, the SoCal Soccer Regional Tournament will continue again this year, an event that both the CHS Boys Soccer and Girls Soccer Teams competed in last winter as CIF Division IV champions. According to Ackerman, there is a committee at the state CIF level that is reviewing the concept of regional playoffs in Softball and Baseball in addition to Boys and Girls Water Polo.

One of the elements holding up implementation of the water polo regional is the fact that the CIF Central Section, one of 10 sections in the state, conducts both Boys and Girls Water Polo in the fall, while the other sections conduct Boys Water Polo in the fall and Girls Water Polo in the winter.

In other news, Qualcomm Stadium will again be the site of the CIF San Diego Section Football playoffs Friday, December 12^th. Divisions I-IV will compete at the ‘Q.’ Also, the CIF Boys and Girls Basketball championships will return to the Jenny Craig Pavilion on the campus of the University of San Diego March 6-7, 2009. Buchanan High School in Fresno will host the state track and field finals.

Currently the State CIF sponsors state championships in basketball, cross country, football, golf, track and field, volleyball and wrestling.

Olympic-Sized Case of Sleep Deprivation Ends

The astonishing array of televised sports from the Beijing Olympics is finally over. It may take me until 2012 to recover the sleep lost during the 2008 games. Conversely the Winter Olympics are sleep-inducing, but that is a story for another day.

The National Broadcasting Company and their many networks that provided coverage of the games, apparently knew what they were doing from a business perspective, as they allegedly will clear $100 million for their broadcast efforts from Beijing. However, every game or contest worthy of watching seemed to start at 11 pm. Blame some of that on the time zone difference, but the folks at 30 Rock know how to build and hold on to an audience.

If in fact NBC made the aforementioned sum on the Games, they ought to give at least 10 percent of it to American swimmer Michael Phelps and perhaps another 5 percent to Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. Other contributions could be awarded to the American volleyball teams, the American basketball teams, the American water polo teams, well you get the idea.

The DVR (digital video recorder) on my downstairs television set will likely never recover from the strain of the last two weeks. This morning it was audibly sighing in relief as nothing was taped overnight heading into the new week. There may just be a little something extra in the DVR’s paycheck next month.

There were so many games and an amazing variety of events to watch and follow. Phelps and his eight gold medals will be the standard to aim for far into the future.

But the single best game of the Olympics in my opinion was the U.S. Men’s Basketball Team’s Gold Medal game against Spain. The Americans held a scant two point lead midway through the fourth quarter and had to play their absolute best to defeat the Spaniards, who were playing out of their collective minds. Dwyane Wade set the pace for the Americans early in the game and Kobe Bryant in the later stages carried the Americans to victory.  They both got a lot of help, but they were the key factors to winning the gold medal.

Without table tennis to watch at 1 am, life returns to normal. I’ve got to give the DVR a strong dose of steroids to get it through the conclusion of the Major League Baseball season (Eamus Catuli) and the beginning of the National Football League schedule. Wait, is that a replay of the bronze medal game in team handball? Probably not, but I better check it out just in case.