LAST WEEK!

Its the last week of official practices until our final tournament, ISAC at Brent Manila. These past 2 weeks I can see great great improvement in our team, whether it is floor coverage, spiking, or even serving, main thing now is to maintain it, and keep it consistent. This weekend we had our last LSMS trip to brent manila, we played both very strong teams, the Brent APAC team and this other blue team that beat the APAC team last week. The first game with the blue team, we played the most consistent game we ever played the whole season, was aggressive by the net and moving on the floor, receiving really well even with their strong offense. Although we did not take any sets, but we played with them and caused them to struggle and was at some point of the game leading. No matter losing or winning, i learned that as long as we play our game, we're going to have fun, and mostly especially for our team because we are capable of so much better. After our first game we had 3 hours to relax, we were officially out of the tournament, but the school managed to put up another game for us. In the last 10 minutes before the game, we were told that we were playing the APAC TEAM once again. An my small eyes opened big and my teeth showed from my smile. IT WAS WHAT I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR! I was excited for another good game, and i know so was everyone on the team. During the warm-up i could see everyone doing really well, I was also hitting better than ever, ready to shut them up. Unfortunately 2 minutes left before the game, a ball comes flying to my hand, overextending my thumb after awhile it started swelling like crazy. I tapped it up and tried to play. When the ball came, i tried to receive but my hand couldn't close together and the ball would fly all of the place, I told coach to quickly sub me out. Rest of the game i was on the bench doing the everything else possible to help the team, which was cheering loud! It was a disappointment for me to not play with the team I've been waiting to play with again. But i enjoyed myself on the bench trying to make the best for my teammates and myself. I was very proud of them, we sealed their spikes VERY VERY well, frustrated them and almost took the 2nd set, our back row wasn't as alert as the first game but overall it was still a enjoyable game. After the game, coach pointed some things out about our games that day, and overall is was good, we just need confidence and keep receiving and eventually everything will come along. He said one more thing, about me not being careful with my hand, i thought it was nonsense because it was a total accident, but then i thought about it again that he was right, its my job as an athlete to not play well but also take care of my body no matter under whatever circumstances. ISAC in a week and half! I hope i recover very soon! This next week i shall take extra good care of my hand, and be ready for our final tournament.

Raise the bar

Coming back from Hong Kong we are now very clear on what we need to work on. The teams were easy, and from watching, we were obviously above their level but once on the court we were all different players, we started playing THEIR game, trailing behind, giving easy points, standing and watching the ball land in our faces. Coach was disappointed at our games even at the ones we won, we were not focusing and not going for every ball, during the finals it was all about the mental game. From the way we played, I could see that we gave up too easily, were always in a hurry to get the rally over, so we can put down the pressure on our shoulders, however that's not the way to enjoy volleyball, more so to win! Before we correct anything we need to change our attitude.
I can see that everyone was doing better in practice yesterday, when all the pressure has gone away, there were no more holding back, but just good old fun subic volleyball. However we need to bring this spirit into our games, no more throwing of tantrums(specifically myself), every fault is the teams fault. We need to function as a team.
Our game with major major, a very very experienced and strong team, today was awfully played, we lost all 5 sets, which in my opinion we could've won atleast 2 sets. A habit of our team is, once we start doing good, we lose focus, and get playful, and when we do bad, we become quiet and hold back a lot, therefore not being able to execute plays. We need to build this court confidence like what we have in practice, and we need to build consistency. It's time we raise the bar, and play to our potential. To achieve this we need to have the mindset to improve to excel.
One thing i realized is that my role ain't the same as last year's, and this is something i need to adjust to. As captain and main spiker, I need to do my job by being my consistent, become reliable and a team motivator. This weeks practice is crucial for us getting out of this slump we've fell into, we need to hurry up and clean up our act before ISAC comes.