DWNT 2012 Day 6

Day 6 has almost said goodbye. A long but productive day.

Up a little later than usual due to the schedule of the gym. We had breakfast at 9:30 so I slept until 8:20. Woohoo a sleep in. Headed to breakfast which wasn't bad and then headed back to the gym for an 11AM practice.
Practice went quite well. We welcomed Miah Langlois to our group this morning as she returned from the senior camp. She immediately added to the practice and will help our team. The girls shared some info about their teammates as it was an assignment that I gave them the night before. We learned some interesting things and the girls found out they have a number of things in common.
The practice was quite competitive. The girls worked extremely hard. The turnover count went up a bit when we got tired but the girls tried to fight through the fatigue. I was really pleased with them. It was a good feeling leaving practice for sure. I have found that the last few days I have been loosening up a bit and more of my coaching style and personality are coming out. The girls seem to enjoy it which is good.

After practice we headed off to lunch and had some great discussions again. The meetings we have are outstanding. Mike is always great to chat with and he has some great feedback. We had a session with Ed today about recovery which was outstanding. He really helped the girls understand what it takes to get the proper recovery so you will get the most benefit out of training sessions. He gave them some great tips and I am definitely stealing them for the future.

We had a second practice scheduled at 5:30 and usually we ease up on them. Today I decided to push them a little bit harder to see how we would respond. The girls battled hard and really made some progress. They got tired near the end but again pushed through it. I was very pleased. One reason I was happy they worked hard was because we had special guests at camp. Basketball Ontario brought their entire under 15 group to the gym which was 2 full teams. Scary part was some of their girls were bigger than ours. I talked to them a bit and I took a break in practice to let the girls introduce themselves. The young kids loved it and I think it is good for our players to give back and help inspire these kids.

After practice we had another good meal and some fun conversation. It was really enjoyable to chat and get to know more about all of our staff members. I walked over to the dorms with Ed, our physiologist. He is a fantastic guy and very bright. I picked his brain for a little to get some great info.

We had a meeting scheduled for 9pm as I had a few administrative issues to clear up and I also talked about representing our country 24-7. There was some noise in the dorm last night and I needed to get that cleared up right away. The girls were apologetic and I don't think it will happen again.
I also talked about what it takes to be a team and that they are in control of where we go. We will guide them but they ultimately decide if we will be a tight unit or not.
Next I talked to them about our team and the theme I wanted for them this year. I gave them 2 assignments to have completed tomorrow as well. One was personal and the other was based on their new buddy for today. Slowly building the team and getting them to connect. Hopefully it will work. My goal is to get them inspired to play for Canada and commit to being a world class athlete. All of the things I have planned are part of the process. I guess we will wait and see what impact it has.

So now I am up late as usual planning tomorrows practice. We will have some quick individual meetings tomorrow and then a session with Ed regarding the commitment they will need to get to the international level. I have already viewed the presentation and I think the athletes will enjoy it. We have one practice tomorrow from 3:30 to 6. I will enjoy it as I will get some time to watch some film and not be crammed to put together practice.
But for now it is back to work and sleep.

Until tomorrow.....