Movember November and Travel

Its been a while since my last blog as its been a busy month.  With the season over and the players starting their off season strength and conditioning program Coach Irizarry and I have been traveling most weekends hitting the recruiting trail.  After a trip to Surf Cup in San Diego last week and a nice visit to good friend and Alumni Andy Drykaman and his family and good friend Simon Yeoman who hosted me it was back to the east coast.  A brief couple of days in DC and I left for Florida this weekend to attend the USSF Academy showcase.  As we search for the next GW soccer players for 2013 and beyond I am happy with the progress so far and hopefully we can close the deal on some players we are recruiting and get the 2013 class finished off.

Off the field the players are working hard in the gym and all the injuries we had during the season seem to be recovering so I am looking forward to the Spring and getting the boys back on the field.  Academically I am optimistic that this semester will be a good one for the team as we strive for excellence in the classroom.  The players also gave their time to help for thanksgiving by collecting a thanksgiving basket and I'm not sure they knew where half the items were on the shopping list but they got it done so good job lads.

This month has also seen me grow some facial mayhem known as a mustache in aid of Movember in the hope to raise some money for Mens Health Issues as many around the world do the same.  Today is the last day so tomorrow I will be facial hair free although I have become attached to the tash I'm looking forward to the kids recognizing me again and being free from funny stares and comments.  Its all for a good cause so it was well worth it although next year I may not have the strength to carry the mustache again.  You can still make an online donation to my account if you haven't already and no donation is too small or too big.  Jonsey Fundraising

I will leave you with a picture on my last day of Movember and in the next few days will post some video interviews of the separation of the tash and pre and post tash interviews.

Magic Moment of the Day
Getting back to the hotel to put my feet up and know that after this weekend I get to be at home with my family for at least 2 weeks.

Thank You Seniors and Post Game Thoughts

This evenings game was the last game of our Fall season and we hoped that we could end with a win but unfortunately it wasn't to be.  With Charlotte needing to win to claim the regular season A10 title we were not going to give it up that easy after winning it last year.  I thought our dreaded curse had hit again when Higgins and Ross colliding in the pre game warm up but luckily they both recovered to start the game.

We started slow which put us under pressure from the start.  Just under five minutes and we had given away another silly free kick and we paid the price from the resulting restart to go down 1-0.  After still being under pressure the players showed a resilience that has not been there in many games to absorb the pressure and finally get a rhythm of our own.  I felt the penalty decision was well deserved after a spell of attacking pressure from ourselves and Rudolph playing his final college game slotted the ball into the back of the net after sending the keeper the wrong way on the PK.

Second half was more of a defensive display and occasionally playing quickly on the break and looking for set play situations that had caused so many problems for them in the first half.  It seemed that the game would be heading into overtime when Charlotte found the back of the net to take the lead and see them to victory with less than 5 minutes to go.  OUCH!

A disappointing end to the season but I was very proud of how the guys played today and thought we at least deserved a tie.  It was unfortunately the last game for our seniors, Rudolph, Abaie. Almodovar and Ripperger-Suhler and a big thank you goes out to them for all their efforts throughout their careers at GW.  I am already looking forward to playing with them next year in the alumni game and I hope they have enjoyed being part of the program.

Now its time for our 7 hour bus ride home, lots of movies and hopefully a nap

Magic Moment of the Day
Our seniors!!!!

Back on the Road and Movember

With Coach Pasquinelli not able to be at practice on Thursday due to a broken toe (so he says) I was able to work with the GK's for the first part of the session and dedicated the majority of the time too working on crosses.  An area where I think all our keepers have struggled with this season and an area where we need improvement for the game Saturday.  With Almodovar back in the mix we have 4 goalkeepers fit which is almost as many as the outfield players.

During and after practice today (Friday) the number of players fit for a short moment had increased by one but by the end of the short session we had lost a keeper with Farrell not being able to shrug off the injury that kept him out last week, Aberiajn pulling out due to a hamstring injury that will see him remain at home and Khan is still out after last Fridays injury.   We did get Sandland back so the final score is
Fit GK's 3 -  Injured GK's 1
Fit Players 14 - Injured Players 6
For these last few weeks I have changed the definition of fit otherwise we would only have ten 100% Fit field players:
"FIT"
 -someone who could possibly play for longer than 15 minutes
- has an injury but is going to try and play anyway.

Onto something else as I'm sure you're fed up of hearing me complain.  I have finally gone for it.  With it being Movember I have decided to become a MoBro for the month and try and grow a moustache to raise awareness of prostate and testicular cancer and mens health issues.  I hope to give you photo updates every couple of days so you can see my progress and hopefully make a small donation.
DONATE NOW!!

We have just got back on the bus from another top drawer restaurant choice by Coach Irizarry called Darryls.  As we finish the ride down to Charlotte with an over full belly I write this Blog on the bus I cannot tell you after last week how happy I am that this is our last away trip.  I am disappointed for the players and myself that this will be our last game as it means we have not been successful in achieving some of our goals and playing in the post season but I believe we have achieved many goals and we will build on that moving forward.

Magic Moment of the Day
Holleran putting the moves on Coach Irizarry, he has recovered and I have to commend him on his choice of restaurant for dinner.

Good To Be Back In DC

Its been Monday since my last blog but if feels like a week ago with the past few days trials and tribulations.  Our 415am start yesterday for a brisk walk to the metro in St. Louis found us getting our 2 flights to get back close to DC or at least 5 hours away in Raleigh NC.  3 rented mini vans later and the long drive saw us back at foggy bottom about 730pm and the end of a stressful 2.5 days for me trying to get the team home.  Practice today was delayed an hour too give the guys some added sleep time although many of the guys were up for morning classes.

Seeing the devastation on the TV from NY, NJ and DE and other places and knowing some players had homes seriously damaged by Sandy made the trip no easier knowing that DC had been lucky to avoid the chaos and madness that these areas will face for days/weeks to come but a reminder that there are always those less fortunate than yourself.  I hope these areas recover quickly and my thoughts are with those that were taken by the storm.  I was just upset that I couldn't get home to my family and all the problems that we faced to get home.  It puts things in perspective when you see the news and what others are facing in the days/weeks ahead.

Back to today and practice was very light to get the trip out of our legs and see how the many injured guys that could not travel were doing and whether they were on the road to recovery to play this weekend.  A light jog and some agility work followed by a 7v7 was the order of the day and despite running 3 laps myself in the warm up I still could not find my legs to play in the game.  Its been a hectic 6 days for most of these guys and I liked the enthusiasm they still had for the session today leading up to the game Saturday against Charlotte ranked #21 by the NSCAA and going for the A10 regular season title.

I was still shattered getting home today but managed to put on a smily face for Halloween and the chance to take Cerys Trick or Treating in the local neighborhood.  I have to confess that I didn't dress up this year but when asked I told people I was dressed as a soccer coach without going into detail about the season and past few days and no more questions were asked luckily.

Looking forward to getting back on the field tomorrow and doing a Brendan Rodgers making the field my office and having those little conversations that matter and make players feel good about what they can do for themselves and the team.

Magic Moment of the Day
Waking up next to Liz, Cerys and Dylan.

Hurricane Sandy

On the East Coast with most people taking cover and trying to escape the incoming storm I feel like a storm chaser as I have worked frantically to get back home to DC.  With flights cancelled again today my efforts turned to getting back south of the city to Richmond and now Ralkeigh, NC where hopefully we will fly into tomorrow to bus back from Raleigh and get back home.

Stuck in St. Louis for another day, a beautiful day actually and quite different to the weather that is battering our east coast home so we had to get out of the hotel with cabin fever setting in.  A walk to the St. Louis arch after breakfast got us some fresh air and a walk through the city.  Our injury situation couldn't get any worse so the players decided to have a game of tag football (american football that is) underneath the arch.

Just before we were about to set off back to the hotel the dreaded message came through and our flights had been cancelled.  With check out at 1pm and with no transportation to get around I decided to change hotels to move downtown to where we could walk to get dinner this evening with lots of options close by unlike the hotel we were staying in previously.  Another logistical nightmare to deal with but we did it and looking forward to dinner this evening at Charlie Gitto's a few blocks away.

A quick study hall late afternoon with all the players getting some homework done and we are all ready to get some good food and get to bed early for a 430am start tomorrow.  The players don't know yet that we are leaving that early so I'm sure they will be delighted when I inform them this evening after dinner.

Magic Moment of the Day
Skype call with Liz and the family

Sunday is NOT Funday

Well todays game did not go as we would have liked and after going in 3-0 at half time we really had to  shake things up to get anything from the game.  An improved performance in the second half saw us allow 2 late goal which was not what maybe the second half performance deserved.  That being said it was another day of individual mistakes that cost us goals and unfortunately we have made far too many of them this season.  With one game left in the season I hope the players are still looking forward to the trip to Charlotte and the chance to end on a high and beat a top 25 team.

If things weren't going badly already this season and certainly this weekend then I am about to put the icing on the cake.  After traveling to St. Louis airport our connecting flight into DC was cancelled and we are stuck here for at least another night and day.  What a disaster!! At the airport I was seconds away from losing it with the staff and rude people cutting in line but after an hours wait I was finally at the front desk trying in vain to get the team home.  With no luck tonight on getting anywhere near DC I hope for tomorrow and we get our flights so I can get back to my family as they have to be alone during this once in a lifetime storm/hurricane/tornedo to hit the DC area.  I feel for Coach Pasquinelli also has his wife and children are at home and I know they would feel a lot safer if he were there.

Anyways, one last thing.  When you are playing away from home try and check whats going on in the city that weekend.  This is something I try and do and did do with the St. Louis Cardinals possibly getting in the world series but after they lost I thought it would be a quiet weekend in St. Louis.  Upon our arrival on Saturday I was not delighted to see the hoards of screaming kids in town and it seemed like they were all staying at our hotel, for a Justin Beiber concert.  Just another part of the every eventful life of a coach this season.

Magic Moment of the Day
At least having a hotel with availability to go back to.

Saturday Travel Day

Saturday was a travel day with us leaving the total at 9.30am in Indianapolis for a four bus ride to St. Louis.  The ride went smoothly and we made good time to get to the hotel by 1.30pm which allowed us to get some lunch down town and the players a chance to see some of the city and obviously the Arch which is a great landmark as you drive into the city.  With practice for 2pm I decided that the risk of anyone else getting injured in a light session was enough to cancel it and allow the players to stretch their legs and walk around town.

A great dinner this evening hosted by Seth Rudolphs family and some traditional pork steaks, pizza and desserts made sure the players we well fed and for me overfed for the game tomorrow.  Great hospitality and a great evening for the players to get some home cooking.

We will need all of our energies for the game tomorrow with St. Louis looking to bounce back from a 1-0 defeat to Charlotte on Friday and with only 13 outfield players somewhat fit for the game its going to require a huge effort.  At this point I can only put the injuries down to a streak of bad luck I have never seen before so I hope we get a little help from lady luck tomorrow to get us through the game with enough players to finish the game.  That being said, I go into every game knowing that on any given day you can get a result when everything seems stacked against you.  The players should be excited to be playing a team in the top 25 at a great stadium that last year brought us some success in the A10 tournament only to fall short on PK's in the final.

Magic Moment of the Day
Watching Bergkamp and Henry 100 goals for Arsenal on the bus.