Wednesday - A Lesson in Gracious Winning

Today we played Great Britain. We won 8 -1 but the score wasn't nearly as impressive as how our girls conducted themselves. From the beginning we knew we out matched them both in level of play and fitness. They were also without their starting goalkeeper who spent the night in the hospital for dehydration and their best player who was in a cast from their match with Canada the day before. At halftime with the match in hand at 5 - 1 we talked about playing good quality soccer rather than just pushing it forward for more goals. I told them that if we played the game the way we've been training that goals would take care of themselves. We also talked about our responsibility to promote women's soccer by being good ambassadors for the sport. We knocked the ball around with 1 & 2 touches and defended collectively with low pressure. As such, we still scored 3 more goals. During the match the coach from GB came over to me to tell me that a couple of his girls were so anxious about the match that they didnt sleep the night before. He told me they had seen part of our match against Israel and he also told me that his girls all have so much respect for US Womens Soccer that they thought they were playing 19 Mia Hamms today.

After the match our girls got together and did a cheer for GB to show our respect and appreciation for their efforts. After that the lovefest began. Both teams came together for a picture and the players started trading gear, trading email address and before you know it there was even dancing on the field. It was a true expression of what the Maccabiah is all about.

One of my girls said it felt like they were our little sisters.

Sometimes the best plays of game happen after the whistle blows. And sometimes EVERYBODY gets to win.

Tuesday - Game Day finally arrives!

We got home after midnight from the Opening Ceremonies and met for breakfast at 8:00am for an 11:00am kick off against Israel. I was concerned about how tired we would be from last night but felt a bit better when I was told the Israeli team was also at Opening Ceremonies as well. Still, I was ready for an ugly match on both sides.

As expected the Israelis came right at us playing a pretty direct style and were able to manage a goal. It came off of a ball that was being clearing out of the penalty box and bounced off of the back of an Israeli player and into the goal. As it turned out that made us focus and raise the level of intensity of our play. We picked up the tempo and created several chances before getting the equalizer before halftime.

As the girls came off the field their comments were that they didn't feel tired or pressured at all and were quite confident. In the second half we put on a display of soccer that had even the referees and security personnel remarking that they had never seen young women play at that level before.

We exploded for 3 goals, with the Israelis only managing to cross midfield a few times.

After the game when the Israeli coach to shake me hand, he kept saying over and over "beautiful" "beautiful". Yes it was!

We wore our Ethan Zohn, Grassroots Soccer shirts during pre-game warm-up as a tribute to Maccabi Soccer Alumnus Ethan Zohn who we selected at honorary Captain for Maccabi USA Soccer.

Tonight we'll relax and enjoy a pool party here (not too late) and then prepare for Great Britain tomorrow at 4:00 pm.

Monday - The Maccabiah has Begun!

Today was another of those amazing days. We had a light training session at Wingate and then were able to scout Canada vs Israel who we play first. We watched the first half and then got to see the second half of our U16 boys against Israel. It was 0 - 0 at half with a pretty large contingent of American families there. Midway through the second half the Argentine's arrive because they had the game following and since we are staying with them at Shefayim they started banging their drums and cheering for the US. Our boys scored in the 86th min and held on to win. A great result for Coach Goldfarb and the boys. The girls were so pumped up they were ready to play right there! They made a tunnel for the boys to run through as they came off the field just like they were a bunch of U8's. LOL

In the afternoon the girls decorated the hall with red/white/blue streamers, flags and banners and then at 4:00 pm we left to head to Ramat Gan Stadium for Opening Ceremonies.

It was alot of standing around and waiting but the girls all had a good time taking pictures with the other delegations.

Around 8:15pm we began to enter the stadium. Seeing the faces of my players as they entered the stadium is one of the things I most looked forward to. 50,000 cheering fans and on live TV was definitely a new experience for most.

US Olympic Gold Medalist, Jason Lesak was the final torch bearer who was chosen to like the Maccabiah flame. Truely an electric moment in during a once in a lifetime evening.

Sunday - Game Prep & Family Visits

Sunday we trained at a field that is right on property at Shefayim where we are staying. We worked on re-start situations. I think we could be dangerous on corners since we have several players who are fairly strong in the air. However as I explained to them, just being able to head the ball isn't enough. nowing where/how to make the runs as well as targeting the service is critical.
After training the girls had an opportunity to visit with family who have begun to arrive. Getting hugs and Food from family was well appreciated.

Saturday - Rest & Recuperation Day

Today is Shabbot so there no transportation available to get to training fields. It works out well for us as day to allow catch up on our rest. I told the girls that the plan was for manditory sleeping in and I didn't want to see them until lunch at 11:30 am. As expected no one had a problem with this. ;) After lunch we took a little run around Kibbutz Shefayim and did some fitness work. We then had a intra-team soccer tennis tournament that was quite competitive and spirited with since there was Iced Coffee on the line for the winners. (Iced Coffee in Israel is more of a frozen frappachino and therefore is quite a valued prize)

Later in the evening, Ron Schneider who is the Assistant Coach for the U18 boys(and former Israel National Womens Coach & and current Director of Soccer Education for the Wingate Institute) did a video session for the U18 boys and the girls. He showed highlights of Euro 2008 and then spoke about pressure defending. (when to play high/low pressure & maintaining compactness)

Tomorrow we are hoping to get to Wingate to train and watch the U18 boys play their first match. But the transportation system thusfar seems a bit shaky so as I mentioned earlier, we are definitely in the "hurry up and wait mode".

*Note: The Israeli management model is based upon a military structure and therefore anyone who has to make a decision needs to get permission of the person above who needs to get permission from the person above and so on. As Americans we are used a more fluid, flexible style of management so it requires patience and persistance on our part to function.

While it creates some moments of frustration for our coaches, it provides some hilarious stories to share when we all get together at the end of the day. The soccer coaches have established a running card game of Spades each evening after curfew which gives us a chance to wind down and decompress. Fortunately we have a great soccer staff. Adam Cooper(St. Mary's College), my assistant Jessica Stegman and Preston & Sean Goldfarb (Birmingham Southern Univ).

Those of you who know Preston can imagine his organized, German mentality "functioning" in this environment. I'll leave it for you to read his own blog.

Friday - Training at Wingate/Coaches Learning Experience

This morning we had our first training session at Wingate. As expected it started out rather slow since it had been a couple of days since we've been able to train. Jessica took Gaby and Alexa and did some technical training with the keepers. I worked on re-establishing the tempo of possession that we had developed prior. By the time the keepers joined us for a intra-squad scrimmage we were firing on all cylinders again. In fact, I had orginally planned on a 90 min session but the level of play was so good and we seemed to be in such a good zone that I allowed the play to continue an additional 20 min. We played the final 10 min golden goal but both keepers were playing extremely well so I ended it a draw and we went to penalty kicks.
After training the girls hung out around the hotel. Some of them working on their tans. (here's a picture of Hannah sporting her #3)

I attended the soccer technical meetings with other coaches back at Wingate.

After the soccer technical meetings, all the soccer coaches went to the parking lot to return and there were 4 buses sitting and none of the drivers could take us anywhere without authorization. At one point they were all standing in a circle talking on cell phones at the same time. (loudly I might add) Finally all the coaches were told to get on a bus but I got a call from Harold(our delegation manager) who said they were sending a car for us. We stood around for about 10 mins when another bus pulled up and said "are you going to Shefayim"? We got on and drove up the hill to leave when we came upon the other bus of soccer coaches. We pulled along side and the drivers spoke for a min. We were then all then told to get out and switch buses. It was then like a chinese firedrill with soccer coaches switching buses in the middle of the road and cars behind us honking. After we got on the other bus the driver said he was taking us to Shefayim. BUT, instead of going out the gate he did another lap of Wingate and picked up a group of Australians who were supposed to be staying with us but had changed to another hotel. Fortunately at that point I negotiated with the driver to drop us off first before then going on the figure out how to get the Aussies to their place. We've been spoiled by having the US Delegation handling logistics but now we are at the mercy of the greater Maccabiah bureaucratic system. Truely a learning experience for our coaches. I've been telling the girls to be prepared "hurry up and wait" and now I have a first hand experience.

We had Shabbat dinner together and then the players all hung out and mingled with the other athletes in the courtyard the rest of the evening.
Shabbat Shalom, Ya'll

Thursday - Moving out of Kfar Maccabiah and over to Shefayim

Today was the day we made the move from Kfar Maccabiah to our official accommodation center at Shefayim. After we checked Mark Knue and I took most of the girls into Tel Aviv to the marketplace at Shenkman Rd. Oy Vey! What was I thinking? 15-17 year old girls in a shopping frenzy. I just tried to just stay out of the way.
Thank you to Mark for treating us all to his favorite Tel Aviv pizza place while we were there.

After we got the last group of bargin hunters back to the Kfar we had a meeting with all the US delegation before everyone headed out to their respective accommodation centers. A final pep rally for Team USA and a send off from the US Ambassador to Israel, James Cunningham.

When we got to Shefayim, we settled into our rooms, had an orientation meeting and then had a team meeting where I announced the Captains. During individual meetings with each player it became clear that rather than one or two leaders, we have a group of young women who all have displayed leadership qualities at varying times over the past two weeks. In fact, one of the girls said to me that she thought about it really hard but couldnt pick one or two people who were the leaders because she felt it was a team of leaders. I decided that our goalkeepers will share duties as captain depending on who was the starter for that game as well as rotating the other Captainship amongst the team. Everyone was really pleased with this decision. It continues to amaze me what a remarkable group of young women I have here. They have bonded into a tight cohesive team that respects and celebrates the individual diversity between them.

Tomorrow we have our first training session at Wingate as we move into "competition" phase.