Coach Flip Naumburg's Journal

Tuesday, May 2, 2006

TIME FLIES WHEN YOU'RE HAVING FUN

Actually time just flies anyhow doesn't it?

Just the same, it's been a long time getting to now.

PUT UP OR SHUT UP TIME

The time has indeed finally come. We leave for Dallas one week from yesterday.  The HRTII tour is on its final approach.

Our first game is late in the afternoon and a mere one week from today, Tuesday.  We will play the University of Texas.  I know very little about the Horns.  They won their Southwest league and we played them down in Arlington early in the Spring of 2005.  We were bigger. They were a spunky bunch and were well coached.  That's all I recall.  We did win fairly handily I think, but they did put up a stink. They did not go quietly. 

The Texas Longhorns are what might be termed an up-and-coming program.  It is my hope, however, that we are a somewhat 'already there' program, and that we will go out next Tuesday afternoon prepared to play the way we need to play to achieve our first goal, which is to survive on to round #2, the quarter-finals.

DALLAS, THE MINI SERIES?

We haven't ever been to Dallas for these championships.  No one has.  They were in Minnesota last year, and the year before that St. Louis was home for the holy grail of college club lacrosse.  Who knows what and where will come next. 

TIME WILL TELL

We (CSU) will actually have a very inexperienced group in terms of national championship experience.  The travel, the waiting, the playing, and doing it all well in an unfamiliar place is a skill acquired. We have injuries now, too, but then who doesn't?

SCHOOL CAN BE SUCH A DISTRACTION…..

Then of course there are the exams to be taken before we go, and while on the road by some of them as well. We are in a sort of 'dead week' around and between the end of school year and the taking of final CSU exams.  Nothing is really scheduled around the university this week as far as things outside of academic activities.  Traditionally it has been hard to get better as a team during this particular week of the school year.  That hasn't kept me from trying.  This year will be no different, except that for once I think we can actually improve as a whole unit during this fairly trying week.

Freshmen mostly have to move out of dorms before we leave for Dallas. That is stressful for those kids to be sure. Actually, maybe they don't know the difference.

Anyway, does all this 'distraction' really bother me?   Well, yes, a little, but my goals have also become cleaner, clearer and simpler for this particular week over the years, and my frustration level over these things I cannot control has lessened.

ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN

Travel lag is always a concern, but basically and overall most of these worry things are not causing me great concern right now.  It ain't over of course, shock and dismay lurks everywhere in life if you let it, and last year we got hit by the ineligibility haymaker that took us right out of Minnesota's Championship about this time of May, but this year I have faith in the fact that we have for the most part taken care of all our necessary business well. 

We are indeed eligible to the max academically and every other way, too. I carry with me at all times the neatly typed two-page document that declares this team to be safe and sound on the eligibility issue.

I am very confident with our senior leadership, and Lord knows we have played in plenty of big games, many of these games were played on the road somewhere, and we have had numerous tense confrontations of various kinds all along the way this season.

EXPERIENCE IS THE BEST PREPARATION – at least that is the plan -

This season we've played early afternoon delights, as well as one or two nail biters under the lights.   We've dressed in way too much black and fried in the mid-day sun.  We have worn our pearly whites and felt the cool breezes of an April evening while having an extreme amount of Invesvo fun.  Experience when it becomes experienced (past) can be 'all good' for the process of growth.

ROUGH AND READY RULES

You might say that even though we are quite young and have only a handful left from the 2003 championship team, in my opinion we are still 'good and plenty' prepared enough to participate in these important playoff games.  Our youth does not concern me.  I'm sure it probably should, but I just see our freshmen as no longer being freshmen for the most part by this place in our march and on our mission.  I trust and entrust that we believe that we are indeed on a mission, one that can and will only come once in this life.  You can never win one of these deals if you don't believe in something big time.  There are no rules about what that belief should or must be, it just must be shared deeply by the teammates. 

BE HERE NOW

The things that I am focused on now for coaching purposes are pretty fundamental and have to do with execution and taking responsibility for as much as you can on a team awareness level while keeping all things simple and well understood.  This is rehearsal time big time.  This team communicates beautifully at times.  To be consistent in this area of team on field connection it takes an extreme amount of team energy.  Feeding team energy and the creation of more of it is what I seek most to do this week and hopefully for most of next week as well.

Next Entry | Previous Entry


Flip Started Blogging Before it was Cool, Read Over 400 of His Entries Since January 2001
Jump to a Period:
2006: Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov
2005: Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
2004: Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
2003: Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
2002: Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
2001: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Sept Oct Nov Dec