All-Metro Swimming

Congratulations to Jungle Cats Dan Schmidt (2nd Team) and Brett Gleason (3rd Team), who were named to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's All-Metro Swimming teams.

Coach Hayes

JCWP Black 5 - SLAP 4

Just wanted to spread out the blog posts a little bit, in the Hannukah style.

A matchup of dominating defenses or of mediocre offenses? Like the AFC North of past seasons, it was sometimes hard to tell. Both teams in this contest should be credited with a persistent press defense that forced offensive players to turn their backs on the goal for most of the shot clock. The referees were not giving away fouls on the perimeter, and few scoring opportunities were created by either team.

The JCWP defense should also be credited with excellent help from the weak side and from the goal (Dylan Jungles). Whenever the SLAP players would attempt to pass over the top of the defense, help arrived quickly and effectively. Our statisticians lost count of the number of passes stolen with good help defense, but estimates range in the low thousands.

Because yours truly cannot remember who scored the first two goals, we'll begin our scoring recap in the 3rd quarter, when Christian Bopp scored on the deep goal. Christian was handling the ball just inside the right wing, with a slight advantage toward the goal. Meanwhile, two of his teammates were driving to the goal - one to the far post and one to the near post. It appeared the perfect opportunity for a quick hole-set, and maybe even a double-post scenario. Christian recalled the situation: "I looked at the ball, and I swear it winked at me. So, since I knew the ball had eyes, I just closed mine. I gave the ball a heave towards the goal, and it guided itself the rest of the way, far side. Goal."

Entering the fourth, and shooting shallow, JCWP trailed 4-3. It was gonna take some big guns to rally, and Rob Golterman provided the initial firepower. On a late developing counter-attack, Rob found himself at the 8-meter mark and just outside the right post. Sensing that the defense was committed to players in front of him, Rob got the ball, stepped to the 6-meter and scored on a peculiar but effective shallow-end skip-halo.

Needing only a goal for the win, while maintaining a suffocating ball-side press, the Black Cats found their chance in a 6-5 situation. Coach Hayes considered calling a timeout, but then remembered his morning horoscope, which had read: "Relinquish control of a situation and allow others to find their own way. With increased freedom comes increased self-knowledge."
With the defense scrambling to protect the inside, Christian Bopp calmly stepped in from the five slot and put the ball in the upper corner. His eyes, this time, were open.

The defense shut down SLAP for the remainder of the game.

Fin.

Orange 10 - Parkway 8

Parkway was short a few players to start the game, so we lent them a quartet of P-South All-Stars for the game (Auinbaugh, Champion, Brett Gleason and Patrick Gleason). Those four have played a lot together both as Jungle Cats and as Patriots and I knew they would really give the rest of Orange a good game.

I did not take down the end of quarter scores, but the game was tight throughout. In general, our game plan was to get the ball down to a wing and get a positive set through driving, which we had been working on the last few practices. The first half was brilliant in that regard as Michael Bowers was a driving and setting machine, generating a ball side drive on nearly every possession he was in the water for. Elsewhere on offense, Zach Smith, Michael Sigman and Darrian Castro did a great job creating position and communicating when and where they wanted the ball. For the most part, I was impressed with the counter-attack as goalie Pat Archer had little trouble finding a teammate winging out on every counter. Defensively, Pat Archer did a great job communicating with 2M defenders Justin Jellinek and Michael Tanner. The perimeter defenders stayed in the passing lanes for the most part and we forced a lot of bad passes, leading to easy steals.

Points to work on would be very similar to the things Yellow needs to work on: communication and getting back to defense. EVERYONE in the pool needs to talk more and the always appropriate "if you aren't in the play, go the other way." Not only does the phrase rhyme, it's a very good lesson for the boys to learn. Too often, we watch the play instead of watching our man. We need to anticipate when the counter-attack is about to happen.

For this game I went with a 3-star system...
- 3rd Star: Michael Tanner - solid in guarding Parkway's best threat, Jake Auinbaugh, and was part of my second favorite play of the game, a give and go with Michael Bowers (who deserves honorable mention for his performance) that generated a great inside water shot for Tanner
- 2nd Star; Justin Jellinek - guarded Auinbaugh a bit tighter than Tanner did, often preventing Jake from wanting to go into set. Justin had his hips in the passing lanes often and never got beat to the goal
- 1st Star: Zach Smith - was great at both ends and was by far the best offensive player in the pool. My favorite play of the game was Zach getting a steal from the point by playing passing lanes, sprinting to the cage with two guys coming down his back, doing a pop-shot which generated a 5M penalty shot when he got clobbered and unselfishly allowing Michael Sigman to take the 5M.

Special thanks to the P-South All-Star Quartet for being good sports and playing hard for the opposing team. Thank you Jake, Kenny, Brett and Patrick!

-Coach Tom

Yellow 10 - SLAP 5

There was 24 minutes of game time for Yellow on Saturday and the guys played hard for about 20 of them. During those 20 minutes, we protected the ball well on offense, made good hole passes and created opportunities through driving. I saw some flashes of offensive brilliance from Dan Pike, Michael Hagerty and Thomas Morgan. Defensively, Jack Buelter, Joe Kabance and Nate Burgraff did a great job preventing the SLAP 2M's from getting off shots of any velocity. Goalies Jake Chisholm and Sean Sullivan did a great job saving the shots within their range, in addition to very good counter-attack passing.

4 of SLAP's 5 goals came during the first 4 minutes of the second half. Yellow stopped moving offensively, forced hole passes into a crash and gave up a counter-attack goal on nearly every SLAP possession. To me, these issues are solved by better communication, anticipation and awareness.

• Communication: I was the only one talking out there, and I was in street clothes. 2M's need to instruct their perimeter players on how to best get them the ball. They need to speak early and often. 2MD's need to constantly remind their perimeter defenders to play passing lanes. Goalies need to direct traffic on counterattack defense, so we don't end up with two guys defending the same person while an open man is cross-cage.
• Anticipation: if you aren't in the play, go the other way. If there is a dangerous pass into 2M, don't watch the ball get stolen, go play defense.
• Awareness: do not just guard the guy who guarded you. Pick your head out of the water and look to see if you need to help. Don't assume your teammates see the same thing you do.

It was a fairly well-played game but for those 4 minutes in the 3rd quarter. This group is still learning to play together, but the flashes of brilliance are encouraging. Player of the game was Dan Pike who scored 3 or 4 goals, all from creating great position at 2M and making one big strong move. Practice starts back up in 2010. Happy Holidays!

-Coach Tom

Mad Dog B-2 8, JCWP Green 6

A much improved Green team came out this weekend and gave Mad Dog a run for their money. We ended up playing them evenly through 3 quarters and taking a 5-4 lead into the final stanza before things started to fall apart a little. Our set offense was much better, and our players' shot placement was usually right on, however we saw a few more ill-advised shots than we did last week. We had balanced scoring, with 5 players netting goals, (Gardner, Kennedy, Paniello, Stelmachowicz, and Ramaciotti) and strong defense in front of the goal that gave Mad Dog a lot of trouble scoring on set offense.

I was once laughed at for explaining to the boys I was coaching that a lack of communication could be "fatal." While that word is a little extreme, that scenario sort of played out today, as our lack of eye contact and silence while controlling the ball led to turnovers and counterattacks on which Mad Dog was usually able to convert. A few other goals came from overaggressiveness outside of 5M while on defense. Remember, our goal on defense is to force bad passes, not to be heroes and collect steals. Most players want to be fouled outside of 5M so that they can shoot on a free throw. It's a lot easier to score if your defender has to give you space, so it's imperative not to foul so that we make the other team's job difficult.

Co-players of the game go to Justin Ramaciotti for his two-meter defense and his conversion of a beautiful timing RB, and to Evan Stelmachowicz for tremendous improvement in front of the cage on both ends of the pool. The coaches would like to wish you all a happy holiday season and we look forward to continuing working hard and having fun in January.

-Coach Merritt

An Alternate Take on Green's Game

A loss is only a loss if a team doesn't take anything out of a game, and that's certainly not what happened during our contest with the Flyers. As Coach Rick pointed out, we had several shortcomings, especially with communication on offense. In our players' defense, we discovered that game on short notice, and the two players we designated to direct our offense from hole had never had instruction on playing in front of the goal. In addition, we had yet to discuss front court offense, so a score of 6-10 in our first contest against a team boasting at least 3 strong varsity field players and a stong varsity goalie is very respectable.

Almost all of the Flyers' goals came off of counterattacks which stemmed from our poor showing on offense, but again, we can't fault the boys too much for a lack of ball control since we haven't discussed our offense just yet. Defensively we did very well. Chris Kennedy and Charlie Archer showed great poise protecting the goal as two meter guards, and they received excellent support from their teammates who guarded the passing lanes and collected several steals. We generated several counterattack opportunities in the second half but often failed to convert because we forgot the general rules of thumb concerning placement of shots.

Our co-players of the game were newcomer Nick Koors for doing an outstanding job on both ends of the pool in his very first game and Chris Kennedy for his defensive leadership. In my opinion Charlie Archer also deserves recognition for his two way play, including (I believe) 3 goals. We can be assured that we'll be much more prepared when we take on Mad Dog in our next game.

-Coach Merritt

Orange vs. SLAP 12/12/09

On Saturday Jungle Cat Orange lost to SLAP Charizard 8 -7. Orange played strong defense throughout the game, but struggled with offensive production especially in the first half. A two-meter needed to drive in immediately and lead the offense. The perimeter players needed to get the ball from the goalie faster, and the two-meter and perimeter players needed to get the ball set quicker. Too many times the goalie held the ball for a majority of our shot clock. At the end of the first half orange was down 6-3.
With the second half came improvements. Offensive players were more willing to set, but still perimeter players were not driving through fast enough. As a whole the our half court offense looked sluggish. This being said, most of the orange players have not reviewed half court offense this year. By the middle of the forth quarter orange had taken a 7-6 led. This shows that orange not only continued to play strong defense in the second half, almost keeping them scoreless, but as well improved on offense. The “orange all stars” went in to finish the close game. SLAP was able to draw two kick outs and scored on one tying the game. In the final seconds, SLAP recovered the ball after a late shot attempt and scored on the buzzer.
Being only Orange’s first game of the season, they have a lot to look forward to. Skills that need work include: getting the ball from the goalie, getting the ball into 2meter, and driving. Be prepared to work on these skills in future practices. Drills that will benefit orange include: winging out for the ball, driving to set, and driving for shots. The player of the game was Daniel Maloney for his two goals in the first half, which kept Orange in the game. Runner up player of the game was Patrick Archer for multiple big stops in the shallow and deep.

-Coach O'Neill

Yellow's Game

Jungle Cat Yellow's Saturday game did not provide a very good barometer for the team's progress, as the Cats' counter-attack gave them an easy 5-0 lead through one quarter, and the game ceased being a contest. The Cats slowed things down from that point on, but did have some difficulty running their 2-meter offense smoothly.

Problem areas in the half-court offense involve some of the fundamental areas of the game: 1) balance and spacing in the umbrella offense, 2) awareness of the 2-meter's position and where he wants the ball, 3) passing away from from pressure.

The first two problems areas can be improved upon with better communication from the 2-meters. You guys (2-meters) have to understand that you are the "captains" of the offense whenever you take it upon yourself to be the focal point of the offense. But this does not mean that only 2-meters are allowed to communicate! It also will help to develop language that everyone will understand during the game, e.g. "reverse the ball" might mean that the 2-meter is set up on the side of the pool opposite the ball, and we need to move the ball to that side in order to get the ball into 2-meter. Using a person's name is the best way to get that person's attention, and "weak" tells a teammate that someone is open cross-goal with an opportunity to score, as opposed to "ball," which is one of five words my one year old nephew knows, because, like all of you Cats, he wants the ball for reasons all his own.

The third problem area will be improved upon if players will begin to move on offense, especially with the use of picks (2-1's and 4-5's). One of the "rules of passing" that I once learned is that you don't pass to a person who is not moving. There are, of course, obvious exceptions to this "rule," but the lesson is that a player should be moving away/releasing from pressure when he receives the pass - this makes the next pass that much easier. If your movements are coordinated - and we will go over this in future practices - we should not have to force wet passes into the corner or up against the wall, but instead will be able to move the ball freely with dry passes, and save our 2-meters a lot of wrestling time.

Final point: in the fourth quarter, when we are winning by a lot of goals, we want the game to end. This doesn't mean that we stop playing hard or that we allow ourselves to get sloppy. It just means that we use as much of the shot clock as possible, and once we are under 30 seconds in the game (or under a couple minutes, for that matter), we should be content to let the clock expire. When games drag on with multiple unnecessary goals, nothing good can come of it, from our perspective. And, as we saw on Saturday, if gives a thuggish player more opportunities to antagonize, harass and bully his opponents, and turn the game of water polo into something it isn't.

-Coach Hayes

Coach Rick's Thoughts on Black's Game

Black played just alright in the first half and dominated the second, like it should have in the 4-2 win.

First of all, use the deep end to your advantage. In most cases, it's easier to score when your team is attacking the deep end than when you're attacking the shallow end. Recognize that and put extra pressure on offense.

The shot selection needs to be better. No matter who the goalie is, anyone should be able to stop a shot from 9 meters out. Bring the ball in! Don't get in the habit of shooting lob shots from the outside. A lob needs to be set up: try a skip shot and a couple hard shots before you shoot the lob. When you're playing the better goalies, they're going to realize that you like to lob and will come to expect it. In those cases, it will only work once or twice in a game, so pick your spots well.

If the opposing team offers you open water, take it! On counter attacks, if you can't make a safe pass and you see open water, go for it. By doing so, you will put yourself in a better position to attack or you will draw a defender away from someone else. If the other team gives you space on a 6 on 5, take it! Walk the ball hard toward the goal until someone comes to knock you down. Again, this will either put you in a better spot to attack the goal or it will open someone else up with a better shot at the net.

Another note on the 6 on 5, use the clock. On the first two 6 on 5s today, we used 2.5 seconds of a possible 40 and didn't score on either chance. Slow the ball down and set up your attack. This is a good time to wear down the other team. Jungle Cats are blessed to have a bench full of good players. Take advantage of your numbers! Swim hard and if you need a break, we'll take you out for a breather. But play as hard as you can when you're in the water.

On counter attacks, when someone sets up in front of the goal as a hole man, the counter attack is effectively over. That player needs to direct his players to set up the offense. All other drivers need to realize someone is parked in front of the net and not drive through the middle. This happened several times today. When you drove through, you brought your defender with you and the middle got clogged up. Even out the offense and run it.

Finally, a note to 2 meter guys. A hole man has three jobs. Everyone knows that the hole man should either shoot the ball or distribute it to drivers. The job that everyone forgets is that he needs to DRAW A KICK OUT. So if you can't distribute the ball or shoot it, work to draw a kick out.

I was impressed with the defense for the most part. The guys did a good job of playing in the passing lanes, stealing passes, and setting up effective counter attacks. The counter attacks wore the other team down and allowed you to play your game in the second half.

Coach Rick's Thoughts on Green's Game

First of all, congrats to all the guys playing in their first game today! Keep it up! It only gets more fun!

The first thing I noticed today was the lack of communication in the pool. Everyone should be talking and helping each other out. If you're open, call for the ball. If you need help on defense, call for someone to drop and help you out. If you're not sure what to yell, yell something; the next time you get out of the pool, ask one of the coaches or one of your teammates what you should yell.

Communication on defense starts with the goalie. The goalie is the general on defense. He needs to tell his players where the ball is, which players need to be specially marked, point out any players not guarded, and he needs to tell the 2 meter defender how to guard the hole man.

On offense, the 2 meter man should be in charge of the offense when he can. Let your team know which side you want to set on. If you want someone to drive, call for them to drive through. To the drivers and wingers: if you're open, call for the ball! Everyone on the bench should be yelling, too. When the shot clock gets to 10 seconds, everyone should be yelling "YELLOW!!" and when it gets to five seconds, "RED!!!!!!!". Red means the shot clock is about to run out and the player with the ball should dump it into the corner.

On counter attacks, the ball should go down the right side of the pool, then crossed into the center. The first player down the pool should swim hard for the right goal post, when he gets between the 5 and the 2, he should swim straight to the side of the pool and call for the ball. All the other players should be driving for the goal, looking to get a pass from the wing. That being said, sometimes the best counter attack is to slowly bring the ball up and set up your offense.

On a 5 meter shot, make sure you're ready to shoot as soon as you line up. The referee's whistle means SHOOT!

Finally, if you get kicked out, you're not allowed to push off the wall to get back into the game. If the ref sees you, he will kick you out again. Remember, you can only be kicked out three times, so you don't want to waste a kick out on something silly like pushing off the wall.

Overall, 10-6 wasn't a bad outcome. It was a good game against a more experienced team. Again, congratulations to all the first timers!

Welcome Back

JCWP begins play in the winter league today, December 12. Visit again for results and analysis from our coaches.