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!