DAISY 6 - JCWP Yellow 4

In the first game of the day on Saturday, a weakened DAISY team surprised the Yellow Cats in the first half, and the Cats were not able to make up the difference after refocusing midway (i.e. too late) through the game.

Defensively, the Cats struggled in two related aspects of the game. First, the 2-meter defenders overplayed the ball side and got caught on 2-meter's right shoulder, and too often allowed the DAISY hole men to create enough space on their (left) goal side for a safe entry pass. To compound this defensive weakness, the wing defenders were unable to deny either of the following: a) the pass too the too the wing from the flat or point positions, or b) the hole entry pass from the wing. Remember, 2-meter defenders: the first rule of defense is to get to the goal side and overplay the 2-meter's strong shoulder. Then, work on denying the entry pass, but never allow your goal side to be compromised.

On the offensive end, the Cats were sloppy. Several "blind" over-shoulder-passes went straight to DAISY defenders, and several scoring opportunities were squandered with lackluster attempts to finish in front of the goal. In the second quarter, two sequences highlighted a collective passivity. First, the Cats' John Lewis drew an ordinary foul inside the five meter, and the other five Cats responded by floating in place. The same reaction followed an ordinary foul at the right wing. On another occasion, the Cats' Dan Pike was prepared to impose his will when he took a mismatch into 2-meter, but the failure to reverse the ball - even with the opportunity to do so - wasted the opportunity.

By the start of the second half, the Cats recognized, down by a score of 6-1, that an attitude adjustment was in order. And the adjustment showed, as DAISY was shut out for the entire half. The Cats, meanwhile, chipped away at the score, and eventually found themselves within striking distance, down 6-4 with a minute remaining. But two more missed scoring chances were emblematic of the second half, during which the Cats set the tone and imposed their will but were unable to put the bisquit in the basket. The DAISY goalie received several Mikasa tattoes, courtesy of JCWP.

A more disciplined approach in warm-ups can go a long way toward a succesful competition. This does not mean that you have to be some version of the Cobra Kai, but the joviality and jocularity (for you fans of the SAT) should cease when you get on the pool deck. I can remember a team from St. Louis that went out to JO's one year, and played against SoCal (a pretty good team) for a spot in the final eight of the 17U's. The SoCal team was stacked with guys going to UCLA, Irvine, etc. They were lauging and joking and jumping off the bottom in warm-ups, while the guys from St. Louis were all business. The guys from St. Louis led 2-1 after one half, and this was very upsetting for some people, including a certain game official. The point is that no amount of athletic ability will substitute for hard-nosed, focused water polo. And while flipping the switch at halftime will sometimes be enough, it also sometimes will not be.

Coach Hayes

Kittens pounce on CCP 15+-1

Despite giving up 12 goals the previous weekend against SLAP, the Kittens buckled down against CCP on Saturday, allowing only one goal, while showing significant improvements both on offensive and on defensive. At the beginning of the game, since CCP did not have enough players, Luke Brooks and Cullen Gerber graciously went to play for CCP. More on them a little later. In the first quarter, the Kittens struck early against CCP. Early goals came from, among others, Victor Castro, Joey Buelter, Michael Mcward, and Todd Losby. Defensively, the Kittens did a great job of getting into the passing lanes. Player of the Game Peter Brooks made multiple steals as a result of being in the passing lane. In addition, Victor Castro made some great defensive steals as well. At the end of the first, the Kittens were up 7-0.

In the second quarter, the Kittens continued their successes in the pool and even began running the “umbrella” offense. The Kittens scored a couple of times off of point drives, including a nice drive and goal by Todd Losby. The offense as a whole looked much improved this weekend, as the Kittens were more aware in the water and did a much better job of getting set up in the right spot in the pool. When halftime finally rolled around, the Kittens were up 14-0.

In the third quarter, we made it our goal offensively to run out the shot clock and then dump the ball. Although this is not something we had worked on or even mentioned in practice, the Kittens caught on quickly and were even yelling “yellow” and “red” when the shot clock was winding down. The Kittens’ shutout, however, came to an end in the third quarter with a skip shot from behind half by none other than Cullen Gerber. At the end of the third, the Kittens were still winning 14-1 and had completed a very successful quarter in holding the ball and running out the shot clock.

In the fourth quarter, the Kittens’ goal shifted to trying to run the offense using only off-hands. The Kittens did surprisingly well at this, scoring a few more goals in this manner, including one by POTG Peter Brooks. However, the Kittens could have gotten a good number of more goals had it not been for Luke Brooks, who played very well in the deep end goal for CCP. At the end of the game, some of his Kitten teammates were requesting that he play goalie more often for them.

Although the Kittens thoroughly dominated the game, it was still a great learning experience for the team. Offensively, it was great to see the team setting up and being patient, while defensively, the team was much more effective at getting into the passing lanes. Although there is still plenty of room for improvement, the progress from last weekend was extremely encouraging. Looking forward, the Kittens will look to further improve upon these things this week in practice as they look to face Storm next weekend.

One last note: After the end of the game, I had both refs and another team’s coach come up to me and tell me that they were very impressed with the team’s sportsmanship, especially with how the game ended up score-wise. This was great to hear, especially considering that we not only try to teach the players to play hard and well but also to play with good sportsmanship in the process. So, in conclusion, great job this weekend and congratulations on a great effort. We will hopefully see you all at practice this week.

Coach Ray

JCWP Green 6, SLAP Charmander 5 (SV)

We knew our first win would come soon, so congratulations to the boys for a much deserved victory. It was an exciting game that saw so much action in the dwindling minutes of the fourth quarter that I was tempted to run out to my car, open my doctor's bag, grab my sphygmomanometer (which measures blood pressure) and ensure that my arteries were not at risk of bursting.

Throughout most of the game we employed a great press defense that caused Charmander lots of trouble. However at times some of our players got a little lazy, dropped their hips and remained stagnant rather than working to stay in the passing lanes. This made Charmander's job on offense a lot easier. Truth be told, I don't remember how all of SLAP's goals were scored, but one came quickly on a powerplay, the cause of which we don't quite understand as our ejected player made no physical contact with the person he was guarding. Another came off of a drive from the wing which resulted in a nice lob that our goalie had little chance of saving. Their final goal, was a rare goal of chance, and no one can be faulted for it. I don't remember SLAP having as much success on counters as our previous opponents, so props to our boys for better ball control.

Offensively we were more organized than in the past but our hole sets still need to communicate more, and perimeter players need to be quicker to release for the ball. In general things looked sloppy, especially for the first 3 quarters, as players were quick to try and pass under pressure rather than push dribbling to open water, and our two meter players got off some good shots but they were rushed and wild. Taking a split second longer to ensure control likely would have meant several more goals. Our ball control has improved but we've still got a long way to go.

We played well defensively during the first quarter, only allowing one on a fluke powerplay. During the second quarter our boys stepped it up, and Richie Mayer and Brad Gardner quickly added goals. During the third we faltered a little and just looked lazy on both ends of the pool, at which time SLAP got a few goals back to take a 3-2 lead into the final quarter. Both teams hit the net in the fourth quarter, and with less than one minute left it was tied 4-4. With around 45 seconds left, SLAP's goalie threw it to their hole, at which time our goalie and three field players crashed in to steal the ball. It was great help defense, but unfortunately the ball bounced off of the SLAP player's head and right to another offensive player who quickly hit the open net. We can't fault anyone for what we thought would be the game winning goal because under the circumstances everyone did the right thing. Fortunately Evan Stelmachowicz got the ball and drew and ejection at hole, and after a SLAP player interfered with his free throw we had a 6 on 4 situation. Unlike the rest of the game, the boys didn't rush the opportunity. The ball was passed across the goal twice before Evan got it back and buried it near side low to tie it up. We played a solid press for the remaining 15 seconds to send the game into "DeSmet Overtime."

We were fired up and our press was strong. Good defense generated two 2-on-1 situations, the former failed, while the latter saw Charlie Archer score the golden goal. Our players of the game were our goalies for some outstanding saves, improved passing, and most importantly, defensive leadership via communication. So congratulations to Matt Anderson, Andy Fischer, and Brad Gardner, as well as all of our field players on our victory.
-Coach Merritt

1/9/10 Jungle Cats Orange vs. Daisy Red: Round 1

This was an important game for Jungle Cat Orange. The Cats played well throughout the game. The especially had strong defense and patience on offense. The Daisy players were only able to score on 4 occasions where defensive players made slight mistakes. Defensive players should remember to keep hips up, face the offensive goal, and never put your back to the player you are guarding. Keep your head on a swivel. Continuously look from the player you are guarding to the player with the ball. On offense we were patient, not pushing the counter attack too much and waiting for a two meter. Yet on occasion this offensive patience held back our offensive power. We only scored 3 goals. We also had a few very close shots by Bowers, but we should have been taking more shots. We should have tested their goalie more.

As well on offense, we need to continue to go to offense faster, but with the mind set of advancing the ball. We need to get a two-meter set faster. Two meters need to control the offense and be more vocal. And then we need to drive. We did many of these things on Saturday, but too often it took too long.

I think this was one of Orange’s best games because they played very well and the game was close. There was a lot we did well and a lot we could take away from that game. After strong practices this week, we play Daisy Red again this Saturday. We should maintain the same consistent defense we played last week, but we should step up the speed of the half court offense and shoot more often.

Coach O’Neill

shooting

This guy has been spying on my practices:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhhf_m_gtq8

And this??? Good for a few laughs, anyway:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZU6qBaXP4o

This ain't too shabby:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRGr5SfNj9s

-Coach Hayes

Flyers 7 - JCWP Black 2

On Saturday, the Black Cats had their most disappointing performance to date. They struggled to protect the ball on offense, which led to numerous fast-break opportunities for the Flyers.

From the outset, it was clear that the referrees would allow an aggressive press defense on the perimeter, and that fouls would not be given cheaply. The Cats were unable to make an adjustment, and found themselves squandering much of their shot clock and forcing bad passes under pressure. The Flyers did a good job anticipating the mistakes, and scored their goals off of turnovers.

In the second quarter, during a two minute stretch, the Cats had several opportunities to capitalize on counter-attack opportunities, but failed to execute. Several outlet passes went wide of their mark, leading to turnovers or killing the advantage, and on several occasions it appeared that players were simply unable to finish their counters. Energy levels were noticeably low.

The Cats were still within striking distance as the second half began, but the inability to protect the ball and step up under pressure persisted. A referee noted after the game that the "Flyers were just more aggressive, and I was waiting for [the Cats] to assert themselves a little more, which they never did."

The Cats allowed the defense to push them away from the goal on the perimeter, which resulted in terrible spacing and balance. The umbrella was effectively broken.

On the defensive end, JCWP did a fine job, overall. The Flyers accomplished very little in their half-court offense. However, more often than not the Cats found themselves chasing the Flyers in transition, constantly trying to recover and regroup after bad offensive series.

Sometimes the refs won't give anything, but as long as the calls (or non calls) are consistent, the onus is on the players to make the adjustment. Not a single offensive foul was called against the Cats, and one can only wonder what difference it would have made if they had adopted a more aggressive approach on the offensive end.

Coach Hayes

Saturday Jan. 9th, 2010

JCWP Yellow 8 SLAP Charizard 7

The Yellow team played three quarters of solid defense and offense before they got complacent and allowed SLAP back into the game. They started off the first quarter with strong offensive play from John Lewis, Thomas Morgan, and Michael Hagerty. They moved the ball well around the perimeter and were able to hold a side in two meter. The defense was anchored by Jack Buelter, Joe Kabance, and Jake Chisholm. They played a crash defense most of the game, which allowed very few shots from two meter. The Yellow team ended the first quarter up 2-1.

In the second and third quarters the yellow team continued to play a strong defense. They continued to crash hard from the point and flats limiting the SLAP team to a few shots on goal. The offense continued to be productive with some off the ball picks and drives, but the majority of goals came from the counterattack. The boys played with intensity and had many opportunities to score on counters, but some poor decision making and lack of vision in the pool limited them a couple of goals.

In the fourth quarter the yellow team made some mental errors, crashing off the wing and not getting back early to defense, which allowed SLAP to rally to a one goal deficit. The yellow team also played sloppy while up 6 on 5 passing to guys under pressure, but they were still able to come out on top. The players of the game were Joe Kabance and Jack Buelter for defensive effort. The team has some work to do on 6 on 5, but played a solid offense and defense in three out of the four quarters.

Storm 5 JCWP Green 3

It was another tough loss for the green team as we worked to weather a very physical St. Charles Storm. Despite being on the losing end of the scoreboard, our effort had its merits. Our team defense was great today, forcing several bad passes and leading to several steals, and several counterattack opportunities. Once again we were creating good scoring opportunities but our execution was a little off today. Physical mistakes like these sometimes just happen and the important thing is that we're having success creating opportunities.

Our offensive effort was improved as well, as two-meters Evan Stelmachowicz and Richie Mayer both continued to attack the goal and were much more vocal as leaders this time around. We still need to be quicker to release on the perimeter in order to help players under pressure. We also crowded the middle at times, which hurt our execution and made it harder to run an offensive sequence. Storm's go-ahead goals all came as a result of counterattacks off of turnovers, so a little more ball control will go a long way.

Here's to hoping that the weather will be kind and we will be able to hold practice next week so that we can tighten up our game.

-Coach Merritt

Kittens outlast SLAP 16-12 in offensive battle

Offense and counter-attacks were not hard to find as the Kittens opened their 2010 season with a win over SLAP Squirtle 16-12. However, defense was sometimes hard to find in the game in which both teams scored a combined 10 goals in the first quarter. The Kittens, with 12 players present, drew much of their inspiration in the pool from Player of the Game Victor Castro, who played a sensational game both offensively and defensively. His leadership in the pool, in addition to his play, made him the Player of the Game. When his teammates were sometimes not sure what they were supposed to be doing, he helped to direct them. The Kittens excelled offensively, despite the fact that few, if any, of their goals came in a way other than the counter-attack. The Kittens got solid offensive contributions from many of their players, but Todd Losby, Victor Castor, and Joey Buelter shined in this regard. Offensively, the Kittens also did a nice job of finding players open cross-goal when those players were open.

Despite the Kittens’ successes on offense, the Kittens had trouble integrating the things that they had been learning about defense in practice into game situations. For instance, SLAP scored multiple goals off of their players driving, and because our players were not keeping their head on a swivel, they never saw their player leaving and thus gave up a goal. Similarly, at the beginning of the game, the team did not do a good job of matching up on restarts. Instead of picking out a man that they were going to guard and stay with, they let players just swim by them straight toward the goal, giving SLAP multiple open shots at the goal. And even when we did play good defense and got in the passing lane, a few times, after we were able to force a bad pass and get a steal, we forgot to push-dribble and instead elected to heave the ball to a random area in the pool, thus giving the opposing team an unnecessary offensive opportunity. Despite these flaws, the team did a much better job of adjusting as the game went on. Michael Kennedy made some very nice defensive plays, and at the end of the game, we were seeing the positive results of playing in the passing lane by forcing some bad passes.

One other thing I really liked about the team’s effort today was their communication, especially from the bench. By the end of the game, even players on the bench were yelling at players in the water helping them to recognize what was going on. I hope that will continue as the season progresses.

So overall, it was a good start to the Kittens season. The leadership of some of the more experienced guys in the pool was awesome, and we did a pretty good job offensively of finding the open man. In the weeks to come, we will hopefully solve the defensive shortcomings and develop a more stable offensive plan with a 2-meter. But congrats on the first win, and we will hopefully see everyone at practice this week!

Coach Ray

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.