Wednesday, December 7, 2011

First Half Wrap Up















As one of the fastest first halves in my 25 years closes its books I thought I would reflect back on the term and share with you where we are at.

I think if someone asked me to describe our first half, I would have to say, tough, challenging, enlightening, and definitely forward moving.

We started out at home against the cross-town boys from RMC. I made the decision to play our first and second year boys in this one. They had a scrimmage match in Calgary the previous week and were very good together and I wanted so see how this group would perform in a meaningful competition. In addition we were dealing with a fair bit of wear and tear in some of our veterans, so I took the risk, wanting to rest certain players. Much to my delight, we were able to take the match in straight sets.

After that, it was definitely the toughest regular season start of my career. We hit the road for our longest two trips right off the bat. Our trek to Windsor and Western proved a bit disheartening as despite strong performances, particularly in Calgary, in the preseason, we dropped back to back matches 3-1 and 3-0.

We weren't scoring in key situations, our passing wasn't up to expectation and our efficiency attacking on the outside was not good enough. We tried sticking with a line-up to create stability, but that didn't produce results.

We came back 0 & 2 and put a lot of focus into both passing and attacking on the outside, as well as defense and transition to score. 1 & 2 on the season.

The next weekend, more long distance travel - as we headed back into the west - with Guelph and Waterloo to face. Against Guelph things didn't change much. We still struggled with the same elements and this time, I made changes more readily to see if others would bring more effectiveness. Things were better at times, but we still made too many errors at key times.

After some very good discussion and a plan to take some pressure off ourselves, we seemed to find a better stride. We took Waterloo 3-0 and showed moments of brilliance, but clearly we still had a lot of things to sort out and the personnel on the outside continued to be variable.

The bus ride home felt a little better. 2 & 3 on the season.

November 18th and finally a 2-game home weekend! We were pumped. Toronto was the victim of our home stance. After winning decisively in the second set and going ahead two sets to zero, I gave several younger players a shot. It was good to see the promise of the future perform in a meaningful match again and despite dropping the set by 4 points, I felt lots of positives came from that set. With our vets back on the court in the fourth, we ended the match 25-18 and moved to 3 & 3. Still far below early expectations.

McMaster was our next opponent. I felt we came out prepared. We were relaxed and focused and again looked like I felt we should - taking the first two sets 25-21, 25-15. In the third, I felt our intensity changed. Perhaps we were too comfortable. Perhaps we became too predictable. In any case we dropped the third 22-25. In the fourth, we had a couple swings for match point and we didn't finish. We went down 24-26. Pretty discouraging to go to a fifth when we were up and so strong after two. Clearly though, something had changed. Volleyball is a game of momentum. The pendulum had swung and we played poorly when it mattered most. Our 4th loss.

We then had a weekend off. I headed to OFSAA to look as future prospects and the boys had some down time before ending with another home 2-match weekend.

To close out the fall, we hosted Ryerson and York. We took both matches in straight sets despite a good push from both opponents.

So, the first half wraps up at 5 & 4. Clearly not what we hoped for. The good news is with other teams also knocking each other off, we are only 1 win out of third and 2 wins out of second, so we are still optimistic about challenging for the OUA title. Hosting the Final Four does seem out of reach however, unless something major happens at the top of the standings.

Now we move to a modified schedule of practice every other day. Maintenance on where we are at is the goal for the next 2 to 3 weeks. Guys will have to miss a session here and there but everyone is committed to ensuring there is no regression. We are also back hard in the weight room for the next 3-4 weeks.


On December 28th we head out to Langley, British Columbia. Our team is doing a week of joint training and a few matches with Trinity Western University. We hope to have some of our injury issues sorted out by then and we are looking forward to taking our game to the next level, in preparation for the CIS Championships on March 2-4, 2012, here at Queen's.

For those of you who haven't gotten them yet, you can purchase your tickets to the big show on line at: http://events.queensu.ca/cismensvb

Have a wonderful holiday everyone and to those who have exams ahead of you, I wish you the best of luck!

Monday, December 5, 2011

Women's Basketball - Game Report

Hi Folks,

Our fall league schedule has come to a close, with less than spectacular results. We experienced our first double-loss of the season, dropping a 61-58 decision to Western and an 83-53 thrashing to Windsor.

We were not sharp against Western and found ourselves trailing 15-9 after the first quarter. Struggling to adjust to their attacks, we went down another 5 points (19-14) in the second to trail 34-23 at half. A half time adjustment met with limited success and the third quarter ended with us still down 11 (49-38). We made our run in the fourth quarter and actually grabbed a one point lead 52-51 before surrendering 6 straight points. We brought it back to 1, 59-58 before being forced to foul.

Brittany Moore finished with 22 points – the only player in double digits.

(SID report: http://www.gogaelsgo.com/news/2011/12/2/asdfdsafs.aspx?path=wbball)

Windsor set the tone for the game very early as they crushed us on the offensive glass. Numerous trips down the floor met with two and three attempts at the hoop. Trailing 22-10 after the first quarter, we managed to settle down a little in the second, but still lost the quarter by 2, 17-15 and trailed 39-25 at the half. We were dominated in the second half in three critical areas: Points off turnovers: 16-11, Second chance points: 23-2, Fast Break points: 4-0. If you add the numbers (43-13) the difference is 30 points – their margin of victory! Somewhat surprisingly perhaps, I think we competed harder and with a little more intelligence in this game than versus Western. Our execution (predominately our finishing) was struggling, leading to a lot of transition or run-out points for Windsor.

Brittany Moore, was again, our only player in double digits with 19 points.

(SID report: http://www.gogaelsgo.com/news/2011/12/3/fasdfa.aspx?path=wbball)

So, the fall league schedule is complete. We finished with a 4-4 record, tied for 4th place in the East (with York), one game behind both Toronto and Carleton (5-3). Ottawa sits atop our division with a 6-2 record.

Last year our record against the West Division was 1-7. A definite improvement this year for sure, however, the losses to Brock (OT) and Western are not very palatable.

Up Next on the Road:
We head to San Juan Puerto Rico for our annual Tropical Training Camp. We will be in the tropics from December 28th to January 3rd, with two games on the schedule:

Thursday, December 29th vs. University of Puerto Rico at Bayamon 3pm (local time)
Monday, January 2nd vs. Swarthmore College (Pennsylvania) 1pm (local time)

Other Tidbits:
Sydney Kernahan was the Queen’s Player of the Week last week for her dominating performances on the offensive glass in the McMaster & Brock games.

Brittany Moore now needs only 22 points to move into fifth place on the all-time OUA scoring list as she currently sits at 1,427 career points.

ID/Training Camp:
For serious High School players in Grades 10-12
Sunday, December 11th
On Court 9:30-11:45am
Break for Lunch
Facility Tour and Q&A Session 12:15-1:30pm
On Court 1:30-3:30pm
There is no cost to attend, but please drop me an email so I can prepare for numbers. (dave.wilson@queensu.ca)

That’s it for now. While I won’t have another Game Report until the New Year, keep your eyes open for an exciting Press Release in the very near future.

All the best for the holiday season and thanks for your continued support.

Dave.