Day 3

It was a good day, but still pretty warm. We started early today with an 8:30 a.m. breakfast and practice at 9:30 a.m. We got to practice at the main site again today so we had some air conditioning. Coach Shibuya went over the pre-game protocol with the guys so they could understand international warm-up and what we were going to do before our matches. Protocol is sometimes more important than the volleyball, but if you take care of the stuff from the beginning you don't have to worry about it too much. Practice went well and we got some good short games in continuing to work on the small areas.

After practice we headed back to the hotel for some down time and lunch.

A couple quick people to tell you about that have been really awesome. The first two are Laura and Carlos, our attachés for the tournament. They have been great so far, helping us with all the small things from food, water, fruit and anything else we need. They both went to Wal-Mart for the guys today and Carlos found Rob another tripod, since his ran into its untimely demise. It has been great to have both of them. The other is our bus driver for the week. He has been with us since the airport, super friendly, no English but always very helpful.

At 3:30 p.m., we headed to Carl's Jr. again for some food for the guys. We were taking the guys to both matches tonight so we wanted to make sure they got a snack, since dinner was going to be late. On the way, I got to visit with Coach Tait about some history of Penn State volleyball and how he got his start. It was an amazing conversation that I thoroughly enjoyed. I am always amazed about the growth of boys’ volleyball and how many Midwest and East Coast roots there are, from Jim Coleman to Tom Tait, George Williams College and all the coaches that are affiliated with these men. A little sidetracked there. We then had a team meeting and Coach Shibuya had the guys point out some strengths and weakness, along with the team philosophies. It was a good meeting for the guys and they all contributed. An awesome step in building continued chemistry for the team.

Photo: Courtesy of Ken Shibuya The U.S. Boys' Youth National Team gets ready to march in the Opening Ceremony at the Boys' Youth Pan American Cup. We headed to the matches and opening ceremonies. The first match of the evening was Brazil vs. Costa Rica. Rob and I needed to get there so we could set up the camera and start our scouting. Unfortunately, we didn't have the tripod yet so we just had to scout initially. Later on we got the video from Brazil of their match, which was pretty cool of them. Needless to say it was not much of a match. Brazil won 3-0 and Costa Rica didn't score over 10 in any game other then maybe the 3rd.

After the first match they had the opening ceremony. All the delegates were up front on a stage and the teams proceeded in as groups in their warm-ups and marched out. They had a band, dressed in what looked like army guard apparel, dancers, and a flag corps. It is always pretty cool to see the opening ceremonies and great for the guys.

The next match was our pool and it was host, Mexico vs. T & T (Trinidad and Tabago). By this time, Carlos had found us a tripod and we were good to go. Rob and I still did both our scouts so we had info on the upcoming teams in our pool. By now, I've knocked off the rust with the scouting and did a little better job than the first match. Mexico won in three and T & T really only had one guy who was set all the balls. I feel good about playing both these teams in the next couple days.

During the second match, the guys had headed back for dinner since they really didn't need to see the entire match. Somehow we tricked Lance our trainer into staying with us for the rest of the match. I think Rob tried to teach him how to do Data Volley. That didn't last long, lol. After the match, we headed back to get some dinner in the restaurant, followed by a visit to Coach Shibuya's room. We visited a little about the matches and the plan for tomorrow. Just finished my scouting report a little bit ago and now this journal. A little TV and to bed.

Adios

Coach Friend