Hello, this is Ken Shibuya, the head coach of the Youth National Team.

This is the first time that I will be speaking on behalf of our squad so I am excited to share our experiences with you. I apologize for the length of this article.

I will start by saying that with one day left in our tournament, this has been a wonderful trip full of challenges, growth, and learning. From the moment I accepted the position, I knew that it would be a tough task to win the World Championships playing against programs that are better-funded and more focused on training their country’s youth teams to win. For example, Argentina’s team stays together for much of the past two years and plays in a semi-professional adult league, while Brazil has a full-time national team program that employs a staff of nearly 7 coaches just for the youth. The European teams travel and play up to five international tournaments before the FIVB Worlds. Iran.....well, let’s just say that their “18 year olds” look a little more mature than our boyish-faced players! For us, there is nothing in the USA that compares to the level of competition that we face in every match here. We as a staff accept that those are our challenges and embrace the fact that our players will get an unbelievable experience competing against these teams. There is no better training for their future than this event!

Throughout this journey, I can tell you with pride that our team is first class and has represented the USA as well as any team I’ve been associated with. They have, in fact, become one of the most liked teams in the event by the fans, event organizers, and anyone else that happens to stop and chat. In particular, Ben Patch has been a crowd favorite for his absolutely upbeat personality, his willingness to entertain anyone around him with his dancing and good-natured personality. He also has the ability to amaze people as he soars through the air to smash one of his patented bombs.

Our team truly is a team. They are closely bonded and pull for one another. Each individual appreciates when a teammate does well. They go to bat for each other and work their butts off. As anyone who has been following the progress of the tournament knows, we have taken our share of losses. With other teams, this burden would be too great for them to handle. Not once has this group of guys ever turned against each other. They keep pushing each other to get better and support each other through the downtimes. When they are done with this experience, they will come back to the USA as stronger players and even better human beings. They have been an absolute joy to coach. The staff has been amazing as well. My admiration for coaches Dan Friend, Rob Neilson, Jonah Carson, Tom Tait (Team Manager), and Dr. Julie Chuan is beyond enormous. They have worked relentlessly to prepare the team and have done so in a positive and encouraging way. They have also been great about keeping me from making too many mistakes with my coaching!

As for Buenos Aires, I have found that it is a fascinating city that mixes many of the European cultures into a Latin atmosphere that is truly something to be seen. There is definitely a feel of Italy and Spain there although there are great influences from Britain as well. During the weekdays, the mass of people walking through the streets with a purposeful intent reminds me of New York. The driving is truly interesting. Here, the rules of the road definitely appear to be more suggestion than law. Lanes are ignored and sometimes, traffic lights are ignored as well. Sirens and lights from police vehicles have no affect on other drivers as they will cut off police without any concern at all; and the police don’t seem too interested in stopping them!

Well, on to the volleyball. Today we lost a good battle with a fantastic Brazilian team. Their experience and consistency were too much for us to overcome. We had moments in which we played stellar ball and our defense was some of the best we have had all tournament. But Brazil just doesn’t make mistakes and we do a little too often. We did have a time in the match that was unbelievably stirring. In the third set, we had a slim lead going into the latter half of the match. After a very long and thrilling rally in which both teams had made multiple spectacular plays, our opposite, Matt Tarantino went down with a bad shoulder injury. He went to the floor clutching his arm and you could see he was in a lot of pain. Since we had already used the back-up right-side as a serving sub, we put in one of our setters into his position. Brazil took the momentum from that situation and quickly went on a run. We were out of sync and desperate for some offense as Brazil was just a few points from sweeping us in three games. Tarantino came to the staff and said, “I want to go back in!” I looked at our team doctor, and she said she thought it would be OK. With the crowd emotionally pulling for us and chanting “USA, USA!,” Tarantino then led an inspirational run with three monster swings that totally turned the game to our favor. The set point swing by Matt was an absolutely thunderous blast that sent us jumping for joy! Unfortunately, Matt could not play on but his contributions were tremendously courageous. THANKS ‘TINO!

We have one more match tomorrow and then we start getting ready to make the long flight home. For me, this has been a rewarding experience. We’ve made good friends, learned a lot about ourselves, and have become a stronger group of volleyball players. I predict that these players will have great athletic careers and a number will represent the USA at another level.

Thanks for reading.

PS: My thoughts and prayers go out to my family and friends in Virginia and the rest of the east coast as they endure Hurricane Irene.