Todays game was played well. We played vs. Iran, a team made out of warriors due to it’s culture, that doesn’t have the best water polo but will play hard the whole game no matter what. We started losing 3-0. This time, Tony didn’t get mad and controlled himself; he even motivated us to do better. This is why we started to play better. We got a 6 on 5, we had 20 seconds to score if not we would be even again. I got the ball, two hands up plus the goalie, this had to be goal; I decided to make the shot. In less than half a second I noticed that I had to do a sideways shot that had to bounce, if I made that probably the goalie wouldn’t stop it. I decided to do he shot, if I missed, I was sure Tony would take me out of the game and start shouting, but sports is all about risk… GOAL! If you want to score, you need to take initiative, take lead, be the best.
Next quarter we started to build up trust. We played hard, followed Tony’s instruction (press). Irans two meter offense player wasent skillful but he was a warrior, he was strong and played hard. We tied the game and then scored, we were beating Iran by one. Third quarter ended 6-6, few goals scored by both teams. As I mentioned this match is very equal.
In my opinion, I played well. I made the 6-6 tie goal with a shot from outside the 5m line, following Tony’s instructions. He told us that the wind was in our favor, meaning that our shots should go faster and that the bounce shot should be even harder to stop. The team started to get a little tired, even though we trained 6 hours per day, this sport is exhausting. Everyone was tired but we knew that we were necessary for this game and that we had to give it all, we couldn’t show our weaknesses.
In the fourth quarter we scored a goal, we were back to the lead by one. We knew this game was important for us, we needed this victory. With just 48 seconds for the game to end, we lose the ball in the offense by a bad pass someone made and then one of my teammates gets expelled. 6 on 5 in favor of Iran and the score. 5 seconds left, I take the shot from half court but miss, we tied the game.
The team could not believe what had happened. Tony and Fernando exploding of anger, they didn’t know what to do. I got out of the pool and tell the team: “head up, lets go to swim, we played well”. I was so pissed off that I had forgotten something essential until someone told me that we had to go handshake with the opponent. We finished and went to swim 50x25m.
Being defeated and losing a game hurts but ties like this one hurt even more, the difference is that you learn 10 times more as well. The team finally played with their heart, player that hadn’t been playing at their max finally did, our goalie stopped more than 10 shots. We still have to get better, we need to be perfect.
Next quarter we started to build up trust. We played hard, followed Tony’s instruction (press). Irans two meter offense player wasent skillful but he was a warrior, he was strong and played hard. We tied the game and then scored, we were beating Iran by one. Third quarter ended 6-6, few goals scored by both teams. As I mentioned this match is very equal.
In my opinion, I played well. I made the 6-6 tie goal with a shot from outside the 5m line, following Tony’s instructions. He told us that the wind was in our favor, meaning that our shots should go faster and that the bounce shot should be even harder to stop. The team started to get a little tired, even though we trained 6 hours per day, this sport is exhausting. Everyone was tired but we knew that we were necessary for this game and that we had to give it all, we couldn’t show our weaknesses.
In the fourth quarter we scored a goal, we were back to the lead by one. We knew this game was important for us, we needed this victory. With just 48 seconds for the game to end, we lose the ball in the offense by a bad pass someone made and then one of my teammates gets expelled. 6 on 5 in favor of Iran and the score. 5 seconds left, I take the shot from half court but miss, we tied the game.
The team could not believe what had happened. Tony and Fernando exploding of anger, they didn’t know what to do. I got out of the pool and tell the team: “head up, lets go to swim, we played well”. I was so pissed off that I had forgotten something essential until someone told me that we had to go handshake with the opponent. We finished and went to swim 50x25m.
Being defeated and losing a game hurts but ties like this one hurt even more, the difference is that you learn 10 times more as well. The team finally played with their heart, player that hadn’t been playing at their max finally did, our goalie stopped more than 10 shots. We still have to get better, we need to be perfect.