The picture is of the Grenadian Ministry building. This is equivalent to our White House in Washington. It is located in St. George's province. It is a nice building and houses all Ministries (Sports, Education, Agriculture, etc.) and also the Prime Minister and his cabinet.
Today is Friday and that means our last day of the coaching clinic. I am both sad and elated. Sad...because I have become good friends with several coaches and have learned respect and admiration for all. Elated...because this has been a very difficult week.
At first when Nanan told me the schedule (basically 8:30am-8:30pm) I was not affected because we all have those type of work weeks on occasion. The difference here was that it was nearly 100% outside in the heat. And it is a different kind of heat...it's the kind where you must cover your head with a hat, bandana, towel, something, to protect your head. Everyone brings two or three shirts and changes throughout the day (something I learned quickly and have adapted to). It has also been challenging because I have not had much time to prepare for the next day's 'lesson.' Like anything though, we find we can rise to any challenge and survive, if we keep focused on what we want to accomplish and not the obstacles in our way.
Thursday in the clinic we covered scorekeeping and rules. We scrimmaged with two teams and had one team score. Friday (today) we will ask some to ref and score while others play. We will go over serve receive formations, continue with switching and team defensive systems, cover offensive systems, and review (answer questions). I also plan to ask the group about what is needed and how we should develop a 'club' volleyball system. This seems to be the #1 priority for making volleyball survive.
A television crew came to our clinic and interviewed Nanan and myself and filmed the coaches playing. This marks the 5th television interview since my arrival. We are getting good press.
I had fish and rice for lunch, and then fish soup for dinner. Grenadians cook with the bones. Which means when you eat fish, you can expect bones in nearly every bite. I've learned to chew cautiously and simply pull the bones, fins, scales, eyeballs (jk) from my mouth and place on a napkin beside me.
In the evening, we had women's national team practice. We made 20 consecutive touches in the 3 person switching drill. Our hitting is much improved, and I see improvement in our setting. We covered team defense and ran transition drills (although we have not yet had time to cover transition hitting footwork). We then ran a live scrimmage with switching (specialization). Before, everyone played six different positions. If you were LF, you played outside hitter, MF, you played MH, etc. We are now trying to specialize. It is confusing because we are throwing so much at the athletes in such a short time. However, they are grasping the concepts well and I am very pleased with our progress. I am very confident this team will be much improved and will compete well in their upcoming Caribbean Island challenge.
Today we only have clinic until 3pm and nothing in the evening. Nanan will likely want to Lime...whew!!! No beach this week, no swimming, no relaxing...I'm ready to relax!!! Tomorrow (saturday) we have Junior National team training from 9am-12pm...and then a break! "Thank you Father!"
Three weeks have nearly past...and quickly. I feel we are making good progress.
Respect and Love.
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