Monday May 17, 2010

The picture to my left is of the Grand Anse beach, again from my favorite spot. I am creature of habit and typically go to the same spot every trip to the beach. The beaches are incredible in Grenada and considered some of the best in the world. The water is cool and clear and you can see the bottom 20' down.

Monday was the start of my 4th week here. It is going by quickly...except I miss my kids dearly. Today, the ministry lightened our load a bit. They gave us the morning off and we only had national team practice in the evening. We will have the same schedule on Tuesday with our crazy hectic schedule resuming on Wednesday through Saturday. These lighter days are right on time.

Monday night, we had Men's National Team practice. We focused on serve receive reps and transition hitting. We are concentrating on footwork and teaching the middles how to transition quickly and run 1s. The men are very quick learners and very willing. We have tremendous outside hitters and potentially very good middles. We began teaching a play calling system and are using an audible system in transition and our free ball offense. We will have the setters tell each hitter what they are running in serve receive. This seems to be the best way to use the many talents we have and become dynamic and explosive. Setting is getting better and I'm confident we will get this before I leave. We ended the practice with a 6 vs 6 transition drill and it was very impressive!!!

On another note, I have some very big news....yesterday I received an email from a gentleman that has agreed to donate a significant amount to Grenada Volleyball! This is tremendous and I am very excited for Nanan, the athletes, and volleyball in Grenada. We will now be able to run an annual first-class secondary school volleyball tournament and outfit the national teams in a manner fitting their commitment, talent, and portray the image we want. This is tremendous!

The purpose of my visit is complex. While here, I continually re-evaluate my goals and what the Olympic committee desires. I consider these to be the goals of my visit:

• Train with the National teams (men and women) and have them ready to compete and win at the OECS games this summer; Mission being accomplished! I am very happy with our progress and see tremendous improvement.
  
• Work with the Secondary School teams to create excitement for the sport and increase interest; We continue to travel around the Island visiting all secondary schools and working with those students that show interest. We have also visited soccer, netball, and basketball games looking for athletes and asking them to join us. This is a tough challenge but we are working at it.
• Work in conjunction with Nanan and the Ministry of Sports to Fund Raise for the secondary school and the national teams; Mission being accomplished!!! This is vital for the continued growth of volleyball. We have received a pledge of support and now must quickly secure equipment for both national teams and begin organizing the procurement of equipment for the secondary schools. Time is of the essence for the national teams as their tournament starts soon.
• Develop a strategic plan outlining an administrative structure and organizational plan for volleyball at the secondary school level, the club level, and the national team levels; I continue to gather information and assess the volleyball structure in Grenada. There are a lot of good things happening and Nanan has done a tremendous job so far. We must continue his efforts to ensure volleyball's emergence as a primary sport in Grenada. More work is needed by me in this area.
  
• Promote the sport at every opportunity and increase exposure; I have been on television 5 times and the radio once so far. While I walk around Grenada, strangers say "Good Day Coach" to me and that feels good. I feel we are meeting this goal but must continue our efforts. I am very pleased at the growing number of people that stop by the Carenage and are now watching the national teams practice.

Now that the second half of my trip has begun, I feel a sense of urgency to start accomplishing our goals. Securing the donation has been a tremendous accomplishment and I thank Mr. Fischer, Grace Lutheran Church, Pastor Soukup, and Mr. Sylvester for their assistance. Their generosity and support will touch many lives.

Culture Section

On a separate note, I find my diet has changed considerably while here. Grenadians eat a big breakfast and lunch, and only a light snack for dinner. I typically ate no breakfast (coffee and possibly toast), a light lunch, and a big dinner. I find I am eating on the same schedule as Grenadians, not because I want to, but because that is what my schedule allows. In the evenings, I find I am not hungry. Possibly because of the heat, possibly because I am typically tired and do not want to cook. In any event, I feel healthy. While here, I have lost 13 pounds. Possibly because of the lighter diet, more fruits and vegetables, not much meat, a lot of walking, and daily swims in the sea. I wonder how long it will take to gain it back when I return to the states????? I hope I am able to maintain some of this new lifestyle.

That is all for now.

Respect and Love.