Honoring our SENIORS!!

Sisters!

Win or Lose, we are SISTERS!!

Let's Go!

White Caps

Getting ready to do their thing!!

Birthday girl!

Mental Toughness

The Bruins of UCLA a few years ago.... they were underdogs in this game vs. USC, having lost to them earlier in the season.  The NEVER GIVE UP attitude is part of their success.  

Life Lessons

Savor the Small Stuff

All too often, we forget to slow down and find joy in what’s going on around us. So we pass by beautiful views and sounds without noticing, we inhale food without tasting, we’re dismissive of compliments and friendly gestures without acknowledging. Practice savoring on a daily basis, so it becomes second nature.

Research shows that people who appreciate and savor what they have -- their possessions, traits, relationships or accomplishments – feel more grateful and hopeful, which boosts self-confidence.

When “mindfulness” becomes a habit, the neural pathways in our brains linked to positive feelings become stronger and more active, increasing the chances we will continue to feel happier in the future.

Shooting (and other) inspiration

Stanford women sometimes take a train to their local games.  This video talks about why they do that, but it also shows a lot of goal highlights.  I thought you'd like to see some of the many ways to score.  Sometimes watching people shoot can give you motivation! 

Need some inspiration??

Inspiration!! (click it)

Driving Defense: How To

Here's some hints on how to defend the driver without getting BURNED!

Basic defense reminders

This video will help you remember some basic defensive principles.  It's a simplification, but it is a good reminder.  Click on this:
Basic Defense

UH GAMES!! GO BOWS!

This Friday and Saturday, and next week Friday and Saturday, the University of Hawaii will be hosting top collegiate teams at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex on the lovely campus of the University of Hawaii.  Top ranked USC, Indiana and Long Beach State will be here this week and UCLA and UC Irvine will be here next week.  It's free and fun!! Go support my former team!

http://hawaiiathletics.com/index.aspx?tab=waterpolo&path=wwp


GO BOWS! GO BOWS! GO BOWS! GO BOWS! GO BOWS! GO BOWS! GO BOWS!

Little Sister at Prom

Spring Break!

Game tomorrow at 5pm.  I'll see you at the pool at 4pm!  

Spring Break practice time with Intermediates= Wednesday, Thursday, Friday: 2:45-4:00 pm.  You are encouraged to train on your own and stay in shape.  Taking 10 days off will be VERY bad for you and for our team.  Swimming anyone?  Make sure you do it!  

Sunny Saturday Practice!

Nice job girls!

Need inspiration?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6beRsqFyR_E

Play at Center

Remember when we were working on this?  Here are two Olympians demonstrating the move(s) that make you a strong center.  

Demonstration of how to work the ball in hand and/or draw a foul.  This is 4 time Olympian, Brenda Villa showing you how to work the ball and use the contact from the defense to protect the ball and make a pass.

Good form for shooting

Want to see above and underwater video of how to maintain body position during shooting??

On Mental Toughness....

“Competitive sports are played mainly on a five-and-a-half inch court, the space between your ears.”- Bobby Jones

vs. 'Iolani

Saturday Practice

For those of you who did not make it to the pool this morning, here's what they did:

I want to thank Gabi for spearheading this effort and for the 12 of you who showed up to work on your skills!  I'm glad to see that you're motivated because we CAN and WILL continue to improve with HARD WORK, POSITIVE ATTITUDE, MENTAL TOUGHNESS, LEADERSHIP, and if we have TEAM PLAYERS!!

TEAM PICTURE

SMILE!  It's time for our team picture.  4pm Thursday in your TEAM SUIT.

POSITIVE ATTITUDE!!

The 5 characteristics that coaches value most in their athletes are, WHAT?
(List them in the comments....)
You ALL have the potential to display these qualities!

Practice Good Habits

"Excellence is not a singular act but a habit. You are what you do repeatedly." -Shaquille O'Neal

I think this is especially important when our time is limited.  Make an effort to practice how you'd like to play in games.  If every shot, every pass, is made with focus and effort during practice, you're more likely to be able to execute in games!

Somethings are worth missing a game for...

Looking good!

Doing our job on the bench!!

Sure, we may have lost a couple games yesterday, but we sure can have fun doing it!  I hope those loses make you motivated to work hard and do whatever you need to do to help us continue to improve during each practice opportunity and as we progress through the weeks.  We LIKE and WANT to win, so it's important that we do the little things in practice in order to continue to improve.  Tomorrow is our Monday meeting.  3 minutes for each sister group.  We will be doing "legs" behind the goal AFTER practice while the sister groups get pulled out for their meeting.  Plan on being released at 5:45pm.

Game at Kamehameha vs. LeJardin on Wednesday (we will need drivers)

Game at Iolani vs. Iolani on Friday (we will need drivers)

Who will be a good leader for game warm-up?

Doug Abram, a contributing writer with the "Ask Coach Wolff" publication says:

'Aristotle said that people “learn by doing,” and not simply by listening to instruction about what to do. Parents and coaches want sports to teach children leadership skills, yet we adults sometimes forget that youth leaguers (like the rest of us) learn how to be leaders best when they actually lead."

Since I believe this to be true, we will continue to allow you to find ways to take responsibility for your success as individuals and a team.  With five games in the next three days, we have lots of time to practice our leadership skills.  One opportunity is warm-ups. Remember, YOU will be conducting your team warm-up.  How are you going to decide who leads?  Should EVERYONE have a leadership roll?  Should you take turns each game?  YOU decide.  

Sisters!!

Team Sports and Leadership

Highly competitive team sports are a good way to develop leaders.  And, good leaders are an important component of a teams success.  This article gives a little insight into the concept of Team Sports and Leadership

Get Up Big!

During our Monday meetings, some of you talked about working on becoming powerful shooters. Take a look at Kiley, she's a POWERFUL SHOOTER.  Strong legs, ball high, opposite hip and shoulder pointing toward where she wants the ball to go.  AND, look at the determination in her face!  I'll bet she put it away! What do you think?

T-Shirt $

Time to pay up!  If you haven't already paid for your t-shirt ($17) or shirts, then please bring either cash or a check made out to cash ASAP.  

                    Big Sis               Little Sis

                    Gabi                   Lexi

                    Alex                   Leia

                    Kiana                 Maddie M.

                    Erin                    Bailey

                    Kayla                 Hana

                    Maria                 Kai

                    Lauren               Tai

                    Fifi                    Katie

                   Ashlee                Maddie B.
                   Alyssa                Malama

                   Triplets= Ellis, Lizzy, Haley

This week's schedule

Reminder: The 'Iolani Tournament is this week.  All of our games happen to be played at Punahou but the tournament is mostly being held at 'Iolani. You need to get out of school at 2:30pm on Thursday for our 3:30pm game vs. Pac-5 II. (Paperwork was distributed today.) Then at 7:30pm we will play Kalani.  On Friday, we have a game at either 6 or 7pm. (Depending on how we do on Thursday.) These are all non-league contests, even if we are playing teams from the ILH. Saturday we have two games.  This is also the day of Junior Function so we will have players out on that day.  This tourney is a good opportunity to get extra games and see if we can execute our objective of showing improvement each quarter!

Monday Meetings

Today we will start our Monday Meetings.  This will be an opportunity for you and your sister to meeting with one or both of the coaches once a week for 3 minutes.  We will stick to a strict time limit of 3 minutes and you'll be scheduled either during warm-up from 4-4:15 pm or during clean up from 5:30-5:45pm.  This time will be used to discuss your progress, goals, things to work on, struggles, etc. A schedule will be posted so be ready to sit and have a 3 minute POWER MEETING!

Big Sis/Little Sis

With the focus on Leadership this season, I thought it would be good if instead of Locker Buddies we started a "Big Sis/Little Sis" program.  This would be an opportunity to have a one-on-one relationship with another member of our team.  Mentoring, advising, supporting, encouraging and getting silly with your Big or Little Sis would be the goal.  You can still be 'locker buddies' but you'll know who your buddy is, and find various ways to help your Sis grow as an athlete, student and in LIFE.

Monday is the day you will learn who your Sister will be for 2014!

TedTalks

TedTalks
Positive Coaching Alliance!!

Team Defense

Our team defense starts with fronting the "setter" and playing the lanes while pressing the ball.  If we do this well, we increase the likelihood that our opponent will run out of time on their offense and/or take a weak shot.  This defense also puts us in a favorable position to transition hard/fast, thereby controlling the ball and time of possession.  There are some negatives or disadvantages to this defense but we will work a lot on this and expect other teams to try to do this against us.

Focus on the Season= Leadership

"We define leadership as the ability to make those around you better and more productive. This is accessible to everyone- not just the most charismatic or the best player. This definition is about how you carry yourself. It's a requirement on our team that every player possess some leadership, and try to make those around him better and more productive."

-Jack Clark, UC Berkeley Men's Rugby Coach

National Champions: 1985, 1986, 1988, 1991-2002, 2004-2008, 2010, 2011

Parent Meeting on Friday

Reminder: Parent Meeting after our game on Friday (about 6pm)

On Sportsmanship

"Sportsmanship for me is when a guy walks off the court and you really can't tell whether he won or lost, when he carries himself with pride either way."

-Jim Courier

Being a good teammate

Please come to the pool on time and ready to participate by 3:45pm every day.  Encourage your teammates during practice and find ways to be a leader.