Sunday, April 28, 2013

Thoughts on a Train

Well, I made it back to the train station after the game. Now it will be the long trek home. The Swedish Jr. National team defeated Holland in a qualification game (34-12) and will now continue the quest toward making the 4 team tournament for the Jr European Championships which will be held in Germany sometime in August this year.
The win today means we will be playing against Denmark later this summer. Win that game and we are in.
The game was exciting and I was really happy with the teams play. I have to give a shout out to the OL. They did a good job of executing their assignments and played hard. We had zero sacks, which is always good, and almost went penalty free up front. So my initial feeling is that the OL rose to the occasion. The next step will be to grade the film and see what the "big eye in the sky" says.
As I have made this trip I have been thinking about how these games & the camps leading up to the games are put together. There is an enormous commitment by a lot of different people. The players all have to find their way to the camps and games. Every event costs money, plus the cost of travel to and from the game. It is always encouraging to see how the players always seem to get there and they arrive excited and ready to work.
The support staff is incredible. They get the equipment organized, water ready , after dinner snacks organized, air mattresses checked out, hotel keys organized along with dealing with a host of other things that come up during the weekend of the camp or game.
This weekends game was a big deal and the Helsingborg Jaguars did a tremendous job getting everybody to and from bus stations to the hotel, back and forth to practices & to the field on game day.
I heard the attendance was around 650 which was a very nice crowd. I am not sure how many people watched the game streamed, but I heard it was over 1000.
When I sit back and watch all this happen, the words "For the Love of the Game" seem to be echoing through my head.
So thanks to all the players, coaches, support staff & volunteers that made the camps leading up to today & of corse the game itself a great experience!
Now, time to prepare for Denmark.
Good luck to all the teams here in Sweden who will soon kick-off the 2013 season! Play hard!







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