Middle Hitter Blog

It has been a while since I created a post from scratch. The last three posts were actually articles I wrote while attending the World League matches here in Chicago. That is a story in itself, if I ever get around to it. Most players have either finished their high school and club team summer camps by now. There are a few weeks left before schools starts so players get to take some time off. The smart ones will find some friends and some sand to play some beach. Nothing like sand to improve your ball handling and your leg strength. Some areas have summer high school leagues where team members can get together to play other schools. This is usually a very casual league with teams sometimes having problems getting enough players (6) to play due to work, summer school and vacations. In Illinois, the high school coach cannot be in attendance at these matches so it is usually self-coached. A few players are playing on the Junior, Youth and High Performance camps and associated tournaments.

I am capturing this article in my blog since I will eventually be moving the article off of the home page. In the post-match press conference after Team USA’s 3-0 World League victory over Italy, there were several discussions by both coaches on the future of their teams. I thought I would share some of their thoughts and comments. Coach Gianpaolo Montali, the head coach of the Italian National Team took some time to discuss his philosophy for the 2007 World League competition. Coach Montali became the head coach in 2003 and his many accomplishments include the silver medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics. The Italian team currently has four experienced players who are recovering from injuries and did not travel with the team to the US. Players such as Luigi Mastrangelo (MH), Matej Cernic, and Alessandro Fei (MH) are expected to return to the team this fall. Although they may have missed some practice with the team, the Italians will be ready for 2008 Olympic qualification tournaments