Re: RPI 2011-12 Part III: Our Goal is to be Offensive
One may agree with your concern
confidence is not a switch you can turn off and on
and disagree with your inferences insofar as they may or may not apply to the current team.
some of the better players have been injured and not been able to compete against the ranked teams.
umm....they weren't injured when the schedule was drawn up, were they? You did not really mean to imply that we should avoid a tough OOC schedule as a way to mitigate the potential consequences of an unusual number of injuries? You are merely frustrated that the year hasn't gone as you'd like and are struggling to find a way to articulate that?
Last year was different ...[in part because]...the team had experience.
ahem....and how did that team develop experience?
A tough schedule for experience
Aha! Might that have been the case for last year's team, in its experiences from the two years preceding last year? Perhaps SA has a long-term development plan that goes beyond scheduling cupcakes for OOC play (yes, I know there is a middle ground, which you more likely are trying to suggest).
why play such a tough schedule against ranked teams with this team? It seems the offense is young and will take some time.
let's assume this team did NOT suffer the injuries, and started 2-6-1 instead, say. My hunch is that you'd feel quite a bit differently about this season than you do now!
For one thing, it is not unusual for skilled recruits to be a little surprised at the subtle changes in the fundamentals of the game when you move up a level. At your prior level, maybe 1/2 of the players on the other teams were really skilled, say (make up your own fraction if you want); which means you could "dominate" the other 1/2 (even if 2/3 were skilled you still "dominate" the other 1/3). Now at this level every single player on the other team is as skilled or even more skilled than the best of the best players you ever faced before. A step quicker, 10 pounds heavier, stronger, savvier (when I played volleyball for money I'd win a lot against people with better skills than me because they did not understand the game nearly as well as I did. I could often tell where they were going to hit the ball before they even jumped, and so I was standing there waiting for it to arrive, then they'd complain "you were so lucky" while I would smile to myself and not reveal my trade secrets to such a brash punk....sorry, I digress...). Facing improved competition like we have is a great way to give you yardsticks to strive for and tangible concrete goals (now I ALSO have to get a step faster, 10 pounds heavier, stronger, savvier, better co-ordinated with MY teammates, etc. etc.).
Had this happened with an injury-free version of this year's team, I'd be fine with it. As SA said, there are a lot of strengths that are hard to appreciate, things will come around. IF nothing else maybe we can pick up a few points in 0-0 ties!!
My bigger concern is the one expressed by Dr. D more than once, which is separate from the current discussion.
