USA – Canada

By Tjerk van Herwaarden | Mar 5, 2010 in Tjerk's Coach Blog

Tjerk (pronounced Cherick) is a native of the Netherlands, and is Technical Director at the University of Maryland. In his four years coaching in the USA he has won an unprecedented three National College Championships with the Univ. of Maryland in just four years there. - 3 time NCAA Champion (2008, 2006 & 2005) ::: 2 time ACC Champion (‘08 & ‘05) - Head Coach Maryland Women's High Performance ::: 2006 National Champions - Head Coach Mid Atlantic Men's High Performance ::: 2008 National Champions - USFHA Level 3+ Accreditation ::: USFHA Level 2 Coaching Course Assessor - USA National Men's Team Assistant Coach - Co-Owner/Director of World Camp USA

February is always a busy month for USA field Hockey! The international calendar allows teams to travel and some teams enjoy visiting sunny San Diego that time a year for a training period and playing some international games vs the USA national teams.

This year the women, in preparation for the World Cup Qualifier later this month hosted China and The Netherlands! The number 1 and 2 teams from the 2008 Olympic Games! The reason for me to go out to Chula Vista is to work with the men’s program in a 2 week training block and playing international games vs Canada that is getting ready for the World Cup in India, happening now….

For me it always a welcome change from Maryland into working with the men’s national team! The game is faster, players are more skillful and it requires more tactical coaching. In March 2009 we lost the final of the Pan American Cup to Canada due to a golden goal. This loss meant that Canada qualified for the World Cup and we did not! Now almost a year later we would see where we are! Canada that should be ready to compete vs the best teams in the world was in there final stages and made the final roster cuts while in San Diego. The USA men’s team has no international competition in 2010 and so in a very different stage in the preparation! Fitness and overall sharpness of play should be in favor of the Canadiens!

Knowing this we build a game plan for the 4 game series that would see where we are at the moment! Focusing on improving and start preparing for the Pan American Cup in 2011, yes we do plan that far ahead!

The games were very even! Eventually we lost each of the 4 games but with the National Coaching staff we were very pleased were we were! The difference is that Canada could accelerate the game and had players in the forward line that could penetrate the circle and score goals! This resulted in simple more goals for Canada then for the USA and that is still what decides the game! Another big part was the penalty corner! The 3rd game that we lost 3-1 tells us all! USA 4 corners, no goals, Canada 3 corners, 2 goals. I can refer to an earlier blog which tells about the key components for a successful team, a corner, a striker and a goalkeeper is all you need!

With a very clear view of what to do in the next 17 months until the Pan American Games we were overall satisfied with how we played, not with the result… after all that is all that counts! Guess we will see in time if our satisfaction was right!

Next week a blog live from the World Cup Men in New Delhi, India where I will be attending the FIH High Performance Coaching Course…… getting new ideas for the 2010 World Camp Technical program….

Tjerk Van Herwaarden
Technical Director, University of Maryland ::: UMD
Co-Owner, World Camp USA ::: World Camp USA
US Distributor of Princess T14 Hockey Sticks ::: Link