Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Jessie MacDonald reaches the podium on Day 1 of Women's action

Hi all,
Some of you may have been following our teams progress through the day back home on the Tournament weblink. What can I say... it was a decent start to the Worlds. Both Jessie and Carol reached the medal rounds. Yet, to be honest I had to go for a bit of a walk tonight to help regroup and refocus following the days action. Bottom line is I am always proud of our team when they compete. Putting yourself on the line at the worlds is not an easy feet, yet I know both athletes have the ability to beat anyone in that tournament today. Jessie MacDonald won her bronze medal match versus Japan! Carol Huynh just missed the podium, but she did qualify 48kg weight class for London (which 34 athletes at her weight failed to do).
Canada was one of three countries with athletes in both medal matches on the women's side (Azerbijian and Japan also did). I was hoping Carol could/would join Jessie on the podium this evening but as it turned out the match was just a bit too tight against the Chinese athete. (Two clinches were needed and unfortunately China got the offensive position both times). That was enough to make the difference today. In fact against Japan and China Carol found herself in three clinches and the ball draw ended up favoring her opponent everytime. But then there is no way to practice how to win a ball draw, which is why we need to create action in our matches and take that random chance out of the equation. The winners here today, did a great job of taking committed attacks and created dangerous counter attacks on defense. It is hard to be critical to these girls, that have poured their hearts into this sport, I know they want to be great.
If this was a baseball game I would say they led off our line up with some nice hits (reaching the medal rounds)... I hope the rest of our girls can keep this rally going and all seven can be in medal matches. I also hope that we can put a few outta the ballpark!!!
After my walk tonight I got back to my room and started watching video of tomorrows opponents (as did some of our other coaches. I swear this tournament take a year off of my life everytime I attend!) Last night I was up until 2 am...
We are ready and keen for tomorrow!!!
Okay at 55kg Tonya starts off the day with Gurova of Russia. I believe this is a good match up for Tonya. Gurova is a fairly solid youngster, yet lacks the tactical experience to deal with someone like Tonya (in my opinon). Next match will likely be versus Mongolia (another relative newcomer for Verbeek). With 41 athletes in the weight Tonya ened up on the side with 16 athletes. There are some solid wrestlers on her side (Rou, Lat, Ukr, and Aze are all tough). I believe Tonya is the athlete to beat here on her side on the bracket...
At 59kg, Amanda Gerhart is excited to compete at her first Senior world Championships. She has the Brazilian athlete to start off the day. Amanda will look to get her offense going early as she usually does. I am excited to see what she can make happen tomorrow. Her second match tomorrow would be against Vasilenko of the Ukraine. Vasilenko is a fairly physical girl who really relys on a solid front head lock to score most of her points. Amanda will need to make the adjustments to deal with her clamping style. There are 21 girls at 59kg.
At 63 Justine Bouchard is likely in for the longest day of wrestling (with 45 athletes in the weight). Justine drew into the bottom part of the bracket. It should be exciting facing home country Turkish athlete in her first match. The turkish fans have been great (and loud) for the past couple days. It will take no less than 6 victories for Justine to win the weight tomorrow. Yet with her physical fitness and style of wrestling I am not confident that Justine is tough enough to step up to the challenge at hand. She has many tough athetes on her side of the bracket and will need to take things one match at a time.
It is now 1:15 in the morning here. I am excited about the day ahead tomorrow. I hope I can get a few more hours of sleep tonight than I did last night. I want to thank all of those sending there support from Canada. I really believe our team is so worth supporting!!!
Hope everyone is pumped for tomorrow!
Congradulations to our girls again today!
Go Canada!!!
Coach Vierling

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