The+Swedish+Summary

__**WEEK 11**__

Tjenare, Another lovely yet brisk morning for the Swedes, our last coaching session before the big grand finale next week. The cold and sleepiness that we are all feeling quickly disappears as Lachy's session begins, as always full of energy and much loved team spirit. Lachy begins his session by going over the skills we had worked on, in previous sessions and began some discussion on the gradual improvement of the team after every session up to now. We began Lachy's training session with a couple of quick warm ups followed by intense training including, defensive and attacking essentially for offensive plays. Instead of keeping the offensive an defensive side even Lach created bigger sides (e.g.: 4v3). Through adapting and changing the amounts of players on each side it can alter the focus and style of game play that is needed for the situation. Lachy organised the offence to work on fast movements and passing when it was 4 v 3 to simulate fast breaks. Also when the numbers were reduced on offence, the defense forced the attacking players to hold onto the ball and wait for open passes. This helped out a lot once playing the game as we knew when to huddle together and also when to separate and create space.

After being the duty team for the opening two games of last round we were able to finish the round with a win and a draw. The Swedes are streaking towards the finals now with two consecutive weeks without posting a loss. Well done guys we may not be on the top of the ladder but let's show these guys how we roll on grand final day..

Tay.



__**WEEK 10!**__

Haj Ladies and gentlemen,

Hailing from Stockholm the talented and friendly Swedes have figured out the nuances of Australian styled Handball. The team has found higher and higher gears as the season has continued along. The camaraderie amongst the group has been outstanding. On the boat over we were able to establish strong bonds and these have only grown as the competition has continued. Inevitably, it was only a matter of time before the wins started coming our way. Taking advantage of strong turnouts from all of our members we were able to finish round 10 with a __dominant__ three victories and one hard fought draw. Zero losses this round. The Swedes are coming.

No longer is our defense crumbling under the frenetic pace of the Australian teams. Our defense is solid. Rock like. Borderline impenetrable. From our suffocating defense we are able to launch into vicious forward thrusts. This is dramatically increased our offense prowess. With the talents of Bjorn Morrison and Cristina Moyle the Swedes have been able to cause headaches for the opposition, with accurate and powerful shots on goal. Stina Bailey and Jann Neale have been patrolling the midfield. Watch out it is always shark week when they exercise their quickness and length through the middle of the field. This has resulted in the 'deer in the headlights' for some of our opposition. Dazed and dazzled by the Swedish midfield they have turned the ball over resulting in numerous turnovers. The business end, the goalkeeper, our last line of defense has been extremely impressive, with Tuva Taylor and Lars Hubbard not only stopping crucial goals, but springboarding our potent offense.

The weather for round 10, played into the Swedes favour. All the years of cold weather, days without the sun coming up, iceberg swimming and eating salted herring has conditioned us well for the depths of a Victorian winter. Be wary competitors, as the Swedes have found the formula and will continue to exploit the other teams in the coming weeks. We may still remain underdogs, however, we have shown enough recently to cause a major shake-up come the end of the season.

So long from Sweden. Lars. x



__Week 8__ Yet again we’ve battled it out under the blistering sun however, this week the Swedes have come out on top with a win against team 6! We’ve sorted ourselves out and improved out of sight, achieving some very close loses and draws, and of course our very first win!

Tay’s training session focused on our much-needed improvement of our defensive skills. We practiced ways in which to defend the ball whilst on the move, whilst stationary and also whilst playing goalie. Throughout many activities within her training session Tay incorporated some fitness training, encouraging sprints, dodges, jumps, hops, bobs and crab crawls, which got the heart pumping and the sweat dripping.

When playing goalie we highlighted the benefit of crouching lower and using all our body, and the importance of the goalie communicating with the rest of the team (eg. on where they need help, where stray players may dangerously be lurking and the overall positioning of the team around the goal circle). More importantly we practiced ways of defending the opposing team whilst travelling down the field, which showed in our sky rocketed increase of interceptions throughout the week 8 games. Additionally we worked on the positioning of our players to prevent player exhaustion and enhance the overall effect of all our hard work. Improvement will continue to occur, especially within our goal scoring, as our excessive attempts did not provide us justice.

At the end of the day everything is starting to fall into place for the Swedes and we are officially on the rise! Watch out!

Steph



__**WEEK 6**__

The sun was shining brightly and the yellow and blue colours for the Sweeds were out in force once again. This week our coach was the mighty Steph. Her coaching was insightful, showing great knowledge of the rules, tactics and game play for handball. Teamwork, communication and encouragement was a central point of her lesson. Where she displayed this by having teams of 2 on 2 -passing down the court past the defenders and then intend to score a goal. We also worked on our game plan and tried to improve on our weaknesses including our defence around the goal ring keeping our hands up and keeping the pressure on the opposing team, passing making short direct passes to each other instead of tossing it all the way down the court hoping a team member will catch it, taking time to look to where you will pass to and also remembering to take 3 steps with the ball to cover more ground, shooting remembering to bring it all the way up to the ring, maybe pass it around to teammates and then shoot, aim at the lower part of the net as it will make the keeper move more opening up space for a goal, use a dummy shot to try and trick the goal keeper into moving in the opposite direction of where you will shoot the ball etc.

Steph and her Swedes applied these tactics throughout game situations which greatly improved our flow and ball movement. It was like we were a well oiled machine. We could sense a victory was coming sooner rather than later. However it wasn’t meant to be this week instead we drew, but don’t worry we will be back with a vengeance next week and our fighting spirit.

Claire



**__ Week 5 __** ==== Here we are after another exciting week of competition, the sun was out in full force yet again which brought out many sweaty t-shirts and red faces. The mighty Swedes were displaying the nation’s colours proudly with the customary yellow and blue. ==== ==== The day started with the Swedes taking control of the duty team responsibility and facilitating the first two games. Participation within all games was fantastic with some great competition (sometimes a little too serious) had all round. The whistles were sounding loud after the Swedes studied up on the rules in prep for our umpiring stint. The competitors were extremely respectful to us as umpires obeying every ruling made. After each match it was great to see handshakes and high fives given from all competitors to the umpires thanking them for a good fair umpiring job. ==== ==== After our stint as duty team it was then time for the mighty Swedes to take stage and compete in some gruelling and fierce competition. We started slow in the first match being 3-0 down at halftime, but were able to fight back to finish 4-2 with a number of closely missed shots. The second match was one for the records, close from the start to the finish. The first half sore numerous shots missed at both ends and some hard play. None harder than Brent putting his body on the line for the team jumping on a loose ball and winning a foul call (visar oss den svenska andan). The game was a close fight with the Swedes letting a goal slip and losing the match. ==== ==== We are yet to put a win up on the board but don’t you worry it will be coming soon, the Swedes game plan is all about surprise, lose a few first up and then have a great run home. Expect to see us put a few wins on the board in the next few weeks, and just wait for the victory dance we have in store. ====

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Well well well, After week 4, competition has commenced and what a morning it was at Monash University's Hockey Pitch.

There was a thick smell of competition in the air today, as was there a thick grey fog that blanketed the suburb of Frankston which dampened no teams spirit, however did dampen many sweaty t-shirts as humity levels were through the roof.

Starting with The Swedes first scheduled training session, there was a focus on team unity, as team bonding excercises were exceptional at bringing team mates closer together. Names were learnt and gameplay tactics formed, all in all a Great session Lachlan ' den lättrörliga björn ' (The lightfooted bear) Hubbard.

Four games were grueled out over the mornings play. We started slowly, pulling up at a 1 - 1 draw, but from the first game on the goals came more freely. With the James aka, ' jätten' (the tall Yetti) utilising his height advantage to create goal scoring oppotunities for Steph aka 'snabbt musen' , linking well with other team mates. Thanks to Kim and Trent for filling in for two of our games as we were short on numbers after round 1.

Although we are yet to put a win on the board, we will be sporting a new look next week and will have a new hunger for victory. Next weeks training session will be coached by Claire aka 'den vildsinta puma' (the frocious mountain lion). Lets make sure we are out there on time for the pre-match meeting - 9am in the library for the discussion on the reading. Then it will be our time to shine on the handball court.

That's all for now, Ha en trevlig vecka. Vi ska träffas igen nästa tisdag!! Brent