Life and Water Polo...

From Evan Birth

From Evan Birth

From Evan Birth

What a day for the Gaily Family and also Carmel High Water Polo (if you'd like to read the story of my day yesterday and the birth of my son Evan, go to www.thegailyfam.blogspot.com for pictures and story)! I first would like to thank all my coaches for their support. Pete, Ed, Graham and Rodger have now all been with me when we had Evan on Thursday, Ella at the beginning of the polo season 2years ago. They've also been with me and Adrienne during a tough miscarriage at the beginning of the polo season 4 years ago as well. See I don't have it planned out so well. Coach Graham has it down perfect, both his kids born before the season starts never during. Not the Gaily's, right smack dab in the middle is where our kids always fall, ha ha. I couldn't be able to devote the time to these boys without the "standout" assistant coaches we are blessed with. We are so fortunate as a program to have such fine men coaching these boys. It was special moment for me to be able to come coach that game on Thursday. The reception I received from the boys and the applause and well wishes from all the parents was emotional for me to say the least. Like I titled this post, "Life and Water Polo" is really true for me and my family. I had a few parents, moms mainly say "Coach, shouldn't you be at the hospital?" My response was, "I have the coolest wife in the world that basically told me to come to the game." She is an amazing woman. I was ready to miss that game, Pete and Graham would have done a fantastic job coaching the boys, I was not worried one bit.

Ok, about the games on Thursday. It was an exciting atmosphere to say the least! A good turnout from parents, alumni, friends, students, etc. We lost a close 6-5, bur rallied to have a chance to tie at the end. I was extremely pleased with how we played. We played a great "brand" of water polo and truly should have won that game. It was just one of those nights where the ball didn't find the back of the net. We had so many scoring opportunities, which is exciting for us because we've been working so hard on creating more chances to score. The boys are moving, communicating and in fine physical shape now. With a little bit more time, the product should be ripe. I am not displeased with that loss whatsoever. In fact I am very excited with the fact that we never quit. Going down by 2 goals on three different occasions and coming back to tie on each of those occasions except the last. If it weren't for a few "lucky" goals by RLS (especially the last one) and we made just a few of our "open" shots, we win that game by a few goals.

Standouts in that game were first and foremost Nate Cohen. Nate came up big again like he did in the Palma game with "clutch" goals and an attitude that sparked our comeback. Way to go Nate! He's improving quickly. Dane, Cole and Zach Weston continue to be our core both on offense and defense. Those three set 2 meters and guard 2 meters, and create much of our activity on offense and defense. Jakub Kristl blocked 2 penalty shots! Fred Hertlein had an excellent game both on defense and offense. His play may not show up in the statistics, but his growth in the last few weeks as a player is beginning to really show and make an impact in the games we play. Jay Lewis continues to show promise as an offensive threat and came up big with a goal to put us within "one" of tying at the end. Russel Aldinger played excellent defense and has become a reliable piece of the puzzle. Although, I wish I could play each player equal minutes, it doesn't always work out that way in big games like this. I was so proud of the attitudes displayed by the guys that did not play. We as coaches know those boys desperately want to play, but even more impressive is the support they showed for their teammates in the pool. They will get "their turn". Every single boy on the varsity works their butt off and we are extremely proud of that. It's about "team". We will hopefully get another chance at RLS later this season in Championships, but until then we will continue to improve and enjoy this season as being the "underdog".

I wish I could have seen the JV game. I heard the performance was dominant. Winning 7-1 I believe. Not a bad result considering we lost to RLS a month ago in a tournament. Like I mentioned in some previous posts, the talent, focus, dedication and determination we see at the freshman and sophomore levels is truly impressive. The competition to make the varsity team in a few years will be intense. It will likely come down to who makes the most dramatic changes to their game in the offseason by swimming and playing Legacy (www.legacypolo.com). Both A and B teams will be traveling to Bellarmine again for a tournament next Saturday. More game experience!! Good job boys, keep it up. I know Ed, Justin and Ben are very excited and proud of you, as am I and the varsity coaching staff!

Thanks again for all the support. It was special and a day my family and I will never forget!

Sincerely,

Coach Gaily

P.S. Again, if you'd like to see more pics and a synopsis of the crazy fast labor and delivery of Evan, log onto www.thegailyfam.blogspot.com