Spoonley Speaks

At the Tee Dub awards night the Fever cornered Jake Spoonley and beat him over the head with a free Heineken until he agreed to write us a blog. Here is Part One of Spoons' regular update.

Hi Yellow Fever,

Right now we're in the first part of the U23s Beijing build up: long slow painful preparation.

The domestic camps officially started on May 9, however a lot of the boys were already in Wellington or moved down earlier into the Ole Football Academy (nice warm Ole!).

For those who don't know Stu Jacobs is the coach, his assistant is Jon Gould and Andy 'T-Dubs Till We Die' Smith is the team's much loved trainer/food Nazi/energizer bunny. At the moment the squad is at 24 and will be cut to 18 for the tournament.

There are going to be three domestic camps running for 3 weeks with a week off in between (a lot of the boys actually stay at Ole for the week off), as of this point we are leaving NZ in early July with prep games likely to be in Australia and Asia against local teams and many of the teams that will be at the tournament.

Our week plan for the first camp doesn't vary much from this:

Monday: Gym at Exodus in the morning, field session in the afternoon with Stu.
Tuesday: Sprint training with Jamie Tout, more running and then either defensive shape or pattern of play work.
Wednesday: Gym work at Exodus, running with Smitty.
Thursday: Short sharp session with Smitty and then into football with Stu, get to make a guest appearance at club training (usually this is only a token visit as at this point in the week it hurts to walk).
Friday: Exodus again, pool session.
Saturday: Play for clubs.
Sunday: Yoga and pool recovery.

As you can see there is a distinct pattern there: lots of gym work and lots of conditioning. We have done and will keep doing fitness testing with the yo-yo, RHIET fatigue (don't know what it stands for) and 12 min run being the tortures of choice. All the boys have been working extremely hard and there has been absolutely no complaining (only that Ole is too warm!).

The atmosphere within the team is a very defiant one. We know what is ahead of us and what is expected to happen, but in no way do we accept that it is a formality. There is a strong core of players within the squad who know what happens at these tournaments, even though none of us has been to the Olympics before, and have experience in handling the occasion and focussing on the football. Couple that with seasoned professionals from either the Premier League or A-League and I feel very confident heading into the tournament.

Last Thursday we played the Phoenix out at Porirua Park. (Thanks to all those who made the pilgrimage out there.) It was a nice crisp night, conducive to playing football.

With both teams being in a pre-season mode this was what Stu described as a 'treat' for the players. Emphasis was placed upon the way we played and not the result.

We had a number of U20 players to fill gaps and the Phoenix had a couple of local players to do the same. The game was played at a good tempo with both teams trying to play expansive football, looking to shift the ball quickly and wide. Even though the game finished 0-0, I enjoyed it. It was far from a bore draw. Posts were hit, tackles were made and players introduced themselves to each other, specifically Pevs and Gao.

It even had two free kicks to note. Firstly Hoggy's which surprised us all and hit the post and then Daniel's later on in the second half. I don't remember much about Daniel's apart from the fact that it hit the post and I ended up on the ground. I have no recollection of diving at all. There is still an inquiry going on as to whether the ball made it over the wall or if it went through.

We start it all over again on Monday, this time it will be harder with some days involving 3 sessions and with programmes becoming more specific.

Until next time!

Jacob Spoonley out.

oarsome - cheers for that Spoonman - great write up

a great read, a priveleged insightinto the campaign - thanks

btw - it went through the wall

great write up.

Try and keep us up to date with how Brockie goes with the ladiez

Firstly, great result by the boys on Friday night.

After spending a few days with leading consultant Paddy from Leading Teams we targeted the second Chile match as the start to our campaign and oppurtunity to make a statement. We knew what we wanted to achieve, what Paddy helped us with is how we go about achieving it. We now have very specific proceedures and structures within our team so that we can be as efficient and calculated as possible.

The environment within the team has changed a bit as a result of Paddy's sessions. We have moved from just getting on with each other really well to helping each other, being proactive both as individuals and as a team.

The Game.

Before the game I was a bit tentative. The environment in the changing room was quieter than normal. As it turned out this wasn't the team not getting up for the game, it was individuals being tuned into what lay ahead of them and being calculated in their approach to over coming the challenges in front of them and going about the problem solving process.

We started off brightly with a couple of half chances. One of those falling to Dan. I felt Dan was unfortunate, he did everything right (apart from score, which he did later on anyway). As the ball came across goal the keeper came out to shut it down. As he came towards Dan he slipped and as he slipped he compensated for the fall by making himself big. In the end I think the ball hit him instead of him making a save.

However there was nothing lucky about Liam's save just after, good positioning to make a great scrambling save.

The goal was a result of a great ball in from Pevs, and if Dan hadn't scored I remember at least two shirts behind him waiting for the ball.

After we scored I thought we continued to play football instead of panicing and reverting to backs to the wall to defend our lead.

In the second half we counter attcked well. A couple of mazey runs were made by Brocks and Drapes. Unfortunatley we didn't finish them off like the Dutch, but as Stu said in another interveiw the more we play together the more we will gel and know where each other is going to be and not wait for them to get there.

In funnier things did anyone notice that our national anthem had about three endings? The boys on the field said they finished about 30 seconds early, on the bench we finished at least 15 seconds after them. Therefore the crowd must have finished somewhere in between. Thanks for those who turned up and belted out the anthem with us. My toes know how cold you all were.

Continuing the introductions, this week I'm going to get all nostalgic on you. This week's first player is a guy I have played against since I was about 5 or 6, getting to know him properly a couple of years after I originally played him. He is the most chilled out angry guy I know, think the offspring of Bob Marley and Roy Keane.

Ladies and Gents...

Shaun Stephen Van Rooyen (just found out his middle name).

In short the SVR.

Vitals: 27/04/1987 Completes the Tri-Nations (He is a dirty SAFA by liniage who grew up in Aus), should've played for Bays, does a great Bob Marley sing-a-long

Shaun is from the Hibiscus Coast, specifically Stanmore Bay. He played for the Hibiscus Coast during his junior years. Along with Biscuit Beard he has frustrated many a Bays 9th Grade team with the damned 1-1 draw, might have even snuck a 1-0 somewhere. He then migrated south, going to high school at Westlake Boys (everybody now...Boo). This time the roles were reversed as I was the one who got to frustrate the more fancied local opponent when Westlake (Boo) played Rangi. Shaun and I played in basically every North Harbour/United Soccer 1 rep team together. Together we have won the National Youth League, Napier U19 (for Bays, both were won without conceeding a single goal), played for Otago, beaten Aussie twice and qualfied for an Olympics. SVR can run all day, he actually beat Hendo in a yo-yo, quite a feat for those who aren't aware. He is composed on the ball, but can scrap it out with the best. He also has the ability to pull something special out, usually from distance and with either foot. I know for a fact he is looking forward to kicking lumps out of Aussie and then China, Brazil and Belgium, but mainly Aus.

SVR - "No comment"

Keeping to a theme my next guest is also from the North. This time though Dan Ellensohn lives a bit closer to me. Dan and I both live in Torbay, a suburb of the North Shore.

Dan Lothar Ellensohn.

Vitals: 09/08/1985, having Bday in Beijing, might be Austrian, has secret basements, the teams DJ/party boy/NASCAR driver, one part of the Back Flip Sundaes trilogy

Dan is about two years older than me, he was 5th form when I was 3rd form etc. We went to the same intermediate and college, Northcross and Rangitoto. He also used to play for Bays when he was younger before moving off to other clubs. I first remember watching Dan play in a school game. I was the 3rd form 'team mascot' for Nick Hyde's 1st XI. This was the same team that won Rangi the national title. Dan was only 5th form at the time, bascially he was playing in his older brother's (Dave) team. Everyone else, apart from Mikey Bell, was at least a year older than him. Despite this Dan wasn't over awed, if anything he forced himself up to the level and beyond. Stepping up became a theme for Dan. Under a year later he was playing in the Chatham Cup final for East Auckland (Uni Mt in disguise), and was part of the team that ended Tinks's cup dream. He then forced his way into Waitakere United's starting line up in the first NZFC final, not only playing well but scoring to give them the lead. More recently Dan moved back to New Zealand after playing for MacCarthur Rams in NSW, helping them get promotion to the Premier League. Having moved back he played for Team Welly, after the first couple of games he had forced himself into the All Whites, which just recently he maintained. In the last month Dan had to leave us to venture back to Austria for trials, with some clubs asking him back after the Olympics.

Despite being born in South Africa Dan has said that his proudest moment was when he got his NZ passport and was able to play for New Zealand, in particular helping the Oly-Whites to Beijing.

Dan has a fantastic work rate up front and his determination is second to none. Group that with a clinical left foot and good aerial presence (Chile will testify to that) and I'm sure Dan will end up back in Europe for good, having got the Oly-Whites through our group.

DE - "The commitment of the players throughout is paying off and the players are buying into what we as a group want to do"

3 Days till we leave

Peace.

Spoons