POKAL

I think I've sufficiently shaken off the cobwebs of Sunday night's celebration to sit down and write something coherent about the Pokal final. Maybe. By the way, thanks to Fortuna and everyone out there for a great party, it was nice to be able to celebrate together and share the fun. I don't envy anyone who had to work the next day...

I haven't spent very much time analyzing what happened in the finals, I haven't really had the time. One thing that is immediately apparent to me though, is that there was a lot more pressure on us to win than I recognized beforehand. After Middelfart came into Marienlyst on the 9th and beat us so badly, everyone kind of accepted that we weren't the favorites any more. That the two teams were evenly matched. We might have even believed it ourselves - I, for one, was happy to accept not being the favorite. The point though, is that when we got into the match, all of the talking was behind us and somewhere in my brain I felt that we needed to win. Maybe, it was because I felt that we needed to re-establish ourselves and, most importantly, shake off the latent feelings from our recent loss to them. In a nutshell, another loss to Middelfart in such a short time, especially on the bigger stage of the pokal final could have meant huge problems for us for the rest of the season.

The match was a grind. Neither team ever had enough of a lead to feel comfortable at any point. So, we just kept grinding out the sideouts and taking whatever points we could. I haven't seen the match on tv yet (hopefully I'll get the chance at some point) so I don't know exactly how it looked from the outside but my feeling is that it was an okay match to watch. I don't think the level was extremely high, but I also don't think it was without charm. If nothing else, there was excitement throughout and some interesting things to look at.

A reporter asked me afterward what the difference was in the match and I had a hard time coming up with something definitive. At the time, I answered serving and passing (real original, Jordan). Middelfart (judging from their website) seems to think that their players weren't quite prepared to step up on the bigger stage and that we benefited from our collective experience in bigger games. More than anything, I think we were more pro-active, I think we did more than they did and I think the match shows that. We applied the pressure and we were therefore always a step ahead. And honestly, we played a little bit better at every spot. Look through the rosters, position against position, our guys were just that much better. I give them full credit though - we're going to have some battles coming up.

Honestly, I was really surprised to be named Pokal Fighter. And I wouldn't be afraid to write that I deserved it if I really thought I did, but truly it was a surprise. Not that I specifically think someone else should have gotten it, but really, anyone on our team could have received the honor. Shaun and Geo were both exceptional and everyone else contributed in huge ways. Matthias was stable as always, anchoring the passing and defense. Our middles both got big kills at important times and were active blocking, Middelfart was clearly not as effective as last time we played them. And Søe was the definition of what I think of when I hear "Pokal Fighter", in many ways he's our heart on the court. So, I'm extremely proud of the award and I'll have to clear out a big space somewhere around the house to be able to fit the trophy in...

It was great to see all the fans there. I missed it last year, but I don't remember seeing such a big crowd at a Pokal final before. It was nice to see both sides of the gym semi-full with people. I can only imagine what it would be like to play in there with a sold out crowd, it must be insane.

Now, we have to get ready for Aalborg and the rest of the season. And we might actually have an almost full roster - crazy.