Well, woke to an absolutely gorgeous morning here in my Gwatt, Switzerland mountaintop (OK “Steep Hill” according to the locals) abode. Sun was shining – not a cloud in the sky. The temperatures were going to be awesome without a doubt.
First game of the season for our U-19 Junior team – road trip to the city of 
Basel to play the Gladiators.
I wandered partway down the hill where my pal Arne Denecke – the Head Coach of the Tigers picked me up on the way to the bus. We took the quick ride to the Bahnhof in downtown Thun.
There, we met the team and climbed on board for the two-hour ride past Bern and over to Basel on the boarder of France and Germany.
There was no doubt that there was a noticeable nervousness mixed with 
excitement for the first game of the season. Openers are interesting because the is always a lot of thinking being done – especially by the least experienced players. It’s like that everywhere and at any level of sport you can think of.
Each player and coach is reflecting on the off season and preseason work performed. Did we do enough? Did we do too much? Did we prepare for the right offense or defense for this game? Players are wondering how they will measure for to their individual battles. How they will stack up against an unknown opponent.
Well, we hopped on that bus through the magnificent scenery of Switzerland trying to imagine just what would happen after that 11:00 kickoff. Just how would we handle the competition against a tough opponent.
Like everyone who takes sport – once you get to the arena and start warming up … the jitters can be put in to a box as you loosen up tight muscles that were locked up during a bus trip. You start to concentrate on your own individual assignments and positional requirements. You get into the flow of the final preparations.
Then, suddenly there is the coin toss and next thing you know we are lining up to receive the first kickoff of the first game of the year. Here we go! We manage to drive the ball right down the field for twelve plays. Get stopped on downs and have to give it up.
Basel drives it right down on our defense but we make a big play and next thing we know we have it back and again work out way down the field. Bingo
we get into the end zone and we suddenly find ourselves ahead 6-0 after a failed extra point.
Unfortunately, the rest of the day didn’t go our way as we ended up falling to the Gladiators in the end. Dropping a 35-20 game which was much closer that a 15-point divide. There were plenty of opportunities for us to take advantage of the home team … but every time we got to make that critical we just fell short.
A very frustrating day where – big mistakes hurt us throughout the game – whether it was special teams, defense or offense.
Obviously let’s give the victors the credit they deserve. They made the plays when we couldn’t. Sometimes that is the way a game plays out. I will say this though it wasn’t for a lack of effort by the Tigers. They got after it the whole game. I think it will be interesting to see how it plays out the next time we meet.
Personally, I love working with these guys. They just want to improve – to find a way to become better players mentally and physically. I am looking forward to see their improvement as we work our way through the season. Each practice there is more progress being made.
As for the coaches – you couldn’t find a finer bunch of men who are sacrificing their time and effort to give the young men on this team a great experience. Their priorities are in the right place and I am so grateful to be accepted into the group and hope I can add just a little bit to make this organization continue its upward trajectory!