Mercado at the World University Games: Blog No. 1: Pre-Tournament Perspective
7/1/2019 8:21:00 AM | Men's Water Polo, Women's Water Polo
Brown University men's and women's water polo head coach Felix Mercado is serving as an assistant coach with USA Women's Water Polo for the 2019 World University Games in Naples, Italy. Competition at the tournament is slated for July 2-13, and during his time in Italy Mercado will provide blog updates.
Selection as Coach: Back in March, I was honored by United States Water Polo to be an assistant coach with the USA women's team for the 2019 Summer World University Games in Naples, Italy from July 2-13. The World University Games consist of 10 compulsory sports with 13 compulsory disciplines and up to three optional sports chosen by the host country. The World University Games, or Universiade, is widely recognized as the second-largest multisport games in the world after the Olympics and progressively has risen to world class in scale and standard, with over 10,000 participants from over 150 countries.
Arrival: I am not a world traveler so as much as this was an honor it was also something that was going to force me to get out of my comfort zone. Before the trip I had only been to London twice, last year being the first time ever leaving the Americas for me. Travel to Italy was easy, flights were on time and I landed in a welcoming, but very hot, Naples. The games staff that met me at the airport greeted me with big smiles, and I immediately felt safe!
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Team and Staff: Once the team and coaches met up at the hotel it immediately felt like an even better experience. Working with great coaches, James Graham of the University of the Pacific and Molly Cahill, former UCLA standout and assistant coach, and some incredible young women from various schools, I knew that this is going to be an opportunity to become a better coach.
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Start of Training: On the first day of training we set up some friendly scrimmages with Japan and France. This was a great experience for the team and the coaching staff as we had only a week of prep work leading up to arriving. Some interesting things also happened we had a very energetic bus driver that made the trip to and from the pool entertaining to say the least. Another interesting fact is that almost all the buses here are stick shift! Even with this surprising observation, the rides have been smooth.
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A Look Ahead: Today, July 1, we have set up scrimmages with Canada and some power play work with our mates from down under, Australia. We are hoping for a great final day of training before we open up with Russia at 5:30 p.m. local time (11: 30 a.m. ET). I will post again before the cross over. Let's go team USA!
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Team USA Women's Water Polo Group Stage Schedule
July 2 | 5:30 p.m. | Vs. Russia | Game 3
July 4 | 5:30 p.m. | Vs. Italy | Game 8
July 7 | 5:30 p.m. | Vs. China | Game 15
July 8 | 5:30 p.m. | Vs. Australia | Game 19
(All Times Local Time)
Selection as Coach: Back in March, I was honored by United States Water Polo to be an assistant coach with the USA women's team for the 2019 Summer World University Games in Naples, Italy from July 2-13. The World University Games consist of 10 compulsory sports with 13 compulsory disciplines and up to three optional sports chosen by the host country. The World University Games, or Universiade, is widely recognized as the second-largest multisport games in the world after the Olympics and progressively has risen to world class in scale and standard, with over 10,000 participants from over 150 countries.
Arrival: I am not a world traveler so as much as this was an honor it was also something that was going to force me to get out of my comfort zone. Before the trip I had only been to London twice, last year being the first time ever leaving the Americas for me. Travel to Italy was easy, flights were on time and I landed in a welcoming, but very hot, Naples. The games staff that met me at the airport greeted me with big smiles, and I immediately felt safe!
Â
Team and Staff: Once the team and coaches met up at the hotel it immediately felt like an even better experience. Working with great coaches, James Graham of the University of the Pacific and Molly Cahill, former UCLA standout and assistant coach, and some incredible young women from various schools, I knew that this is going to be an opportunity to become a better coach.
Â
Start of Training: On the first day of training we set up some friendly scrimmages with Japan and France. This was a great experience for the team and the coaching staff as we had only a week of prep work leading up to arriving. Some interesting things also happened we had a very energetic bus driver that made the trip to and from the pool entertaining to say the least. Another interesting fact is that almost all the buses here are stick shift! Even with this surprising observation, the rides have been smooth.
Â
A Look Ahead: Today, July 1, we have set up scrimmages with Canada and some power play work with our mates from down under, Australia. We are hoping for a great final day of training before we open up with Russia at 5:30 p.m. local time (11: 30 a.m. ET). I will post again before the cross over. Let's go team USA!
Â
Team USA Women's Water Polo Group Stage Schedule
July 2 | 5:30 p.m. | Vs. Russia | Game 3
July 4 | 5:30 p.m. | Vs. Italy | Game 8
July 7 | 5:30 p.m. | Vs. China | Game 15
July 8 | 5:30 p.m. | Vs. Australia | Game 19
(All Times Local Time)
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