Behind Enemy Lines (twice), Sunday and Tuesday Practice

Shortly after I completed my previous blog post, I was invited by Sarah Johnsson to a get together at her and Lucas Grip's house in Hässleholm.  Despite being told that there would be nothing but Hurricanes in attendance, I accepted their gracious invitation.

I arrived in Hässleholm that evening to the very familiar central station I had come in and out of so many times last summer and continued on the ten minute walk to Lucas and Sarah's house.

Shortly after my arrival, a number of other people arrived.  As promised, they were all Hurricanes (or girlfriends thereof).  As expected, conversation often turned to football and the changing landscape of American football in Skåne due to the recent withdrawal of the Kristianstad C4 Lions from this season's competition.  Discussions of Hurricanes' inner workings and strategy took place only in Swedish, unfortunately, and nobody was kind enough to translate.  Discussion of Predators strategy did not take place at all.

I met three new Hurricanes: Tim Schröder (above Left), Niklas Kyhlström (above center), and Martin Rosen.  Martin was actually only new to me, as he injured himself very early last season and was not with the team at the same time that I was.  Also above Lucas and Sarah are fixing drinks while Mattias Lundquist talks with Niklas and Tim.

I also saw Marcus Lundquist (Mattias's brother) and his girlfriend Johanna again.  Linus Nilsson and his girlfriend were also in attendance.  Martin Andrä rounded out the group.

I was very happy that Johan Persson and his girlfriend Mariana Nilsson dropped by with their newborn daughter Cornelia, who is just a few weeks old (and looks just like Johan!).  I hope to be able to spend time with them again soon, perhaps after they have adjusted to life as proud parents!

After spending time getting reacquainted, the hosts urged us upstairs for some SingStar, which is like karaoke on Playstation 3.  Luckily for me, almost all of the songs were in English, so I was able to hold my own.

The only member of the group I haven't yet mentioned is Kitti Jonas, Mattias's girlfriend.  I was fortunate enough to be able to have a long and very enjoyable conversation with her.  Kitti is Hungarian and is in her third year of being a figure skating coach in Sweden.  She and I shared common observations about Swedish culture, common complaints about the Swedish language, and common fondness for Swedish people.  We also talked about living and working in a strange place and working with children (and their parents) as all coaches must do.

We capped off the night by going to Harry's, a bar/club in Hässleholm.  Lucas and Sarah were kind enough to let me crash at their place since the trains had long since running by the time we called it a night.  I highly recommend the hospitality of Sarah and Lucas's Bed and Breakfast!

Sunday night was our second outdoor practice at Kristianstad IP.  Again, I forgot to take pictures.  The first Sunday practice left me a bit disappointed due to some players being absent for a variety of reasons. This Sunday, however, things were MUCH better and I felt really good about the progress we made.  We were still a little light on lineman (two had spent all weekend at a Junior National Team camp so were not practicing), but we got excellent work done in 7 on 7 and even in the team period going half-line up front.  Again, we had great work by some players stepping in out of position for the good of the team and showing a lot of leadership and sacrifice.  We are definitely getting better every practice.

Upon recommendation by receivers Emil and Ben, my trip to Maxi on Monday included picking up some Vacuum Cleaners:

Or, translated back into Swedish, Dammsugare.  I can't really describe exactly what's going on inside of these little guys, but the ends are dipped in chocolate, and the middle is wrapped marzipan.  I couldn't place what filled the marzipan wrapping, but it was sort of like a dense cake.  In any case, they were ok, but not my favorite.  I definitely lean toward the pastry.

Monday night I returned to enemy territory to hang out with Lucas.  He picked me up at the train station in Hässleholm and we had dinner at Infinity Restaurang, the site of George and Laurie Contreras's fairwell dinner, and also were Lucas, Sarah, Johan, Mariana, and I had eaten before I left last summer.  Afterwards we watched The American in Lucas's home theater.  A fan of action movies, Lucas was somewhat disappointed in the lack thereof in the film.  We both agreed it was decent, although somewhat depressing with a disappointing ending.

My walk back from the Kristianstad train station included some oddly lit night shots of Kristianstad's architecture:

Including a building a building just across from the station (above) and a theatre down the street (below).

On Tuesday, Modou Colley (Predators Speed Coach and rookie WR) picked me up and we, with Marcus Johnsson (WR, our left) and Martin Sjöstedt (DB, our right), went to Cafe Felix in the centrum to talk football.  We were able to break things down a little more and I think after the meeting the guys had a better understanding and fewer questions.  Again, I love guys caring enough to put in the extra time!

That night we had a good (not great) turnout for speed training.  Modou (far right, below) does a good job of working with the guy's running technique and building their speed.  He also works them pretty hard, which is great for our conditioning.

We had a little bit of time after Modou finished his session, so we broke the guys up and did some teaching.  The guys continue to pick things up well and respond well to instruction.  Another practice where everyone in attendance got better!

First Outdoor Practice and the Path of the Wiking

Our first outdoor practice on Sunday was... underwhelming.  I had high hopes for attendance and productivity, given that it was our first chance as a team to be out on the turf and in full gear.  However, a few key absences and a injuries caused us to have to go half-line instead of full team.  I must admit, I was somewhat discouraged after that showing.  On the bright side, however, those who were in attendance gave great effort as we hustled from period to period and they definitely got better.

After a quiet Monday, on Tuesday I decided to take my new wheels for a spin!

Anders Larsson, Predators RB, was kind and generous enough to lend me this bicycle while I am in Kristianstad.  I decided to cruise down to Contact Sports to make use of the pump to top off the tires and check in with Tyson and the other guys about that night's practice.

As has been the case lately, things were pretty busy at the store.  Ben, Sorin (on the phone above), and Emil are busy taking and filling orders while Tyson runs the show.  In the above picture you might also notice some boxes and bins.  In this preseason period Tyson and the guys have been busy taking weekend trips to tournaments and teams out of the area to make sales, take orders, and deliver equipment.  Tyson and Emil were in Stockholm this past weekend visiting clubs there, so one of the orders of business today was restocking the store from what was taken up north.

Tuesday's workout (I say workout because it was a conditioning/speed training session, not a football practice) was disappointing, as well.  I can only suspect that because it was not a strictly football practice that guys were less excited about it or held it as less important.  As usual, the guys who were there put in some great work and increased their agility and overall conditioning.  Lukas Klang, a very good offensive linemen who has been generous with his time to act as OL coach while recovering from a knee injury, and I also spent some time with the OL going through some techniques and schemes.

On Thursday I took another ride to Contact Sports to print up a practice plan.  The ride there was uneventful, even as the wind started to pick up a little bit.

While in the shop, and talking to Tyson, things got a little more Nordic outside:

Just in time for my ride home, it started to snow and even stick!  I immediately regretted my choice to take the bike today, but pressed on in what was probably the least pleasant bike ride of my life.  It wasn't snowing hard, but it was pretty windy and that makes it feel that much colder.  It had only been snowing for less than two hours when I got home, but the landscape had already shown some change.

Before Thursday's practice, I was picked up by Anders and Ben.  I forgot to mention in my previous blog, but these two had invited me to join them at the gym.  Somehow, Anders was able to get me in free that first session, and it was nice to get back into weight lifting again, something I haven't done consistently since I stopped playing high school football.  Friday we returned to the gym and I joined for the 6 month duration of my stay.  Anders has promised to help me "walk the path of the Wiking" and grow to be as buff as he is before I leave Sweden.  Ben is a little bit more subdued about our weightlifting sessions, but puts in hard work nonetheless.

We trudged through the slush to the gym on Thursday before practice.  Ben is also helpful in deflecting the Wiking's ire when I miss a session...

After our workout, we headed straight to Liviushallen, the indoor facility we've been using on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Here Tyson and Lars Dahl (U17 DC and possible Senior LB) talk football while the Seniors warm up behind them.

Thursday's session was definitely our best work yet.  We had key absences again, with a number of players being called in to work, but our front seven got some good work in.  Chris Guillen (Tyson's son and U17 QB) helped us out and is seen here handing the ball to Anders in an inside run period.

I felt really good about the progress made by those in attendance Thursday night.  In my 2 weeks back in Sweden, it is again becoming frustrating, though, to see practices ill-attended in EuroBall.  It's hard to get across how critical practices are to improvement and success, especially in football where everything must be coordinated between players whether you play offense or defense.  Individuals can show great potential but will never meet it unless they put in the time.  It's incredible to think what we could do as a team or in Europe in general if football here was structured like high school football in the States.

After a late night enjoying as much as I could (thank you CBSsportsline.com!) of my favorite sports day of the year (the first day of the NCAA Tournament), I received an invitation Friday morning to meet Shawn Cordeiro for lunch.  Kristianstad appeared to still be mired in the wintery haze of the previous day as I walked to the Centrum to meet him for Chinese.  It is an interesting dynamic now, between Shawn and I, in that we are both heavily involved and invested in football in Sweden and, of course, in the teams with which we are affiliated.  However, since we are now competitors, when we talk about football we are both very careful not to talk about anything specifically relating to our respective teams.  I'm sure this dynamic is one experienced by many coaches who have worked together and remained friends despite moving on to new jobs, but this is probably my first such relationship.  Nevertheless, it is, of course, pleasant conversation.

After lunch I took the opportunity to stop in at Musikbörsen, a kind of Swedish Guitar Center, that is a few blocks from my apartment.  I have come to realize in the last couple of weeks that I am already starting to miss my guitar and, thus, am on the hunt for one to play while I'm here.  There was a decent entry level Cort guitar at Musikbörsen that felt pretty good, but I hope to look a little more in Höör on the recommendation of Jonas Grip.

After a trip to Maxi, I returned home to enjoy a delicious Swedish fika, featuring these heart shaped pastries that are basically pie crust filled with a layer of custard and dusted with powdered sugar.  More basketball followed that night, with the #2 seed Fighting Irish of Notre Dame defeating the #15 seed Akron Zips, who hung around the entire game and caused me undo stress.  After the first two days of the tournament, by bracket is functionally busted and my bracket selection ineptitude continues.  However, as long as the Irish survive I will be more than keenly interested and my goal of waking up regularly before 9am will be thwarted by late night basketball.

Settling into Kristianstad

So continues my terrible blogging track record.  Today marks my 11th day in Kristianstad, and this is my  first full blown blog post.

As I wrote previously, I jumped right into things with the Predators by going to an evening workout the day of my arrival.  It was well attended and I worked pretty closely with the QBs, Receivers, and DBs.  I was encouraged by the skill and athleticism at these positions.  My early impression is that this will be a strong point for our team this season.

Before the workout, Karsten Strömberg, one of the Predator's board members, had picked me up from the train station and introduced me to my new home in Kristianstad.

Located just south of the center of town, my apartment is on the first floor of this building.  The Kristianstad IP, our home field for outdoor practices and games, is about 100 yards south of my building.  As I entered the apartment, I was immediately greeted by my first piece of Predators swag:

I had seen on their website that the club had made these letterman style jackets available to players.  My gift was complete with embroidered "HC" on the sleeve and "R. Bolland" on the chest.  The tour of my new digs included the living room/bedroom:

Kitchen:

And bathroom:

The apartment was generously stocked by the club with food for the next couple of days, dishes, cooking utensils, towels, sheets, appliances, and a floor squeegee!

Friday was a day of settling and adjusting, mostly, although that process would continue over the next several days.  I had lunch with Tyson Guillen (board member and coach in charge of the Predators junior teams; he'll be the HC of the U17 team this season), Emil Blomgren (senior team WR), and Hampus Linde (senior team QB).  Hampus joined us after classes, and Emil works at Tyson's store.   Tyson runs a sporting goods store in Kristainstad called Contact Sports.  As the name suggests, he specializes in equipment used in American football, Lacrosse, and Hockey.

Saturday morning I took my first unaccompanied stroll through Kristianstad on my way to team meetings by the U13 and U15 teams at the Predators clubhouse.  The clubhouse is a basement unit in the same building as Tyson's shop.  The building is about a 20 minute walk from my apartment, roughly equidistant from the Centrum as my apartment, but on the north side of town.  It's also basically a straight shot, so a fairly easy walk.  Along the way I was able to spot some very important landmarks, including the American Embassy (conveniently located at the bus station):

And a Catholic chapel:

George Contreras (whom I coached with last summer in Sweden) had told me that Catholicism was a minority religion in Scandinavia when he pointed out the humble meeting place of the Catholic church in Hässleholm.  This chapel appeared to be a pretty decent size, but clearly lacked the styling that we are used to in American Catholic churches.

I arrived at the tail end of the U13 meeting and met the men who will be leading that group, Bengt Dahlberg (U13 OC) and Magnus Krutas (who will also play for me as a DB on the senior team).  A short time after the U13s left the clubhouse for the practice portion of their meeting, the U15 group filtered in, including Bertil Andersson (U15 HC and senior DL), Martin Sjöstedt (U15 OC and senior DB), and the aforementioned Emil Blomgren.

The U15 group was somewhat sparse, due to a referee training occurring concurrently with this meeting.   Nonetheless, Bertil and his team had a good discussion before heading out for practice.

Saturday evening I was picked up by Karsten and his wife to see some playoff hockey!  The local hockey club, Kristianstad IK, which plays in the second highest division in Sweden, would be facing Karlskrona HK in the second game of a best of three series.  Karlskrona won the first match at Karlskrona, so Kristianstad Wild Kings would need to win tonight to keep their hopes of advancing past the second round alive.

Kristianstad in green, Karlskrona in red.  The first game of the playoff series at Karlskrona was a marathon event, taking 7 periods for Karlskrona to break the 0-0 tie and win in sudden death overtime only 2 nights before.  The team's familiarity with and increasing contempt for each other was apparent as the game became quite chippy in a hurry.  Multiple roughing penalties were assessed, but neither team was able to capitalize on the 4 on 4 or power play opportunities and the third period began with both teams still scoreless.

Karlskrona finally broke through to gain the lead on a rebound after a quick counter attack midway through the 3rd period.  Unfortunately, despite a number of quality chances, Kristianstad was unable to answer and fell 1-0, ending their season.

Despite the hard fought match and, at times, borderline dirty play, both sides showed good sportsmanship at the end shaking hands as a team and then, in some cases, individual players congratulating each other on the ice.  Both teams also thanked their fans with team specific rituals, which are always cool to see.

The following Tuesday marked my first official team meeting.  The seniors met me at the clubhouse where I presented some team expectations, philosophy, and the offensive playbook.  I through a lot of information at them at once, but I hope that following this initial introduction, they'll feel comfortable to ask questions as well as see the big picture as they learn their specific assignments on the field in practice.

After the meeting we had our Tuesday night workout, which went pretty well.  I spent more time with the offensive and defensive lines, and am encouraged by the number of guys who are willing to put their individual aspirations aside for the good of the team.  I can't thank those guys enough.  It is truly a pleasure to work with players that put team success first.

Wednesday started bright and early with another 3:30am wake up.  Jet lag is really fighting me this time around.  I don't remember having so many problems with it last summer, but my sleep schedule continues to be out of whack.  The good news is that allowed me to start my laundry a little bit sooner.  My apartment has the same system as was in effect at Icelandia (George's apartment in Hässleholm), where residents reserve time slots.  My building has two separate facilities, but shorter time slots.  I had plenty of time to do two loads.

That evening, Hampus came over to the apartment to put in some extra time going over some film and discussing reads and assignments.  He is enthusiastic about the start of the season and shows a passion for the sport to go along with his competitiveness.  Hampus had a rare opportunity to play high school football in Georgia while an exchange student there last year.  While the rest of the guys seem to have a good passion for the game, I think this experience has helped Hampus to see how seriously we Americans take the sport and how much time we put into it.  He'll be playing quarterback, so I am thankful that he is willing to put in the extra time to master the offense and really get his techniques and reads down.

Thursday we had another good workout.  I was finally able to be a little more free and kind of float at practice.  One thing I have been struggling with is getting a feel for the team as a whole.  Without a lot of practice time and without having had team periods in practice yet it is difficult for me to visualize the offense as a unit, or the defense for that matter.  Also, due to the size of the club (3 junior teams and a senior team) I have struggled somewhat with keeping everybody straight.  The U17s have been doing position work with the senior guys, so I have to mentally separate who is mine and who isn't.  Thursday night helped with that process, though, and I continue to become more and more familiar with my personnel.

This first full week really served as me getting reacquainted with living in Sweden, as well.  I took a few trips to the Maxi grocery store, which is a short walk from my apartment, and waded through the Swedish labels to get what I needed.  I also was re-introduced to "The Bob" by Sorin Pandrea (senior DB and Contact Sports employee), Ben Hörnqvist (senior WR, U17 coach, Contact Sports employee), and Tyson.  The Bob, as they call it, is Kebab.  Described by a friend of mine as the equivalent of Mexican food in the US, Kebab is the fast food of choice here in Sweden.  I also made my own Swedish fare:

Meatballs, mashed potatoes, gravy, and lingonberry sauce.  Pretty easy to make, and delicious.  I also had some kladdkaka, or "mess cake", which is a chocolate cake that has the consistency of a slightly undercooked brownie.

I was also re-introduced to Swedish friends, including Shawn Cordeiro (who is actually an American friend living in Sweden).  Shawn and his family was kind enough to host me for two weeks while I was here last summer.  He works in Kristianstad and we met for lunch this week to catch up and talk about the state of football in Skåne.  Over the winter he was also named the President of the Hässleholm Hurricanes AFC!  It was nice to get re-acquainted.

Finally, yesterday, Lucas Grip and Sarah Johnsson came to Kristianstad to visit!   Lucas and Sarah, like so many of the Hurricanes, were very kind and friendly during my time in Hässleholm last summer.  Lucas is the youngest of the Grip brothers and plays guard and linebacker for the Hurricanes and Sarah has taken the roll as treasurer.  Besides their rolls in the club they both have been great friends and had me over a number of times.  We sat at my apartment for a while to catch up before heading out to a konditori called Dufvanders for fika!  We all had a Semla, a traditional Swedish pastry reserved for Fat Tuesday.

Its a sweet bread (not unlike King Cake) that has a small layer of almond paste inside and is filled with cream and topped with powdered sugar.  We also spent some time walking around the city center looking at a few of the shops.  I knew that Kristianstad was larger than Hässleholm, but I didn't realize the commercial area was so much larger.

All in all, a pretty good week and a half.  This evening we'll have our first outdoor practice at Kristianstad IP.  I'm looking forward to get everything together in a team period to get a better feel for things.  I'll have to brave the freezing cold (it's been in the 30s all week and will be again tonight), but I anticipate some nostalgia being back on the field under the lights.  I'm getting pumped already!

Checking In From Kristianstad

Well, here I am.  It's pretty late and I'm pretty tired, but I'll just say that I made it to Kristianstad, Sweden, where I'll be living for the next 6 months or so.  I'll post some pictures of my apartment soon, but for now I'll just say that it is really cold.  Also, I met most of the team today as I attended the first of many workouts in preparation for the season.  I feel good about the guys we have and am excited about getting rolling with installation in the coming weeks.