AKITA starts with a win against Nam Wan (嵐灣) 23 - 13 (10 - 2)

For its first match of the second phase, the AKITA team was facing Nam Wan in a midday match. Sun cream was definitely needed as the sun was at its peak and the heat was turned on.

Nam Wan had strong performances as well as less rigorous ones in the group matches to take third, so Akita was not sure of what type of opposition they would face. The main concern before the match though was the heat. With a match starting at 11:15 and absolutely no shade anywhere, the intention was to put the match away as fast as possible to avoid a difficult ending.

After a nice clean goal by Guillaume on the right wing on the 2nd minute, both team played very much defensive, observing each other and the second goal only came on the 7th minute by David. The number 12, best scorer of Nam Wan, immediately answered and the match really started then. With AKITA scoring 1 goal every 2 minutes and defending with commitment, the score went to 5 - 1 before a penalty was given to Nam Wan to score their 2nd. From there on, the Nam Wan team could not find any gap and 3 goals of Hans with David and PA between them made the score 9 - 2. The AKITA team was playing at its own (slow) pace, making sure no fast break was given and creating the doubt in the opponents mind.

For the restart of the match, the team made few changes but more prejudiciably, moved down a notch in intensity. The pace of the match accelerated despite the heat and it was not necessarily to the advantage of the oldest team on the pitch... Nam Wan got the first 2 goals of the half, giving them something to build and cheer on. Lars was the first to answer followed in the same minute by a Hans fast break. Then Norbert traded goal with the Nam Wan team each of his three consecutive goals being answered back. One more goal from Ulf and the score was only 16 - 9. It was the moment for the AKITA team to take a time out to try to refocus and revisit its game plan. It did not become perfect, but still proved an positive as the end of the match was a little bit more controlled.

Hans immediately put 1 goal more and this was followed by the play of the match. Lars starting from the right wing, ran with the ball to cross with the half left and then without stopping received a laser pass in position of left wing in the middle of two defenders, at the 6 meters, preceding David on the way and slotting the ball through the keeper without even seeing the goal. That left the whole bench screaming and clapping and the Nam Wan team bewildered and still wondering how the ball went through the whole defense first and the keeper second.

PA, Ulf and David kept on adding some goals and Norbert concluded this 23 - 13 victory. This was not the strongest outing of AKITA as the team clearly suffered from the heat as well as a lack of consistency, but the strong defensive performance of the first half made the match more manageable. The difficulty to mantain constant focus in this heat was nevertheless creating concerns to the coaches.

Quiet before the Storm

It has been a long time since our last post to talk about the team, mostly because it has been a long time since our last official match! We should have started the second phase against the Happy Dragons (3rd in group B) last Week End but with the poor weather, the full sessions of matches was called off. We will now have to find another date for that match. Instead, our first match will be this Friday (May 1)around noon against Nam Wan. They finished third of the group C. The schedule is supposed to go crescendo as we are supposed to play 3rds of groups B and Cs, then seconds, then firsts. If things go well the last 2 matches could be real crackers that would be decisive for the promotion and the title. Before we get there, there is a big week coming as we have 3 matchs within 7 days. We will need to get back quickly into the rythm to face this crucial week. The AKITA training was pretty disturbed over the last few weeks as we lost the benefit of the Mei Foo court, this combined with people travelling means that we only trained a couple of time with the HK national team in the last few weeks. We hope to get some new slot for the training as soon as possible but if anyone has a suggestion of where to train during a week day evening, we are interested. Also, the current freeze on training makes integration of new players more difficult but we are recruiting and the earlier new players come, the better we can organise next year. Additionnaly, there should be new event (HK cup, beach tournament...) which we can enter AKITA into. Let's hope for a spectacular end of the year

AKITA Marches to the second phase

During March, the AKITA Team was in an off competition month and was waiting for the start of the second phase. The survey on what should keep the team busy gave the following results: Play one friendly match   1 (9%) Play many friendlies 3 (27%) Go the gym to lose the beer belly 0 (0%) Get the germans to take french lessons 2 (18%) Train proper combinations for the TV 0 (0%) Find a beer company to sponsor the team in kind   8 (72%) At least the priorities of the team were clear and this should definitely increase the fear factor for other teams... But the team still managed to get some handball before the easter break. AKITA was honoured to play with the Hong Kong senior and junior national teams. An interesting and not easy experience as the very high and mobile defense of Hong Kong is unusual for players coming from Europe and shows the strong fitness of the Hong Kong team. On the 25th March, the AKITA team met the HK PolyU at the Shaw Sports Complex. A great location for this match against an very strong team. Going forward, the AKITA team will have the chance to play more time against the Hong Kong national team as the height, weight and physical style of the AKITA defense will hopefully help them to face a different style from the traditional Hong Kong style in preparation of the Asian games. We wish all the best to the Hong Kong team and are honoured to play with them. Regarding the second phase, Long Hei the Happy Dragons (龍禧) managed 2 wins in the last 2 matches to get to 15 points and the third place. in Group C Chun Yuen (駿源) should go through with 12 points following Yan Ching (仁青) forfeit.