Returning home to Canada from our first road trip of the year with nothing more than a 17th place in China, was bad enough as it is. But on top of that, we then had to suffer the wrath of our coach John May.

I joke about that, because although John's coaching methods may leave a bit of a sting, he rarely misses the opportunity to help his athletes see their truths and learn something valuable from a disappointing experience. In fact, that is one of his great gifts as a coach - expose the truth and guide the athlete through the process of learning how to manage it.

"It's easy" John says to us, referring to the solution to our performance problems. "It's NEVER going to be easy - every point, every set, every match, and every tournament - you've got to realize that we are the type of team that has to scratch and claw for every point we are going to get."

And he is absolutely right. Ahren and I are one of the shortest teams, and we cannot afford to coast or approach any rally lightly, if we expect to win them. The realization that we do not have the gazelle leaping ability of an Emanuel, or the huge block of a Phil Dalhausser, may seem obvious, but sometimes the reminder of how average we are in terms of natural athleticism, serves as great motivation to shift the intensity level into a higher gear... out of sheer necessity.

The game tapes showed many signs of tentativeness, as well as a lack of intensity and passion at times. We just weren't ready to really compete. So it was time to put on our battle gear and go to our next event with a different attitude.

Croatia, here we come!