UcMiami
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- Aug 26, 2011
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Posted this thought elsewhere but:
Every player is a different player on the National team than they are on any other team they play or have played on and that is especially true for players like Angel who have generally been looked to as the clear 'star' and offensive driver of their team. The National team has so much talent from 1-12 that no one player ever has to 'carry' the team and they each have more defined specialties that focus on their specific strengths than on their regular teams. On the National team defensive pressure and disruption is probably Angel's 'thing' with her unique offensive skills presenting another and different problem for the opponent's defense - she is great at creating chaos for the opponent in a way that Maya or Catch don't and that contrast is just another weapon for the NT coach to employ. Players love playing on the NT because while the pressure to win is greater than anywhere else, the actual pressure on them individually is reduced. They do not have to pace themselves but can give maximum effort for a 5 minute stretch knowing that when they start to flag the next one in will be just as good but with fresh legs and lungs.
All that said, the NT is going to be in transition and there are a number of young players looking to push out the older players and a desire by the committee to get younger to develop the next generation. Angel is a bit of a tweener in terms of age younger than the old guard but not as young as the younger NT Olympians. I think she is probably safe for 2014 but by 2016 she might get dropped to allow one of those youngsters a place.
Every player is a different player on the National team than they are on any other team they play or have played on and that is especially true for players like Angel who have generally been looked to as the clear 'star' and offensive driver of their team. The National team has so much talent from 1-12 that no one player ever has to 'carry' the team and they each have more defined specialties that focus on their specific strengths than on their regular teams. On the National team defensive pressure and disruption is probably Angel's 'thing' with her unique offensive skills presenting another and different problem for the opponent's defense - she is great at creating chaos for the opponent in a way that Maya or Catch don't and that contrast is just another weapon for the NT coach to employ. Players love playing on the NT because while the pressure to win is greater than anywhere else, the actual pressure on them individually is reduced. They do not have to pace themselves but can give maximum effort for a 5 minute stretch knowing that when they start to flag the next one in will be just as good but with fresh legs and lungs.
All that said, the NT is going to be in transition and there are a number of young players looking to push out the older players and a desire by the committee to get younger to develop the next generation. Angel is a bit of a tweener in terms of age younger than the old guard but not as young as the younger NT Olympians. I think she is probably safe for 2014 but by 2016 she might get dropped to allow one of those youngsters a place.
