Hamilton, ON- So many thoughts go through Brad Douwes’ head during a game. He knows what these games in the second half of the season mean in terms of the standings. He senses how his team will win when they’re playing really well. He has different thoughts when things don’t go so well.

Those thoughts were swirling in his head as the Marauders kept up in the race for first place with two straight wins over the Brock Badgers on Feb. 2 and 3. They current sit second in the OUA standings behind the Guelph Gryphons. The path wasn’t so straightforward though.

There were times where the offence was clicking and rolling – like it was during the first two sets in their opening game against Brock. “Absolutely astonishing,” libero Matthew Rugosi called it. “Our offence was very very well rounded, very fast, very even on both hands.”

Then were serving errors and mistakes that creeped up in the following two sets before the Marauders closed it out with a 26-24 fourth-set victory.  

How do they manage those thoughts during the match? Douwes said it starts with acknowledging them. Those who can identify, acknowledge and then move past them are the ones who can refocus on the task at hand. Focusing on hitting their shots, making their serve and running the offence.

“If we get caught up and those thoughts are swirling around in our minds, it’s like ‘oh my goodness, the world is crashing down on us,’ then it can happen really really fast,” Douwes noted. He can see those three or four points just fly by when you’re consumed by it.

Imagine the thoughts going through their minds as the Marauders hit serve after serve into the net or out of bounds. They finished with 27 service errors to Brock’s 14.

Douwes and the team have talked about having consistent serving pressure for a long time. Even when the errors tick upwards more than usual…

The head coach told his players to pick a spot where they’re competent and know they can serve consistently. Yet, you can feel the pressure mounting as serve after serve goes awry. “Focus on the task at hand,” he keeps telling them.

That means picking a good target, giving a good toss and being aggressive.

When those tough moments struck for Rugosi, he leaned on his teammates. They did so as a team. That helped them mount a fourth-set comeback for the win.

When Rugosi leans on them, he feels the support and belief. He hears fellow libero Aidan Palanca and others cheering from the bench. He felt the energy – helping him and his teammates refocus and re-centre their goals.

Rugosi finds that talking about the game plan helps him re-centre. He’ll call out different plays. He’ll break down the game plan to make it easier for the blockers.

He’ll bring the calmness to match teammate Maxime Gratton’s fiery and intense personality. “What do you got? What do you got,” Rugosi always asks him. It helps him know where his teammate will be and it helps Gratton re-centre.

“Where are you blocking,” he’ll ask Gratton, who will show him. “Perfect,” Rugosi replied. “We’re on the same page.”

When he does so, Rugosi can feel that cohesion between them. “We’re playing as one instead of six different players,” he noted. “We’re all playing together and it’s really nice to see.”

When Rugosi re-centres himself, he can smile. The Toronto native plays with lots of confidence. When he finds that confidence, he performs better.

Getting his touches early into a game helps. Okay. I’m in this game, he thinks. Balls are going to come to me. Let’s do it. Every play helps him stay focused and discipline.

Douwes also helps. The libero approaches him when he isn’t certain or has questions. Douwes answers them, calming Rugosi’s mind. “It’s just simple volleyball from there,” he said.

The head coach knows how to help his players re-focus. It starts with being honest about his own thoughts. “I’m not a robot as well,” he said. “I let them know that I’m a bit vulnerable.” He’s human, he’ll point out.

When Douwes needs to re-focus, he takes a deep breath, analyzes the situation and then really focuses in on the game plan.

Their game plan called from more serving pressure the following evening against Brock. The Marauders had 13 fewer serving errors as they stayed aggressive. They won in three sets as Douwes felt something else was different.

When they were in tough situations the previous evening, they tried to find solutions through one player instead of doing so as a team, he pointed out. This time, they stayed patient and stayed as a team.

Douwes sees them celebrating each other’s successes. He sees them taking ownership of their mistakes – when the attackers would look at their teammates after hitting a shot they shouldn’t and telling them: “That’s on me.”

The players are celebrating each other’s different plays. “Not getting so bogged down in your own performance but celebrating the good that is happening with your teammates,” Douwes said. Perhaps that helps them re-focus.

First-year middle Jared Kuiken knows how he tries to re-focus. He’s heard his teammates and coaches talk about preparing for the moments of a match and knowing what to do when they arise.

“Instead of focusing on the score, focusing on what we need to do on our side,” he said. “And just what aspects of our game we need to focus on.” Once they do so, he finds the results will speak for themselves.

Kuiken has seen the team cohesion. He’s seen them support each other more and more as the season has gone on. He sees that trust building between them as well. “A constant improvement,” he calls it.

The London native played in all three sets in the second game against Brock, notching two kills and a dig. He feels that trust from his teammates. From setter Robbie Fujisawa in particular. He will always talk to Kuiken, support him and let him know that he trusts him as he keeps setting for him.

What will be the thoughts going through Douwes’ mind heading into their senior’s night game against the Waterloo Warriors on Feb. 9? Will there be all those different ones racing through his mind like there were against Brock? More importantly, how will they manage and respond to them?

The head coach calls the experience a growth process for him and his team. He wants to learn from it all. He knows what to do when those thoughts arise. Okay. Here we go, he will tell himself. We’ve got to figure this out.

Featured Image: Kevin Lassel/McMaster Athletics