Here's the ethos behind the new road trip, as it was discussed on the previous road trip:
This time we come to teach, not to kill. Killing will happen, but on mixed Ilume/AWVP teams. Mix it up is the best way to learn, IMHO.
How our road trip forces will be divided is TBD. I'll leave that to Ilume Chief.
Just thinking out loud, but ideally, I'd like to see this as a 2 afternoon exercise. About half the first day would be warm up/80% speed. Line up your players, if somebody messes up, redraw the same play once where nobody on the opposite team reacts to give them the chance to get it right.
Note to the traveling squad--no matter how you are split up, you can show how things are done by going to the other Panda players on your team, but that's not what this exercise is all about--plays in training need to go through Ilume players, so that they are in charge of the play in terms of set/spike.
Maybe at some stage the game film from last time could be scrutinized in a positive fashion to determine what was done right and what was done wrong, on both sides. Trust me, film is very unforgiving, and very instructive. I sure as hell didn't do everything right, nor did my team.
Perhaps by the end of a truncated day 2, we could go back to Ilume vs Road Trippers for a game or two to see what you've learned?
I admire the dedication and interest at the Ilume. And things worked out there about as best as could be expected.
It is always this way on a blind challenge:
Two groups of players agree to face off, who don't know anything about the other team. Away team agrees to play by home team's rules. That's as fair as it gets, and the proof is in the box scores.
Now what used to happen in my younger days was, if I was the visitor, and won (90%, cause we're good), the home team got all cranky and it was hard to get another invite. When we were the home team, it was hard to get the folks we'd beaten to show up again.
Glad it's not that way this time. Nothing personal, Dallas, just business:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJoM7V54T-c
Part of our credo that is sometimes forgotten is that we, as members of the AWVP, have a duty to improve and expand the league.
I believe a second road trip under such conditions will benefit all concerned.
So endeth the sermon for the day