I want to thank all my family, friends and family for following along with my blogs leading up to the Olympics and during the Olympics. As you all know, me and my team did not do as well as we planned on doing. I apologize for not keeping everyone as informed as I could have through my blogs. After we were defeated by Croatia and knocked out of the medal round it was hard for me to write. It is still hard to write right now, but I want everyone to know that me and my team gave everything we had. We all were devastated after our loss to Croatia. Me and my team sacrificed so much to make sure that we put ourselves in the best position to win a gold medal. The Olympics is the biggest stage in sports and I have always said that you have to be on your game for the whole two weeks and be ready to perform at your best. Unfortunately me and my team prepared properly and were in the best physical shape, but just did not play our best water polo during the Olympic two-week period.
We ended the tournament in eighth place. I have learned a lot from this experience. It showed me how important it is to take in every moment and cherish it because everything moves so quickly. I cannot believe that another Olympics and 4 years of training has already come and gone. It has also taught me how special my team is and how special it really was to bring home a silver medal for our country in 2008. Just to be an Olympian and represent your country is a huge accomplishment let alone winning an Olympic silver medal. Sometimes us athletes forget that and beat ourselves up because we didn’t win gold. It hurts, but what we have accomplished is still incredibly special. My teammates are like brothers to me and I want to thank them all for the special bond and relationships that I will have with them for the rest of my life.
Now I am focused on other things besides water polo. I am expecting a baby girl in 6 weeks and cannot wait to hold her in my arms and have my beautiful wife Laura right next to me. It will be an amazing experience and I cannot wait to start a new chapter in my life. Regarding water polo, I am anxiously awaiting the announcement of who is going to be the National Team Coach and where and when training will start. I am excited to start playing again with the team in January and very interested to see what veterans stick around and what new young players come to try out. I think that U.S. Men’s Water Polo will get back to the podium again and I plan to be in the goal for them when that happens. I appreciate all of your support and cannot wait to write my next blog for Team USA in Rio 2016. Keep cheering loud for all of Team USA.