Golden at Grand Prix

By Beverly Oden, About.com

Over the past four weeks, the USA women's team has been overseas battling it out with some of the world's best for the privilege of calling themselves the Grand Prix champions. The gold hasn't been in American hands since 2001 and a win this year was unexpected.

But after a slow start, USA improved quickly over the course of the tournament, going 5-0 in the final round and beating gold medalists Brazil in a tight five set match. With great play from the MVP and Best Blocker of the tournament, Foluke Akinradewo and the Best Setter of the tournament in Alisha Glass, the Americans were able to take the title in tremendous fashion.

These women have shown that they are serious gold medal contenders for 2012. They are loaded with talent, deep in all the positions and they learn fast. But there is still work to do. The women's team is largely young - many of the players recently joined after finishing their college careers - so the learning curve will continue.

There are two long years left before they step onto the floor in London for the Olympic Games but this victory is an enormous one for this team. They did it by doing a number of things right, minimizing the things they did wrong and it didn't hurt to have just a little bit of luck.

Key Factors in the Victory

The Grand Prix win is a great one for this team. They should be proud of what they did over the past few weeks and it should give them confidence for the future. The journey is just beginning though. They were able to win this tournament based on great talent and a tremendous performance for this point in the quadrennial. Here is a short list of some of the key factors that contributed to the result:

1. The Return of Logan Tom
The Americans were 1-2 the first week without Logan Tom. They won 11 straight after she joined the team. They probably would have gotten better with or without Logan, but their chances of pulling off a victory like this without her were slim. Logan adds experience, stability and spot-on passing to the starting line up. She is also a solid hitter, but the team has plenty of those. Even if she is not effective on the attack, she raises the level of the team's overall play in such a way as to be indispensable.

2. Solid Play from Foluke Akinradewo and Alisha Glass
Foluke took home both the MVP and the Best Blocker awards at the tournament for good reason. She was extremely effective at the net, scoring lots of points for the Americans when they needed it. The U.S. has quite a few great hitters that can put the ball away, but none of that would matter if they didn't have a setter who can deliver the ball. Alisha Glass made a ton of progress over the course of the tournament and consistently put the ball where her hitters needed it to keep the team in every game.

3. Fighting Until the End
One great characteristic of this team is their fight. Down 0-2 to Poland and down 24-22 in the third, it would have been really easy to let down, make a mistake or give up. They didn't. They got a little help from Poland in the form of errors, but they never gave in. They also proved they can win tight five game matches. They took the No. 1 team in the world to five sets and finished them off 15-13 in the fifth. They didn't let the eight-time champions off the hook. This bodes well for their future as they have a lot more fighting ahead.

4. Solid Coaching
It is an understatement to say that Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon and Assistant Coach Karch Kiraly both know how to win. They've got proven track records and they seem to be getting this team together ahead of schedule. They did a good job of putting the players on the floor who could deliver. They seemed to get out of their way when they needed to as well.

5. A Great Bench
The great thing about being deep at each position is that when the starters have that inevitable night off, the team doesn't lose much when the substitution is made. When Megan Hodge had some trouble passing and wasn't very effective hitting early on, the bench came through. Both Jordan Lawson and Ogonna Nnamani played great and provided stability for the U.S. team. Cynthia Barboza came off the bench to serve and played her role well. Though the starting team is far from set, it's clear that the coaches have plenty of good choices and room to experiment.

Key Factors for the Future

This team is good and it is going to get better over the next two years. They showed us they can learn quickly and improve dramatically over the course of a tournament. It didn't hurt that they got a few gifts along the way - Poland let them off the hook when they had the Americans down 0-2 and couldn't convert on two game points in the third. Brazil helped out by uncharacteristically losing to China, giving the U.S. the lead in points. They may not always have the luxury of gifts like that from opposing teams, so they have work to do. Here are some areas where they can improve:

1. Slow Starts
There were a few matches in which they started slowly, losing the first game. As the Olympics gets closer and the competition gets more fierce they will need to come out strong from the first whistle.

2. Passing
Once Logan Tom joined the team their passing improved significantly. But still, they were prone to breakdowns and giving up strings of points. They'll need to get comfortable with the serve receive formations and learn each other's strengths and weakness on reception. If they can avoid giving up points on their serve reception their stable of hitters will be able to take over.

3. Unforced Errors
Another contributor to the team's streakiness was several unforced errors, many in the form of serving errors down the stretch that could cost them games down the stretch. This is an easy fix and one that will hopefully come with time. But several missed serves in the Poland match could easily have cost them the match had Poland taken advantage. Most teams at the international level will exploit this.

4. Confidence without Complacency
The win should give the Americans the confidence they need to continue to grow. It should not be an excuse to relax. While winning the Grand Prix is an enormous accomplishment, they have to continue to be hungry. Their potential is huge and they've shown that they are already realizing it. Now they just need to be patient and continue to develop, remembering that they have a lot of room to grow. The coaching staff should help keep them focused on the ultimate goal, that elusive Olympic gold medal which would be the first in history for the American women. One thing is clear, they are up for the challenge.