By Terry Schroeder, Westlake Village resident and head coach of the U.S. Olympic Men's Water Polo Team, which trained for several months in Westlake Village and Thousand Oaks. Written in the morning on Sunday, Aug. 24.

I woke up feeling confident and really good. This is our day to shine. This is our time.

The Hungarians have had their time and it is over. Change is the order of world and today we are the change agents.

The guys are just waking up. We will have a little swim this morning and then meet around 1:15 pm. Game time is 3:40 - it sounds like a good time to win the gold medal to me. History is in the making.

I would expect this to be a hard fought game today. The Hungarians have been here before and they are not going to go down without a battle. We will once again need to control the tempo of the game. We need to move and not get in a vertical game with them.

They appear to be in better shape than the Serbians and they have also had an extra two days off (they won their bracket like we did). This is a game I have been looking forward to since we lost the semi-final in 1992.

The opportunity to play in the gold medal game is rare. We need to grab that opportunity and make the best of it.

I forgot to tell you all about a funny (it could have been bad) story that happened during the semi-final game. With about two and half minutes to go in the game - we scored to go ahead 9-5.

In my celebration, I threw up my arms and I felt my wedding ring slip off of my finger. It was almost like slow motion as I saw it floating through the air. It landed on the deck and bounced around two to three times before it came to rest in between slats on the pool gutter.

I could see it rocking back and forth a little as I reached down and was able to grab it before it rolled into the gutter. Whew - that was close. These celebrations after we score are going to get me. In reality, I am enjoying them and hope to have many more today.

One other interesting note from our semi-final game; There is a rumor floating around the Village that No. 10 (Sapic) from Serbia got involved in some kind of altercation with a team mate after our game and ended up with a broken leg. Yikes...

I took a walk this morning and it is amazing how the Village has changed so much in our time here. When we first arrived it was almost empty and we watched as it came to life and filled to capacity.

Today, it is once again quiet. Many people are walking around in street clothes - some just returning from their evening out on the town. There are buses loading up luggage as many people are checking out today. We can not get caught up in this. We cannot check out.

We need to stay focused. One more day - one more game - one more moment of Olympic glory. It is in our hands. We will once again get our chances on the 6-on-5 today. I like the officials that we have. We have a Canadian and a Monte Negran.

I am confident that we will get a fair game. It is our day to shine.

See you on the podium!

Coach

Wayne Bean is a local supporter of the U.S. Men's Olympic Water Polo Team. He has been posting blog entries for Coach Schroeder while he is in Beijing.