Aug. 29, 2008
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Well, the final few days of preseason have finally passed; we have finally made it through. The last few rays of summer wane, the crisp feeling of fall starts to set in, and we can all sense that the season is about to whisk into full swing.
It has been a long preseason. The days can seem impossibly long at times, but now with the imminent prospect of playing our first game so close at hand the excitement is renewed, the energy refreshed, and the love of the game wholly reaffirmed. Yes, for three weeks we have walked, dived, jumped, and ran across the floor of McDonough Gymnasium and yet the gleam of that waxed wood has not dulled. The uniforms are still unworn and crisp, the new shoes just about broken in, and novel game cheers are finally memorized. The locker room shower products of the week are sour green apple - and it has never smelled sweeter.
Along with our final few practices, this week also contained a few extra surprises sprinkled in there. Instead of the scheduled double practices on Monday, we had our team outing. Unlike years past, when the philosophy and practice for optimum team bonding called for seclusion and a wooded setting, we did things rather differently. This year, instead of isolating ourselves from the rest of the world for a weekend, we paired up with fellow Georgetown athletes and experienced a team activity in a whole new medium - the Potomac! Kindly hosted and quickly tutored by members of the women's crew team, we spent Monday morning on the big open water, a completely novel experience for all of us. After a quick instruction session on the machines we threw the boats on our shoulders, hauled them to the dock, and gingerly stepped in. It was a very different and challenging activity for all of us, but the crew team was extraordinarily patient, and in the end we managed to get all eight rowers in each boat going in unison for at least ten strokes. So it seems, once again our team work and alacrity prevailed. We all can't wait to pay the crew team back for the favor with a volleyball clinic!
Once we were all safely back ashore it was off to Safeway to buy supplies for our team barbeque. Each class was in charge of shopping for and preparing a course. It was quite the collaborative effort. Thankfully the barbeque was pulled off successfully; we all take our food very seriously. After we had eaten more than our fill we played a few games that again taught us to work together in other realms outside the volleyball court. We had to join forces in order to conquer tasks such as silent communication and memorizing trivial facts about one another. It was literally all fun and games until the bugs forced us back into the vans to head home.
It has been a long, but progressive and rewarding preseason. It is amazing that we play so soon, but everyone is excited to see us put it all together. Our first tournament starts this Friday, and we play again on Saturday, at the D.C. Challenge Tournament. Hopefully we'll walk away from this weekend with some successes, some lessons learned, and some great results. Check back next week to hear all about it!
