UWM sophomore Sam Trawitzke will be blogging throughout the 2009 season. Her first entry recaps the preseason.
Preseason started Monday, August 11. During preseason our team had one long practice for 4 hours, then a 45 minute break (where we religiously watched “Full House”), followed by an hour strength and conditioning.
Steve Felde was out of town the first week of preseason so Travis took over his duties. We thought that we would have it easy with Travis, but boy we were wrong. On our first day of conditioning we walked into the weight room and saw 20 pound weight vests to wear while doing our lifting regimen. All Travis had to say was, “Don’t worry ladies, this will be easy.”
After we lifted we then ran 8 ladders (suicides), which Travis assured us would be easy. Travis rounded out the first week with a cone agility drill, which proved to not only be tiring, but dangerous. While shuffling around the cones, Lauren Felsing tripped and face-planted on the gym floor. Only moments after Lauren’s accident, Mary Beth also tripped over a cone and rolled her ankle. So, all in all, Travis pushed us hard during the first week of conditioning and 12 out of the 14 of us made it through unharmed.
The first two weeks of preseason were filled with more than just volleyball and working out. We are lucky because every person on our team genuinely likes being around each other. After practice during preseason, one or two girls would have the whole team over for dinner at their house so that we could all eat and bond together. Some of the dinners we had were: soup and grilled cheese, baked potatoes, tacos and sloppy joes. But my favorite dinner was Lauren Hintze’s homemade lasagna and garlic bread. I think the rest of the team liked it too because 14 girls went through two pans like it was nothing.
Another activity we did in the first two weeks was for a charity called Empty Bowls. We went to a pottery shop and painted and glazed bowls that will be sold at the event Empty Bowls which fights against hunger in Milwaukee. It was a really fun activity that allowed our team to bond as well as help the community.
Our coach, Susie, surprised us at the end of our preseason practices by having off of conditioning for a day and by inviting us to her country club to go swimming. While half the team was relaxing alongside the pool, the other half of our team was working hard for two hours on a synchronized swimming routine. Jena, Lauren, Maddie, Morgan, Mary Beth, Anna, Natalie, and Natalie organized a perfect routine that landed them on You Tube and has an impressive 55 hits to the date.
Preseason has been a quick two and a half weeks and it excites me to see what the future will hold this season.
