Starting out, none of us knew what to expect. We knew preseason would be difficult and tiring, but we had no idea what was coming our way. Quickly, we learned that it is important to take time out of your summer to get fit and to take the workouts seriously. When we first arrived, the first couple days were the hardest. We were overwhelmed with moving into the dorms, being away from our families, and being in an unfamiliar environment. One of the most difficult transitions was the physical demands of adjusting to two hard practices a day. We can all agree that these practices were the most competitive, not only with the other players but within ourselves, as well. We've learned to work through pain and exhaustion. Being new to the team, the returning players made the transition easy by welcoming and including us. During preseason, Lindsay had us living in the same dorms has the returning players. The girls showed us our way around, they were there to answer any questions and concerns, and they were there to support us when we were going through difficult times. There are many more aspects of preseason then just training. After one of our night trainings, we volunteered at Lake Reba, a local park, where we coached and encouraged little kids in 3 vs. 3 scrimmages. The coaches find it valuable to get our program involved in the community as a different way of bringing our team together.
On the sixth day of preseason, we were able to take a trip to Nashville, Indiana. Our team was split up into three different cabins in the middle of the woods. When we arrived the first night, we took a team night hike around Brown County State Park. We saw snakes, caught frogs, skipped rocks, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Our phones were taken away, and TV was prohibited. We bonded even closer by entertaining ourselves on our own. Each cabin was assigned a certain type of meal and a budget to cook for the rest of the team. The next day, after a home cooked breakfast, we went canoeing. We had a short but sweet time canoeing due to thunder and lightning, but the highlight of the trip was when our coaches and our trainer, Ricker, tipped their canoe and fell into the water. Brenton was stuck in quick sand trying to get out of the water, while Lindsay and Ricker were trying to save their belongings.
Later that night, one of the cabins cooked up a fiesta dinner for the whole team. The next day, we went on a team jog/stretch to prepare our bodies for our scrimmage later that night. We ended up with a tie against IPFW, but considering it was our first game, we played very well together. We headed back to Richmond in the vans and ended up getting back late that night which resulted in morning practice off. We can all agree that not only did the trip bring all four classes closer together, but it helped build team chemistry between the coaches and the players. After our trip, we got back into our daily schedule where we focused on different aspects of the game that we needed to work on to prepare us for our next scrimmage against Union College. We started out a little unorganized ending the half with a 1-1 tie. But after pulling ourselves together, we were a whole different team in the second half and we walked away from the game with a 5-1 win.
Even though preseason was very challenging for us incoming freshman, in the end it is all worth the time and effort that will pay off in our season. As a whole, we are very grateful to have this opportunity to be in the positions we are in. I think we can all say we are all very excited to see what's in store for season.
Love truly,
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