Aug. 24, 2007

Three weeks of preseason have passed and I thought that it was going to be a very hard, grueling couple of weeks. Despise my thoughts, this preseason has been the best yet. Before each of our practices, our whole team does an ice breaker or energizer to start the day off positively. By having an ice breaker at the beginning of the day, it helps put one in a better attitude for harder practices to come.

All of our practices have been set up almost perfectly. On the days of our double practices, the morning workouts were primarily set up for each separate position. For example, since I am an outside hitter, I would practice on hitting different shots, while the defensive specialists would work on digging hard driven balls from each of their back row positions. Evening practices would be based around the team as a whole. We would do scrimmage- like drills, and basically practice what we learned earlier that day.

Besides actually practicing with volleyballs, our team would work out in the gym, weight room, pool, and also at a couple of sand volleyball courts. In the gym and sand courts we did most of the same agility work outs; some differences were the location of the work outs and the distinctive areas on our bodies these exercises affected. Pool work outs mainly targeted our legs but also touched on the arms and core of our bodies.

By exercising in these distinct environments, it helped many physical aspects of our bodies. Our vertical jumps increased, we became quicker on the court, and it made us stronger as a whole. Now that I am packing my clothes, volleyball gear, and swim suit for Florida, I now know that our team is going to be the team to beat at the Eckerd College Volleyball Tournament.