Welcome Back!!!!

There is always a great sense of anticipation from the coach’s and student-athletes as the school year gets under way. We wasted no time getting started this year. We started pre-season workouts on the first day of classes and haven’t looked back. I was overall pretty happy with the conditioning level of the team and very happy with their eagerness to work hard and get better. There is certainly a sense of hunger stemming from last year’s disappointing end of the season.

We also jumped right into some community service. On Saturday, our team helped clean up campus for an hour in the morning. Our goal is to create an awareness of the need for students to have pride in their living environment and be responsible and respectful of the space they live in. I was proud of the kid’s attitude because it’s not easy to clean up someone else’s trash! But we know that if everyone does a little more, it will go a long way.

We finished up Labor Day weekend with a picnic over at my house on Monday. Half the team braved the cold water and took a dip in the pool. It certainly didn’t hurt to have the water in the hot tub warmer for them to sit in afterwards! At one point, one of our freshmen, Nikkia Smith had 3 kids hanging on her neck (my son Holden, and Coach Mik’s kids Briana and Drew). Mary and Jenna braved the cold water and gave them boat rides in the pool. Coach Sullivan worked the grill as we offered many healthy choices of food: grilled chicken, pasta salad, fruit and more. Coach Mik’s wife, Sarah made her famous “Death by Chocolate” for us to enjoy which was complimented by Amanda Weaver’s Butterfinger dessert. Both delicious! And we did have some card sharks in the house. Coach Price and Kacey kicked some butt in spades against Coach Witt and Ilicia (who did nothing but complain about how bad their cards were!) All in all, it was a nice time and an appreciated weekday off from working out!