Dealing with Dorm Life

Before I arrived at school, I was oddly excited to live in the dorms. I finally have my own space, although much smaller than normal, the cute little desk, the dreaded twin bunk, and a closet much smaller than my own. But don't worry, I think I've figured out how to organize my stuff.

I was also really excited to have a roommate! I have had my own room since I can remember, besides my sister occasionally sneaking in to steal my clothes, so living with a stranger was thrilling to me.

Here's a pic of my roommates (Bottom left, middle, and top right)

Photo Credit: Maddie Abbs

I was blessed because I love each of my roommates. We are all freshmen on the softball team and thankfully none of us play the same positions. So far, everyone keeps their space organized and we all pitch in and clean when we have to. Hopefully there wont be any issues in our room!

Along with the perks of living in the dorms, like closeness to campus, your own space, and others, there are also some drawbacks.

Because we live above the main floor, there always seems to be a million stairs we have to climb, and after weights or practice that is the last thing I want to do.

Our hall is filled with all kinds of different people, and while this may sound like a good thing, it actually isn't the most ideal living situation.

Support Our Sports

Every athlete dreams of playing in front of thousands of people when in reality we are lucky if our families and a few friends show up. That was not the case for last night's volleyball match against Emporia State.

The entire parent's section was filled with screaming moms and dads. Surprisingly, the student section filled up as well. Myself and the rest of the softball team along with a handful of soccer girls filled the front 3 rows cheering and screaming when they'd get a kill, awesome dig, or block. Moving on up, other students were there, but they were just sitting on their phones looking bored out of their mind. I'm not sure which is worse, and empty crowd, or a crowd full of bored people.

Athletes work their butts off to be the best. When game day rolls around, it seems like there's nothing to hold us back! We are psyched and ready to go, unless we see an empty crowd.

There is nothing better than looking out into the crowd to see tons of people on their feet, clapping and cheering our team on. Coaches always say "don't look into the crowd, you'll lose your focus", but when I look out to the crowd, adrenaline starts pumping and I feel like I could accomplish anything.

Do us a favor, go to the next volleyball match, softball, basketball or football game. Not only will it heighten the game day experience for the athletes out there performing, but it will be beneficial to you as well. There is nothing better than the feeling of cheering your school on to a win and being able to say you've been there and done that!

GO BODS!

Photo Credit: Maddie Abbs

NO DAYS OFF... Well, maybe just one

We've all heard the term "No days off", and it's absolutely true! If you want your body and mind to be in tip top shape, you shouldn't take a single day off. But my roommate and I were in desperate need of at least one day off.

With weights 3 times a week, and practice every other day, you have to take full advantage of days off coach gives you. Whether that means resting your body, by sitting in the ice bath for as long as you can stand, taking long naps, or being academically productive in the library.

I hate to say it, but we didn't do any of those things. Yesterday afternoon, we decided to hit the mall and of course get Chik-fil-A for lunch. After eating the crappy dorm food for the past few weeks we decided to splurge on some top quality french fries and chicken nuggets.

Photo Credit: Maddie Abbs

The 2 hours we were out at the mall were wonderful! I bought a Sporting KC shirt for the upcoming game, walked around and window shopped, and people watched from the food court. Sadly, our free time came to an end, because we had to get back to the room to do our laundry.

Tips for all students: Don't go to the mall in your free time, like me. Do something productive like studying for a test, or preparing yourself for class the next day so you aren't stuck at the library all night.

And don't eat all your Chik-fil-A too fast, your tummy will hate you later

A Day in the Life

All college athlete's schedules are different, but I just wanted to give you guys a chance to see what a normal day looks like for me!

5:00 am: Wake up and get dressed for weights
5:45 am: Warm-ups
6:00 am: Start lifting
7:00 am: Abs and conditioning
7:30 am: Shower and change
8:00 am- 9:15 am Class
9:30 am- 10:45 am Class
11:00 am- 12:15 pm Class
12:15 pm Lunch
12:30pm- 2:00 pm Study Tables
2:10 pm Change and leave for practice
2:30 pm- 6:30 pm Practice
7:00 pm Shower and dinner
8:00 pm- 9:30 pm Study Tables
10:00 pm Sleep

It seems like a long day, and indeed it is! I really don't know how, but somehow we all manage to make it work!

T'was the First Day of Practice

T'was the first day of practice and all through the dorms every creature was stirring, including the mouse. (I thought I'd try to recreate the famous Christmas poem, but I couldn't think of anything clever after that first line.)

Wednesday morning I could not stop freaking out about practice. "Will I be good enough, will I be able to get through conditioning, am I wearing the right uniform, will the other girls think I'm any good?" The list went on and on thanks to my roommates. Walking out to the field I was a nervous wreck. My hands were shaking, my heart was pounding extremely fast, and I was sweating uncontrollably.

It's like walking into lunch your first day of high school and worrying about if you have any friends to sit with. Ultimately, you'll either find someone to sit with or go out on a limb and make new friends.

All of my new teammates are incredibly nice and great leaders for all of us freshmen. They taught us how the warm up went, how coach likes things to be done, what kinds of drills we need to learn, and my favorite part, ladders.

It had poured down rain the night before so the grass was kind of wet. Nothing I couldn't handle, or so I thought...

Instead of cleating-up for these lovely ladder drills, coach has us keep our tennis shoes on. Any other day this would've been fine, but because of all the rain there was no way I could get traction in my crappy, old shoes.

I made it through the first round just fine. The second round through I completely ate it. My feet slipped right out from under me and I fell, HARD. After the initial shock and embarrassment, I busted out laughing! Right as I got up someone else fell only to lead to more laughter.

We all got through the mud pit and went on to play catch and loosen up our arms. As we jogged back into the dugout, one of the returners slipped immediately as she stepped into the dugout and fell straight on her butt. We all couldn't help but giggle as she just sat there laughing at herself.

This goes to show that even though nervousness and anxiety can overwhelm you, you aren't going to be the only one feeling that way! Thanks to my awesome teammates I know I'll be great friends with them!


P.S. Just kidding about the mouse from earlier, we don't actually have one in our room(;

Giant Gulp of Gatorade

Ever since our days of little league baseball, or our first days on the field as a soccer player, Gatorade has always been there for us. I know it kind of sounds like I'm talking about a dependable, old friend, not a bottle of bright colored liquid, but after 4 hours on the field Gatorade is my BEST friend.

It was created in 1965, after the Florida Gators Football coach wondered why his players were dropping like flies in the sticky, Florida heat. Researchers found that the water the athletes were drinking didn't replace the electrolytes or carbohydrates they needed.

It seems to me like everyone, not just athletes, refers to Gatorade by it's color, not flavor. As weird as this is, during a game I'll ask for a "blue one" and my mom will know exactly what flavor to get.

When I was younger I loved seeing the Gatorade commercials on TV. Seeing all kind of different professional athletes compete, take a sip, and then sweat out the color of Gatorade they were drinking. I thought it was actually made to do this, only to be disappointed when I didn't see any blue beads of sweat rolling down my face at practice the next day.

I searched the other night for 3 hours to show you guys a video of what I'm talking about, but I could only find a picture. (I know this isn't the best quality, but it was the best I could find)

Photo Credit: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/204913851769507362/ 

While I was searching for one of these photos I came across the Gatorade YouTube channel. They have been recently making videos titled "Sweat It to Get It", meaning you must/have been sweating and working out in order to buy a Gatorade at the gas station shown. 

I HIGHLY encourage clicking play below and watching a few of these. They are hilarious! 

Study Table Struggles

One of the tough things about being student-athletes is balancing study and workout time. One of the softball team expectations is that we log 8 or more hours of study time at the library. This may not seem very long, maybe an hour or so a night, but with practice every other day going to study wasn't one of my top priorities at first.

Monday I went to the library, a quiet, calm environment that turned out to be more like a zoo! Kids were running up and down the stairs and on the main floor, and shouting across the room all thanks to "The Great Library Race". This is an event created by librarians to get kids interested in the library and all of its tools for success. Safe to say I didn't get any studying done that day.

Working diligently for an hour or so doesn't seem that bad, right? Think again. By the time you get there, find a table, organize yourself and your homework, and get focused on what you need to do practically 30 minutes have gone by, for me at least.

One of my roommates and I decided to go later in the week to keep each other focused for the night. We each had a mental plan of what we needed to do and how we were going to get it done. Instead of actually following through with the plan, we sat there for the first hour talking about random things and laughing until our stomachs ached.

Library Rule #1: DON'T BRING FRIENDS TO THE LIBRARY

One of the things I couldn't stop laughing about was the fact that someone brought a Nintendo DS with them. YOU ARE A COLLEGE STUDENT, NOT A 12 YEAR OLD BOY! YOU SHOULD NOT BE PLAYING MARIO CART!

Photo Credit: Maddie Abbs

Library Rule #2: Don't be "that guy" playing with little kid toys...

Library Rule #3: Always dress warm in case you get cold easily like Savannah, and be sure to wear your backpack straps when your backpack gets too heavy!

Photo Credit: Maddie Abbs

Hopefully my laughter-filled library experiences will help you guys see what not to do!