Emily Rottman Blog Entry

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August 11, 2010
By Emily Rottman

I was a little concerned this morning when I woke up and could feel the extreme soreness in my legs. But after a hearty bowl of oatmeal and an ice-cold glass of water, I was ready for the third day of preseason! Today was our most productive day yet and we are really coming together as a team.

We started the day off doing the butterfly drill and working on our passing techniques. We then focused on serving and serve-receive and even got to pass some heavy topspin serves from the ball machine that Coach Maes said was “talking smack.” We then did a defensive drill with the entire team, which was fun because we all cheered one another on. For the last part of the morning session, we had six players on the court and focused on our defensive moves and how each position is connected to the others.

Clearly we all worked up an appetite, because it did not take long for us to devour our sandwiches from Foods Of All Nations at lunch. Following lunch, we had guest speakers come in who gave us a presentation about “Step Up.” We learned about bystander intervention and all about when and how someone should help another person. This presentation was useful because it talked about safety and responsibility, which are topics every college student should understand.

The next session was very efficient and we got to play a lot of six-on-six drills, which is always intense and exciting. We worked on dynamic blocking, practiced a blocking scheme and then witnessed the first “20-ball” (Mal did great!) of the season. We all look forward to sleeping in tomorrow and getting back in the gym in the afternoon!