Volleyball Preseason!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I arrived on campus over 2 weeks ago on August 10 for the beginning of GW volleyball preseason! It feels nice to be back on campus, but at the same time summer flew by and now it’s back to business. Moving in was an adventure and very tiring, emptying out the car and storage unit. Initially, we could not move directly into my regular room for the year since it was still being occupied by summer residents, so we had to move into another room temporarily. This meant that for a while we really couldn’t unpack because we would just have to pack everything up again and move it. Finally, we got into our actual room and now we are settled in (I’ll share pictures of our completed room in a few weeks).

As for volleyball, preseason has been very productive and fun, but so very busy and exhausting. At the height of preseason, this was my daily schedule: wake up 6:20am, eat, conditioning at 7:30am, practice 9-12, lunch break, practice 2-5pm, weights 5-6pm (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday), and then followed by a team dinner at various restaurants. For a while, all of our bodies were sore, but I think by now everyone is feeling pretty good (well, besides still being kind of tired of course). Also, scattered throughout these two weeks, we have had a few days off to rest our bodies, which were greatly appreciated and relished (Target and Costco were frequented on those days for purchasing missing dorm room essentials).

In fact, on August 17 (one of our days off), in order to facilitate team bonding, our coaches surprised us and drove us to Annapolis, Maryland to go kayaking! It was definitely an adventure and so much fun! I was in a double kayak with Taylor (one of my roommates) and thankfully we didn’t tip over, although there were a few times that we teetered a little more than what was comfortable. In fact, nobody from out team tipped over as to my knowledge. Steering actually went really well considering how many times we’ve gone kayaking, which is basically never. We used great teamwork skills while having a blast. There were times where we would just float around and let the wind and current take us because our arms were too tired to paddle from all of the workouts and volleyball. For some reason, the kayak that Taylor and I were in, kept floating backwards without fail, even if everyone else around us were being pulled forward. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures from the day to share with you, but don’t worry I will share tons of other pictures throughout this upcoming volleyball season.

Speaking of volleyball season, preseason actually ended today and we have our first match tomorrow vs. American University (at American 7:30pm) as part of the D.C. Challenge Tournament. And on Saturday, we play here at GW (our home openers!) at 11am vs. George Mason and 7pm vs Georgetown! If you are in the area and need something to do, PLEASE come and support us! We are trying to pack the gym on Saturday night for our match against Georgetown and once again claim our title as the best team in the D.C. area! Here is the Facebook event if you are interested and want more details:
GW Volleyball vs. Georgetown

For further info on the team, here is an article talking about our upcoming season:GW Volleyball Season Begins Friday With DC Challenge . We have been working extremely hard in the gym and I am excited for the season to begin! Go Colonials!

Feel free to email me with any questions! cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie