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Hello, my name is Jamea
Waltersdorff and I am currently a student at CSM and UMUC. While attending CSM
I am participating on the women’s volleyball. Over the next few months I will
be recording a journal for the volleyball team, giving you insight on our season
and sharing with you our teams experience. |
The team began
practice officially on August 8, and I must say we were pretty excited to get
started because we had been working out all summer long. All summer the team
went thought a critical jump training program with Tim Murphy(CSM Athletic
Trainer). Twice a week the team would meet at 7:30 pm to about 9 pm. Not only
did we have jump training, but we had open gyms to attend once a week.
Throughout the summer the team worked hard and along the way new friendships
began.
The team is very
diverse this year. There are 5 returnees, Meagan Fox (La Plata), Kimmie Patton
(Bishop Ireton), Meagan Starr (Ryken), Katie Tyner (Ryken), and myself, Jamea
Waltersdorff (Thomas Stone). The incoming freshmen bring a lot to the team.
They are hard working girls and are all very talented and give the team
potential to reach high goals for this year. It’s a big team this year, 13
girls. There are 8 incoming players. Janea Burt (Great Mills), Jasmine Jackson
(McDonough), Stephanie Fowler (La Plata), Becky Peters (Leonardtown), Nichole
Rieman (Lackey), Rachel Olup (Thomas Stone), Virginia Smith (Thomas Stone), and
Vanessa Thompson (McDonough). These girls have been rivals for years. When
transferring from high school to college it’s a big difference, but you finally
get the chance to play with the girls you have competed against.
The teams first
weeks of practice went great. It looked like we had been playing together
already for 2 months. Everyone was on point and playing good volleyball.
However the next week Michelle Ruble (head volleyball coach/CSM Athletic
Director) decided to go away on vacation, so the team practiced with the
assistant coaches, Ron Mann and Pat Brewer. Ron and Pat are the funniest guys
to play volleyball with. The team was excited to practice with them, but we
seemed to goof off more than get the job done. So, Ron and Pat surely did not
like that. Practice ends at 5:30 pm and because of our performance the coaches
had us do stations, circuits, and run for the last 45 minutes of practice. I
don’t know about the rest of the girls, but I can speak for myself and it was
not fun. I was dying out there on the court. After we learned our lesson, I
don’t think the girls and I will be pulling something like that again, but we
agreed it was a learning experience. After the second week of practice on
Friday the team went to the Golf Tournament, at Swann Point. We decided to go
and show our gratitude to the sponsors and golf players for all the money they
helped raise for CSM athletics. The team had no problem going because the food
was extremely good, and thankfully we were able to eat first.
The third week was
an important week for the volleyball team because we had a scrimmage on
Wednesday (August 24). The scrimmage was against St. Mary’s College (Division
III). The scrimmage I felt went well, it being the first time we ever played
together. Our team is so big and full of talent, so making a consistent line up
seems hard for the coaches. St. Mary’s College I think out played us each
game. We played 15 minute games and then switched courts. Everyone played well
for the first time. Now that we had some experience together on the court, we
know what to work on. This weekend we are going to Pitt, NC, so my next journal
will include our trip.
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