Day 2: Getting the "silly stuff" out

We arrived in Huntsville at 1 a.m. Arguably, this was the longest bus ride I have ever been on – 12 hours. However, I thought time went by pretty quickly. We watched The Lion King (where a lot of the girls sang along) as well as Bringing Down the House, Varsity Blues (all the girls were rooting for Billy Bob to score that final touchdown, even though they knew it was going to happen), The Sixth Sense and Zoolander.

About halfway through the trip, we got dinner at Fazoli’s. I sat with Skoch, Briney and Sears and listened to them talk about Div. I volleyball, recruiting and old matches. Sears said she hopes to get an internship with USA Volleyball, AVP or the U.S. Olympic Committee. That’s aiming really high, but as a former all-American, I say good for her. It could be that ambitiousness that garnered Sears her honors.

Sophomore Adam Kabins, my photographer, and I got up at about 8 a.m. to get breakfast with the team. Everyone was really quiet, which was in sharp contrast to yesterday morning. I, however, got to talk with senior Kelly Haley, the team’s trainer, and asked her about sophomore Erin Leavitt, who aggravated an extra bone in her foot.

“The way her progress is going, it’s looking pretty good,” she said “I don’t want to set a time-frame though.”

At 9:50 a.m., we boarded the bus to head to the University of Alabama-Huntsville for the team’s morning practice. I sat next to freshman Dana Hanselmann, who hails from Sleepy Hollow, Ill. This made me wonder: has she ever seen the headless horseman?

“Actually we have one that rides around the town,” she said to my astonishment. “There’s a guy that has a costume and he puts it on and rides around the beach front that we have.”

All I had to say to that was “that’s pretty cool,” because it was.
We also talked about her playing experience and how playing college volleyball compared to high school.

“It’s a lot faster,” she said. My high school wasn’t very strong, and it’s a big step. You got to be ready. You got to keep up.”

We arrived at Spragins Hall, the University of Alabama-Huntsville’s main indoor athletic facility, and began practice. The squad did various focusing mostly on dumps and short balls, an area where the team has been having difficulty the entire year, according to Skoch.

“Expect to do good every time!” Skoch yelled as the players were performing a 6-on-6 drill. “Have some confidence in yourselves!”

Just then, Hanselmann nailed a kill right down the line. Skoch chuckled.

“I guess it worked,” he said to me.

Once practice ended, we climbed aboard the bus and got lunch at Wendy’s. An interesting tidbit about eating is that the older members get to eat first. Juniors Kelsey Wackerman and Sarah Shearman said this was how it’s always been, but the seniors this year are more lax about it.

Freshman Melissa Keck has her arm wrapped in ice as we re-board the bus. Apparently, her shoulder bones rub together too much, thus sidelining her for about two months.
This weekend will be Keck’s first weekend back.

“It’s a great feeling,” she said. “I smile during practices. I’m so excited to be back.”

Fellow freshman Eli Medina, upon hearing Keck say this, chirps in.

“She’s not lying either,” she said. “That’s the sad thing.”

Both players cackled.

Upon arrival at the hotel, I head to Skoch’s room to ask about his impressions.

“Overall, I was very pleased,” he said. “The main thing was just getting them used to the gym. A lot of the silly stuff they did, I just thought I’d get it out of their system now.”

The girls have another practice at 5 p.m. and then the game against UAH at 7 p.m. If the ’Dogs even get a little of their “silly stuff” out of their system at the evening practice, the match might not look too good for the Chargers.