Aniah Philo Finds the Volleyblog
August 15, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
Hey!
It's Aniah here. I am a freshman from Rockwall, Texas. You pronounce my name uh-KNEE-ah FY-low!
Today was a good day to be a Cardinal because I got to spend another day of preseason with the people I love! This morning at 7 a.m., we had breakfast and our sports performance coach, Zach Farrel, was present because he HAS to make sure we have our breakfast before we start practice. I wouldn't miss out on breakfast anyway because I would literally die. Every morning I get watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes and a bagel. Most of us get yogurt or a smoothie, but the smoothies that Zach or Anthony (our other sports performance coach) make I'm not a big fan of sometimes! We enjoy breakfast before the morning practice because it allows us to have a little bond session in before we grind harder with each passing practice.
After breakfast we go downstairs into the locker room to get our minds right for practice. There is a little bit of joking and laughing but mainly focusing on how we can make the practice a good practice. At 7:45, we get a knock from Zach notifying us that it is time to go warm up. We have light switches on our gym wall designated for everyone on the team including the staff. The light switches represent us as a team being “turned on” for practice and ready to grind. I'm telling you when I flip my switch my attitude completely changes and I'm sure that is the case for everyone else. We were told yesterday that morning practice was going to be really hard and that we were going to have to really bring it. Well from the looks of it I think that we successfully brought the heat. It was hard but it was doable. There is one drill we do we call the acceleration drill. It can be a struggle but what I love about that drill is that we all get through it, even if our lips are blue (aka me). All drills were hard but we pulled through. After the first session we cool down with our trainer Zach. He's pretty awesome because he makes sure that we are mentally strong even though we are pretty sore. When we cool down, we normally roll our feet on the hard lacrosse balls and roll our legs on the Styrofoam rollers. This hurts a lot because my legs are beyond sore. After our cool down we go upstairs for the lunch that the trainers and Sarah, our director of operations, prepares for us. We die laughing when we are together eating. It’s just an awesome feeling knowing you have a whole team to share your thoughts with. After lunch we then go to rehab, where Nicole, our trainer, takes care of us. I can honestly say that I love going to rehab because she talks with you and also makes fun of your bad form, but you can tell she loves you too.
Oh lord, let’s just say that the third session started out with some fencing and a game of Spud. It was a fun and challenging practice, but it was also a helpful practice. We learned so much from the coaches and from each other. Also, fact of the day, Erin Fair’s birthday was today and she got to spend it with everyone of us.
After practice was dinner and a meeting. The dinner was filled with laughter like always and the meeting was very educational. My favorite part of today was when we shared our feelings to each other in a team bonding session. I’ve never cried for so many girls in my entire life. I guess that shows you how much I love them.
Can’t wait to meet all you Cardinal fans! Go Cards!
