State Track

IM SO EXCITED! STATE TRACK IS IN LIKE THREE WEEKS! I really hope I make it again this year because I've gone every year of my track career and it's the funnest thing ever (except Drake). It's pretty much exactly the same as Drake, but more people from my team make it to state, and unfortunately, there are no professional people competing at state.

Last year at state, seventeen girls and sixteen boys made it to state from my high school. I think the best part about state is staying in the hotel with the entire team and just doing fun things together. Last year, we played a lot of games in the lobby with the boys. We played euchre, heads up, and a HUGE game of spoons. It was really fun! In our game of spoons, there was like fifteen people, and some of them weren't even from my school! They were from Manchester. It was probably the best part about state, and we got to meet a bunch of new people. 

My freshman year at state was a wild experience. Me and a few other girls almost got sent home before we ran! What could we possibly have done to do that? Well honestly it's not even that bad. Me and four other girls went on the roof of the hotel and played volleyball. Unfortunately, a hotel manager caught us and told our coaches about it. Our coaches were livid when they heard about it. All of us who were on the roof were sent to our rooms for the rest of the night and it was maybe 8:30. But I do think this was really our fault because f the hotel didn't want us getting on the roof, why would you put us in the balcony room that was two inches away from the roof? Bad planning on their part! On the way home from state that year, our coach finally realized it wasn't that big of a deal and even told us that he probably would have done the same thing in high school. That made me feel better. 

Hopefully all turns out well this year at districts because I really want to go back to state. The hotel we stay at is really fun and I get the opportunity to get closer to my teammates. I can honestly say that I have made a few best friends because of state track. Rooming with three other girls for three days straight really opens you up to their personality. I hope that se of you guys get the chance to experience state track because it's probably one of my favorite sporting events ever. No I'm not exaggerating that! 

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Suck it Up

The one thing I hate most is when people complain about aches and pains. I am currently in track, and that is a sport where people just complain about everything. "My legs hurt", "my shins hurt", "I can't breathe". Yeah yeah yeah I'm feeling the same exact things you are but you don't hear me complaining! I swear people these days don't know what the word tough means.

Especially because I'm a girl, I hear it a lot. Girls aren't the toughest nails in the box. I will hear people complain every second of every workout we ever do in track and I just want to yell at them. I have tendinitis in both knees and my lower leg, scoliosis, and shin splints but no one ever hears me complain. Probably because I was a gymnast for ten years and you weren't aloud to be wimpy in gymnastics. You got penalized for crying (keep in mind these are little girls under ten years old!). Plus I am playing three sports at the moment, and most of the girls complaining about being "tired" are only doing track. Seriously people, suck it up! 

One of my best friends is one of these girls, and every time she complains about something, I tell her "well me too" and she always tries to refute it. One time at practice she was complaining about shin splints and I said me too and she said "well you don't have it in the same spot as me. Mines all in my bone." First off, that was a really dumb comment. Everyone's shin splints are in their bones. Second off, I long jump so I probably have worse ones than she does anyway. She was absolutely sure that hers were worse until I said "well mine were stress fractures last year" and she finally shut up. She no longer complains to me about her shin splints.. Mission accomplished! 

Unfortunately, I can't have this conversation with everyone, because I don't think they'd take it as well as my best friend. I'd probably be considered a bully or something stupid like that. That just goes to show you how wimpy people really are today.  

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Range of Competition

Unfortunately, in high school athletics, there is quite a different range of competition in each class. Now I bet you can expect that the competition is hardest in 5A, and it declines as you go down each class. This is unfortunate (not really unfortunate because it's fun to play hard teams) for my school because we are 5A.

It's pretty crazy to think that the state champion in 1A could probably be crushed by the worst team in 5A. I've had a few encounters with this situation. At a school volleyball tournament, we played a team called Tripoli. I had never heard of them before (they were 1A). They had gone to state the past like ten years, and we hadn't made it to state in five. We absolutely crushed that team. They were not very good... That makes me mad though because that would mean we would make state and probably win it. 

Now this doesn't mean that there are some really good teams in lower classes, it just means there are fewer of them. If you really think about it, it makes sense. In a 5A school, there are 2000 people who could potentially go out for a sport. There's probably a lot of good athletes to choose in that pool of people. But then you go to a 1A school, with only 100 people in it. Less people to choose from, probably means less quality athletes. 

I think one time, we should have a whole state tournament, including all classes. That would determine who the real state champion is, and it would be a LOT of fun to participate in. 

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The Importance Of Vitamin D

I bet you read the title of this post and went "what's this got to do with athletics?". Well let me tell you, it has a lot to do with it! I didn't know how important vitamin D was until I was running low on it! I don't think most people will have vitamin D deficiency, but if you do, it's important that you figure it out right away! I will never understand why I am vitamin D deficient because you get vitamin D from the sun, and I'm outside more than I'm inside.

The first symptom I had was fatigue. I was always tired. When I ran track, I could hardly get through a 200 without feeling like I was going to pass out. It was absolutely terrible. Especially because it hit me right when I was doing three sports. I would go to track practice, then go right to softball or volleyball after that. Hardly any breaks in my week (I'm doing that again this year and holy cow is it so much easier with vitamin D!). I just wanted to sleep for the rest of my life. 

Another thing that happened was that my muscles were always sore. My legs were dead, my back was killing me, and even my arms would be sore. Apparently you need vitamin D to clear out the lactic acid in your body. Imagine the pain I went through. A whole track season with lactic acid just building up in my legs. I don't know how I finished the season to be honest! 

I think the worst thing that happens with vitamin D deficiency is that if you don't have enough vitamin D, you can't take in vitamin C, and that is EXTREMELY important. If you don't have vitamin C, your bones get really really weak. Unfortunately for me, I didn't know what was happening so my bones got really weak and I ended up getting scoliosis from it. If you don't want scoliosis or a bunch of broken bones, dreaming make sure you have enough vitamin D! 

Now that you've heard all the fun symptoms of vitamin D deficiency, make sure that you have enough. I promise you, it is terrible. Hopefully I have prevented someone from going an entire year with the pain I went through!

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Sore Muscle Remedies

No one likes sore muscles. Amirite? It hurts like no other and it hinders your performance. So how do you get rid of sore muscles? There's only two things I do; stretch and ice baths.

Stretching. Yes I know you all probably could have thought of that on your own, but it really helps if you do it at the right time. Right after you do something physically straining, you need to stretch. Everyday after track practice, my team stretches together. It helps keep your muscles loose, even when they really want to tighten up. Another thing you can do is get a rolling pin (or a fancy rolling stick thing that all runners have) and have someone roll out the sore spots. This is really effective for your legs. After a really grueling week of track, I have her roll my legs out. It is probably the most painful thing ever, but it really does help. You could probably rub some icy hot on there to get it real nice and loose while they're getting rolled. Before track meets, I spend at least thirty minutes just stretching. It's kind of funny how flexible I can get! 

Oh man who would ever want to do an ice bath? ME! I'm tellin you, they work miracles! I don't know what it does, but holy cow you feel like a new person afterwards! Yes, it is the worst thing of your entire life when you first get in, but after like two minutes, your body goes numb. If you're a first time ice bather, I would say only go right to ten minutes, but for all you pro ice bathers out there, kick it up to fifteen minutes! It really feels fabulous once your done! 

I'm sure there are a thousand and ten more ways you can relieve muscle soreness, but these are the two methods that work best for me. I do know that it's better than doing nothing, so if you have muscle soreness, don't be afraid to try these two things. Stretching isn't hard, but ice baths can be kind of scary. Once you get your first one done, the other ones won't be as bad. You just have to rip the band aid off and get it done!!

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Rain, Rain, Go Away

Who thinks it's terrible to play softball in the rain?? ME. These past two weekends at our softball tournaments, it has been constantly raining. This is bad for all sorts of reasons. First, it makes it hard to throw the ball. It gets all slippery and mistakes are made up the wazoo. Second, it gets more dangerous. When you slide it's easier to get hurt. Third, it's just plain uncomfortable. Everything is wet, outfielders feet get soaked, infielders get SUPER muddy, and it's just not anything to look forward too. I really feel bad for the spectators though.. They just have to sit there and get wet for no reason!

One thing I worry about a ton in the rain is if the pitcher is going to be able to handle it. Some pitchers can do it, but some can't. They use "the ball is wet" as an excuse and can't ever throw a strike. I always hope and pray that it will be the other teams pitcher that is like that, not your own. The other thing to worry about is control. It's not as bad in the infield, because for the most part, the dirt doesn't get too wet. But as an outfielder, I worry about my inexperienced players a lot. The ball gets absolutely soaked when it comes into the outfield and you have to know how to handle it in order to throw the ball in control. I asked my freshman right fielder how she thought she was supposed to keep it in control and she said "just grip the ball harder". NO. DON'T DO THAT. That will probably make it worse. It's actually quite simple. You just make absolutely sure that you finish waaaaaayyy down. Way further down than you usually would, and it helps keep you from launching the ball over the cutoffs head. 

I Hate with a capital H, having wet feet. It's not comfortable. After a while it even gets numb. And then your shoes smell terrible and it's just a mess. But if I can say for myself, I love sliding when it's raining. Not when it's like sticky mud, but when there's puddles of mud and water. You fly. I did a slide by last weekend right into a mud puddle and I just flew right by home plate and it was probably the funniest thing I've ever done in my life! The downfall to that was my shoes, batting gloves, and every other inch of my body was caked in mud. Mom had a fit when she saw my shoes😱

Usually umpires are good about calling games when it's raining so majority of the time, you don't even have to play in the rain. I think that's best because it's not real softball when you play in the rain. Too many mistakes to see who the real winner is. 

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Burns, Raspberries, and Bruises

What's the worst thing in the world, but also the best? BATTLE WOUNDS. They hurt terribly bad, but they usually have a cool story to them. You can get all sorts of battle wounds. You can get a floor burn in volleyball, turf burn in football, raspberries from gymnastics, ball marks from softball/baseball, strawberries from softball/baseball. There are all sorts of fun things!

My favorite thing ever is when you get a ball mark on your body from getting hit by a pitch. It's the best when it leaves a seam mark too! I can't count how many times I've been hit by a pitch. I've even gotten hit by a line drive right in the arm. That one hurt a lot!!

I think it's safe to say that the worst things ever are floor burns. I am a back row player, so I basically have burns on my elbows, knees, and hips constantly. The worst ones are the ones that burn over a burn and bleed. OUCH!

A lot of people have never experienced a raspberry from gymnastics. SCARIEST THING EVER. It's when your foot slides down the side of the beam otherwise known as "straddling" the beam. This happened to me so many times when I was a gymnast and they always scared me to death. It's painful when you fall on it because it's wooden.

Another thing I get all the time are strawberries. I steal bases almost every single time I get on base, so that means I do a lot of stealing. Because I steal so much, I have huge holes in my pants and my knees get scraped up. Also, I sometimes do a slide by, which means I slide around the base and then flip on my stomach and grab on to the base, so my arms and stomach get scrapes on them too. I don't mind these too bad, they just take a long time to go away. 

So you see, battle wounds are not a bad thing. I strive to get one every game so I feel like I played my hardest (except for raspberries, no one wants those). So suck it up and be happy.

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Mental vs. Physical

A lot of people don't know the difference between a mental and a physical mistake in athletics. When you get to a certain point in your career, you can't have mental errors anymore, that's why it's important you know the difference. A physical mistake is when it's something out of your control like a softball popping out of your glove, or a missed dig in volleyball. A mental mistake is when a second baseman doesn't make it to first on a bunt, or a middle back doesn't make it to the line on an outside attack (rotation defense). Mental mistakes are the mistakes that are made because you weren't thinking.

It is very important that there are NEVER any mental mistakes if you want to be a competitive team. This weekend at my softball tournament, we had a rough time with these. We lost to a team that we should have crushed because of mental mistakes. Our catcher wasn't talking to the cutoffs, the second baseman didn't make it to first in a bunt, corners didn't come up when someone was bunting. These things can't happen if you want to win. Especially in softball. "Softball is a game of inches"

It's also really important that you have no mental mistakes in volleyball either, because volleyball is a really mental game. You have to be in the right spot every moment in order to keep the ball alive, and then your back row has to talk to the hitters about where to hit, and the block has to talk about getting closed, and it's just a whole jumble of stuff to remember. The really good teams make sure they have no mental mistakes, which in turn reduces the amount of physical mistakes. That is the point you want to be at eventually in your athletic career. 

Hopefully this post has enlightened you on the difference between physical and mental mistakes. It is very important to know the difference if you ever want to be stellar at what you do. At the high school age, it is safe to say that if you are any good at what you do, you will probably never make a mental mistake in your entire season. Or maybe just oneental mistake. If you're making ten or more, it's time to figure out something else to do because no one is going to want you on their team if you can't be mentally strong. Sorry to be blunt!

 

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Athletic Sexism

The only people who can relate to this are all my girls out there✋🏻 So sorry boys, you're probably not going to like or agree with this post. It may not be true everywhere, but at my school, there is HUGE athletic sexism. The boys always get everything. Whether it's school issued money, uniforms, equipment, or gym space, the guys have it better. 

I don't know if there is a formula to figure out how much money each athlete gets when they go to state or Drake (this is for track), but the guys always seem to have more. This year for Drake, the girls only sent five people, and the boys sent seventeen (it's been rough for us girls lately). We got seventeen dollars, and the boys got more (not sure how much). Now if there's a formula, how does that make sense? If you send more people, it should be less money, right? 

Another thing that is unfair are the uniforms. Now some of the boys teams could be fundraising for some extra money to get these uniforms, but I don't see how a girls team should have any problems with uniforms. For softball, we wore old baseball jerseys.. Why is that okay, they were REALLY long (went past my knees and the sleeves went to my elbows). Finally we're getting our own, new jerseys, but we had to fundraise so much for them. Also, in track, we've had the same, black jerseys my entire high school career. We don't even have enough of those jerseys to let everyone in our team have one. And this is sad because we have maybe fifty girls out. The boys team has gotten new, really nice jerseys two times since I've been in high school. Enough for EVERYONE. And they have at least 100 boys out for track. I can't even explain that! 

I bet the equipment a team has deals with the amount of money you raise, but I still don't see how a guys team can have better equipment than a girls team. We fundraise a whole lot too! Baseball these past few years have gotten so much. They got a new scoreboard (not necessary), new speakers (not necessary), and a new backstop (WAY not necessary). For softball, we've needed a new scoreboard for 3 years. The numbers flicker, and at times it just shuts off. We need new speakers, ours hardly works. It's just annoying how we've repeatedly asked our athletic director to help us fix these things, but he doesn't. 

I GET ANGRY ABOUT THIS NEXT POINT. Gym space. I have a specific story for this. It was the beginning of track season, so it was like negative 15 degrees outside. Our practice was at 10, and the boys practice started at 9. When we got there, the boys were in both gyms. We asked them if we could use one (the smaller one) and they said "no, we were here first". We asked our athletic director to let us have a gym, and he said, "no, they were here first". That's just stupid right there😑 So because we are good people, we ran around the halls in our school and OUTSIDE IN NEGATIVE 15 DEGREE WEATHER. We told the boys to come get us when they were done with the small gym, and when they finally were, we went down to find baseball practicing. THEY ARENT EVEN IN SEASON! And we didn't get to have a productive practice that day because there is TERRIBLE sexism in our school. 

Another minor thing that happens is our principal only goes to certain events. I can tell you he was at every football game and every boys basketball game, but I only saw him like one or two times for softball. I've seen him one time for track, and that's because he had to work at the meet. The other night, he was late for the girls soccer game and went and sat at the very top of the bleachers, and then when the boys game started, he went down onto the field and cheered for them. Please, don't be so blatant when you do all of this stuff. It's not hard to pick up on! Our last principal we had was the best person on the planet. She made it to EVERYTHING. And she still makes it to EVERYTHING. Bless her heart. 

All I'm saying is my school is way too sexist about their athletics and it's really unfortunate for the girls. These are just examples from the three sports I play! I can guarantee that there are several other examples to choose from.

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Drake Relays

One of the most exciting sports events of all EVER is Drake Relays. It's not just a high school event, it's also college, and even professional! Since this is a event for high level track and field participants, not many high schoolers get to go. This isn't going off of your class, it goes statewide. You have to be one of the best in the state to make it to Drake. It depends on which event you want to qualify in, the amount of participants for each event varies. For all field events, top 24 get to go. The field events include long jump, high jump, discuss, and shot put. For individual events, the 100 meter dash and the 100/110 meter hurdles have 32 entries. The 400 hurdles get 8 (REALLY HARD TO QUALIFY IN!!!!), the 800 meter dash has 16, and the 1500, 1600, 3000, and 3200 get 21. Unfortunately, the 200 meter dash and the 400 meter dash are not available to high schoolers. For relays, the 4x1 gets 80 entries (why so many? I've always wondered!), the 4x2 and 4x4 get 24, the sprint medley also gets 24, and the 4x8 and shuttle hurtle get 16. Also, the distance medley isn't available to high schoolers.
If you were lucky enough to qualify, embrace yourself. It is seriously the most fun I've ever had at a sports event, and I do a lot of sports! It is over a three day period, so if you're only in one or two events, you pretty much just get to watch everything happen. My freshman year, I made it in two events, the 4x1 and the sprint medley. When I wasn't running, me and my other teammates were watching other races for high schoolers, and we also got to see a bunch of professional races. We even got to see a Puerto Rican woman break the world pole vault record. It was incredible!
It is super fabulous to watch, but there is nothing compared to what it feels like to actually run in the relays. It is a huge stadium, and it's a beautiful, blue track. When you get to go down to the track, it is just pure madness. I started the relays, so I got to walk to the starting position in front of a packed full stadium. People were screaming and waving and I've never experienced anything like it! I mean for some people that's probably terrifying, but I loved it! And then when you start running, it is just so loud. You can hear people cheering, and I could even see my family in the front row of the stands. It was the most exhilarating 20 seconds of my life!
Not only are the relays fun to attend, but it's also really EXTREMEMLY fun to stay in the hotel with your teammates. Both our boys and girls teams were at the same hotel, so it was really fun. I learned so many new things about my friends and we had a great time. Our coach is really strict though, and he doesn't allow us to even go into the boys rooms. None of us do that anyway, we just chill in the lobby and play cards. Last year, me and like four other girls were put in a room with a balcony. Of course since we are teenagers, we're going to go on the roof! Unfortunately, we got in really big trouble, and our coach threatened to send us home early! All I have to say is, if you don't want us on the roof, why would you put us in the room with a balcony! Come on people!
Hopefully, you will get to experience Drake Relays once in your lifetime, because it is the most fun you'll ever have! If you don't go, hopefully this post will fill you in. I hope that I make it to Drake this year, the cut offs are in like 2 weeks! Fingers crossed!
For more information on Drake Relays, go to http://www.godrakebulldogs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=15700&ATCLID=1404451
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Softball Showcases

Softball showcases may be one of the best things ever invented in the sports world. It's not your typical showcase. You don't actually keep score! I find that to be very nice because if you are getting absolutely murdered by a team, the college coaches aren't going to know that. They are going to see what you have to offer instead of worrying about how you're losing a game 15-0. 

Now it may not be the same for every club, but fortunately I have really good coaches, and they know how to handle showcases. My team is called a showcase team because all we do is go to showcases to get recruited. They know to rotate everyone in and out of the game, making sure that no one sits out more than two innings a game. Also, they make sure that if a coach is there to watch you in a certain position, they put the player in that position. The goal of the softball showcase is not to win, but rather to get players recruited. Now trust me, there are teams there that try and win every game, but they aren't there for the right reasons. 

I especially like showcases because they are just so relaxed. There is no pressure for anything to happen, and if I'm being completely honest, I don't ever notice when a coach is there. Probably because a college coach can't talk to you until after your junior season of softball, and in Iowa that means pretty much your senior year (VERY INCONVENIENT)

The only bad thing about softball showcases is that there aren't very many games. I played in a very big tournament in Florida, we played like 5 games in 2 days. Not a whole lot compared to a regular tournament! I've been to tournaments where we play up to 8 or more games! 

To be honest I don't know if showcases for other sports are different or not, I've never been to a volleyball showcase, and I don't really know if there is such thing as track showcases.. I guess we'll never know! 

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First College Visit

So... I just went on my first college visit this past week.. And holy cow was it intimidating!!!! I went to the University of Northern Iowa, and the softball staff took me on a tour. 

First, my mom and I had to go to the softball offices and have a meeting with all of the coaches. I have never been in such an intimidating situation in my life! They were asking me really hard questions like "what's your definition of compete" and "how would you take it if you didn't play". It's hard to come up with those answers in a matter of a few seconds! Those are deep questions! I gave them my best answers, and they seemed to accept it so I was happy. 

So after I went through that terrifying moment, we started on our tour. Now if you know anything about Cedar Falls, you know that it's almost always windy, and let me tell you, it was really REALLY windy that day! Also it was like 30 degrees so it was a real good time. We walked all the way around the campus and I got to eat lunch in the cafeteria where all the college students eat. And again, the coaches started asking me more questions, and I just get so intimidated by all of them! 

After lunch, the coaches had to go set practice up, so my mom and I went to the admissions office and we got to talk to a really nice admissions person. He walked is through all of the requirements to get through college at UNI. I also found out that because of all the AP classes I am taking/going to take, I'll come in with a bunch of credits. 

Lastly, we got to go watch the softball team practice. That was also intimidating because there were just a bunch of D1 softball players looking at me as I walked in to their practice. After a while things became more comfortable because a bunch of the girls came up to me and started talking to me. I got to ask any questions I had and I really enjoyed talking to all of the girls. 

The biggest piece of advice I have for you if you're going on an unofficial visit, is just be brave. The coaches are going to be blunt, and your going to be asked really hard questions, but that just means they are interested in you! Don't act shy and don't stutter, be firm with all of your answers! Also, you can throw a little humor and personality In there and you'll leave a good impression! GOOD LUCK!

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March Madness (literally)

Every year, my family and I have a bracket competition for March madness. Now I obviously know nothing about basketball, so I just fill in random teams because their name is cooler (like Gonzaga that's an awesome name). Somehow it works out for me because last year I got first! This year, I did absolutely terrible.. I got dead last, like I should I guess. But all I have to say I thanks, Iowa State. 

The crazy thing is, there have been at least 10 upsets already! Since I'm so good at picking teams, I chose Iowa State to go to the finals, cause you know, I'm from Iowa so might as well have an Iowa team go all the way right?? Well thanks so much Cyclones, you lost first round! Pretty much screwed me right there! Thankfully, I chose Kentucky to win it all! 

The final four consists of three number one ranked teams; Duke, Kentucky, and Wisconsin, and a number seven ranked team Michigan State. I'm really counting on Kentucky to get it done and my bracket isn't a complete failure!! Now it's not surprising that there are 3 number one ranked teams in the final four, but how did Michigan State snake their way in there? First, they had to beat number ten ranked Georgia, which was surprisingly close, 70-63. Then they went on to beat number two ranked Virginia! If that's not crazy enough, next they beat number three ranked Oklahoma and number four ranked Louisville. Who would have thought that a number seven team would make it all the way to the final four! Way to go boys!! Unfortunately they have to play number one ranked Duke, who almost always does really in the tournament. Well, I'm rooting for those guys! Bring on the under dogs!

I don't think there are any people left with a successful bracket, I mean how could there be! With over 10 upsets, this has to be one of the craziest March Madness tournaments in a while!!! Finally, the title of the tournament makes a whole lot of sense! Hopefully the madness is over and Kentucky can get the job done. PLEASE I'm counting on you! 

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Energy Drinks

There has always been a controversy between whether sports drinks are good for you or bad for you. Well here is your answer: it depends. Drinking it while you sit on the couch watching tv, not good for you. Drinking it during or after exercising, that's good for you! The only time you should drink them is when you need to replenish your electrolytes, otherwise it's just unnecessary sugar for your body. It would be the equivalent to drinking a soda. 
There are many different types of sports drinks such as Gatorade, PowerAde, All Sport, and I consider Propel a sports drink too. It is not bad if you drink one after just a simple run, but these sports drinks should be used only when you are still exercising, and you feel physically drained. You feel this way because when you sweat, you lose salts, or electrolytes, and your body needs them to run properly. Without the salts, your muscles could cramp up, and trust me, that is the worst pain of ever (I'm exaggerating)!
If I have a preference of these sports drinks, my favorite is Gatorade, the yellow one to be exact. My dad likes to surprise me with the giant bottles of Gatorade, and don't get me wrong I get really excited, but they usually just sit in my refrigerator until my next activity. I can say from personal experience, Gatorade actually replenishes your energy! I was playing in the 5th set of the regional semi-finals for Volleyball (this is the start of the state tournament, meaning you lose and your out!), and we had played almost every single point that could be played. The scores were 22-25, 21-25, 26-24, and 25-23 and I was absolutely exhausted. I could have probably laid down in the middle of the court and slept! So what did I do? I grabbed my handy dandy Gatorade and chugged that puppy down. That 5th set, I had more energy than the first, may that be accredited to the adrenaline of being in such a close match or not, and we won and advanced to the regional final! It was great.
So yes, Gatorade is good for you in those tough workouts and long games, but I wouldn't recommend it for your everyday workout. It is very sugary, and sugar leads to fat. If you would like to read another opinion, go to this link----->http://healthyfitfierce.blogspot.com/2014/09/is-gatorade-actually-beneficial.html

Bad Coaches

I think every athlete can say that they have had a terrible coach once or twice in their career. I know for me, I have had like six of them. They can be such a pain and it makes you hate the sport, but you have to toughen up and get through the pain. I know, they can make your team be pretty bad, I'm actually on a team right now where the coaches are so bad, we literally cannot win. Hopefully things clear up soon.
I think the best thing you can do if you have a bad coach is just don't listen to the negatives. They can be yelling and screaming and cussing at you, but you just have to let it go through one ear and out of the other. Come together as a team and bring the best out of each other.
The next step you can take is to talk to your coach. Me and my team tried talking to our coach. Unfortunately they are both so young, they didn't take it very well. It was poorly timed and the rest of the weekend was very awkward and tense because of it. Make sure that if you choose to talk to your coach, make it a good time for everyone.
Since that didn't work for us, we set up a parent meeting with the club directors. Now this hasn't happened yet, but I hope this clears things up because we have nationals in June, and we all need to be at our best for that to be successful.
If you ask me, I think parents should stay out of this situation. Sooner or later, kids need to learn how to take care of these things themselves. My parents always make me talk to my coaches by myself. It may be scary, but it really does help to do it yourself. Your coaches will also respect you more if you do it by yourself.
All in all, there is a lesson to be learned by having a bad coach. You may not always like everyone in your life, may it be a job or simply a coach, but you still have to stick it out and be respectful. It is the adult thing to do, and if you ask me, kids with bad coaches have a leg up in the real world when they are older.

Apparently we do have something to thank our bad coaches for!

Don't Be That Teammate

If you ask me, I think one of the most important things about an athlete is how good of a teammate they are. You may not think it matters, but college coaches are very good at picking up how good of a teammate you are. They care about how good you are, but they also care about coach ability and how good of a fit you are going to be for the team.
Here are my list of DON'TS:
1. Don't yell at your teammates. No one wants to be yelled at, and that's a good way for you to become the least liked player on your team. It could get you in trouble with parents and coaches, and everyone is better off if you just leave it up to the coaches.
2. Don't brag about yourself every second you can. No one actually cares! There are ways for you to talk about being good without bragging. Be humble!
3. Don't talk back to your coaches. Obviously you would think this would get you benched, but in some cases, it doesn't happen. I've had coaches who favor the players who talk back to them. Why? Couldn't tell you.
4. Don't talk poorly of your teammates. Eventually, they will find out, and it will be a very unpleasant time for the both of you. Remember when you were 5 and your mother said "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all!"? FOLLOW THAT RULE!
It's not hard to be a good teammate. It actually very much affects the team chemistry if you do have that one player that is rude to everyone. And, I have previously posted about how imperative it is to have good team chemistry. You will never play good if you don't have team chemistry!
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Gotta Love Cool Uniforms

One of my favorite parts about athletics is probably the uniforms. I can't even count how many I have at home. Considering I play three sports, it's a lot! But, if you're like me, you like to be the team that everyone envies because you have the coolest jerseys.
Each sport, the jerseys are different, but they are all so cool in different ways. For volleyball jerseys, I think long sleeve jerseys look the best. For my team, we have three long sleeve jerseys. A white one with black letters, a black one with volt letters, and a gray one with pink letters. Fortunately our team is sponsored by Nike, and we get to have really awesome jerseys!
For softball, I have always liked the color maroon for jerseys. Teams like Alabama and Oklahoma just look so professional. White pants look very nice, but they are a pain! Once you slide in them, you can never fully get the dirt stains out! I think the coolest jersey award for college softball goes to University of Florida. I would love to wear jerseys like them.
Track uniforms aren't anything but solid colors and very very tight. For my high school, we just wear black tank tops with black spandex. I think it's the most boring jerseys out there.
I don't know if you can consider it a jersey, but gymnasts probably have the most glamorous outfits. They can have sparkly leotards in any color they want. My old gym used to be maroon, which I loved, but now they are purple, which I envy. Purple is my favorite color. Why not get those when I was still a gymnast!

Now I think everyone can agree that the University of Oregon is the luckiest college alive. They get the coolest uniforms ever! They have really awesome football jerseys, softball jerseys, and volleyball jerseys. I'm sure they have a lot of other cool jerseys for other sports too. I would kill to go there and get the uniforms they do!

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First College Coach Call

Today, I am going to be giving you some tips on calling a college coach for the first time. I know that it can be scary, but if you want to play a sport at a high level, you need to know how to do it.
First, be enthusiastic and engaging. Coaches are looking for athletes who are excited about the opportunity to compete at their school. Consider your tone, confidence level, and leadership ability while you're talking to a coach.
Second, before you call, it's a good idea to practice. Role play with a friend or a parent the conversation you expect to have. The practice should help calm your nerves when you make the actual call.
Third, do your homework. Research the college and the coach before the call. A coach will be impressed if you know the specifics about his/her program.
Fourth, be prepared. Have a list of questions or a script in front of you when you call. Introduce yourself with your name, city, and high school. Ask specific questions about the program and your chance to compete. Ask the coach what your next steps should be in the recruiting process. Cover the basics during your first conversation with a coach. On second and third phone calls you can discuss more detailed information about the program.
Fifth, be ready to answer questions from the coach. Phone calls give coaches a chance to find out more about you. They're likely to ask what your strengths and weaknesses are, what other schools you're considering, what goals you have, and what you're looking for in a college.
Finally, be persistent. Coaches are busy, and you'll likely have to leave a few voicemails before finally reaching them. I know for me that it took four tries the first time I called a coach. Find out from the coach or an athletic secretary the best time to call. When leaving a message, let the coach know exactly what time you plan to call back.
The main thing you need to remember is to be confident! If you follow these simple rules, and add in a little bit of personality, the coach will have for sure enjoyed your conversation! Good Luck! 
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Multi-Sport Athletes

Recently, I did a paper in my LA class about the benefits of being a multi-sport athlete. This is something that I am very passionate about, and I guarantee that if you were to argue me on this, I would win every time. There are very clear benefits to being a multi-sport athlete, for example, it makes you so much stronger. I play three sports, and I am 10 pounds away from breaking the hang clean record at my school. If you think about it, a multi-sport athlete is using different muscles in very different ways. For me, track makes my legs strong and fast for softball and volleyball, volleyball improves my vertical to help with long jump, and softball helps hand eye coordination for volleyball. It all works in a big circle.
Another reason to be a multi-sport athlete is to prevent yourself from getting a overuse injury. Way too many young people are becoming injured because they spend too much time participating in one sport. Torn rotator cuffs and torn ACLs are ruining young athletes. If you focus on just one sport, it puts the strain on one part of your body. For example, athletes who only play softball are more likely to tear their rotator cuff. A girl on my team has a lot of little tears cause all she does is softball. Playing multiple sports spreads out the strain.
Lastly, it prevents an athlete from burning out. There are many young kids who get tired of the sports they are participating in because it's all they do. Take a break from your favorite sport, and when you come back to it, you'll be more ready than ever and you can be excited for what's to come.

A lot of high level coaches agree with this philosophy. Gayle Blevins, my hitting coach and fourth most winning record in NCAA Softball history, would rather have multi-sport athletes. She agrees that it makes them even more strong and it makes them diverse. Another example is Urban Meyer, the football coach at Ohio State. Out of all of his football players, two of them were one sport athletes. Obviously he proved that multi-sport athletes are better because they won the championship. If that doesn't convince you, I don't know what will.

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The importance of practice

Practicing is the most important thing to do when playing a sport. If you don't practice, how will you get better? "Practice makes perfect" right? Well, it's the truth. You don't necessarily have to be practicing with your team or a coach either, you can work on things on your own time. I just heard a lecture about how the best coach you have is yourself, and practicing by yourself has proven to make you better than if you practice with a team or coach. Practicing something over and over again, the right way, gives you a muscle memory and you don't have to think about what your doing, it just comes naturally. But, be careful because if you practice something the wrong way, it is very hard to fix it. It is said that fixing a bad habit takes at least 500 reps of doing it the correct way. Save yourself some time and make sure you do it the correct way!

An example I can give of practicing on your own time is simply hitting off of a tee for softball or baseball. There are so many different drills you can do, and you can simply work on pitch location like, inside tee, outside tee, and even just down the middle. For volleyball, you can pepper with your parents or a sibling, and even set to yourself off of a wall. I used to do that all the time when I was younger. Make your dad go outside with you and toss around a football. Work on your footwork in front of a mirror. There are so many things you can do on your own. There are even things you can do for your confidence. I have a hitting coach, Gayle Blevins (super awesome probably my favorite person in the universe) who had me write the word "winner" on post it notes and put them in obvious locations around my house so I could be reminded that I was a winner. You can write goals on a sheet of paper and put it somewhere that you always look, so you can be reminded of what you're striving for. You can put anything you need to learn about your sport on a piece of paper and put somewhere you always look so that you can learn it while doing everyday activities like brushing your teeth. Be creative and do something on your own.

Practicing on your own is very important, but practicing with a team and a coach is very imperative too. You need to work on your team chemistry (something that is HUGELY important, trust me), and just overall skills work. Your coaches help you with your technique and make you the best you can be. Your teammates also help you out with technique. Some sports, you can't go without a team practice. For example, if you didn't practice volleyball with your team, nothing would go right. You wouldn't know any play sets, your setter won't be used to how the hitters like their set, the passers will be uncomfortable with each other, and there is absolutely zero communication. Communication is key to almost every single team sport there is. Another benefit to practicing with your team, is you just get to know them better. It helps when a team is very tightly knit.

So, hopefully I got my point across. PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE! It really is the most beneficial thing you can do for yourself as an athlete.                

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Indoor Softball

Since I am from Iowa, we can't play softball year round. We are known for pretty nasty winters (which they are...), and it lasts from about November to a little bit into March. Someone was pretty inventive though, and thought of the brilliant idea of playing indoors! It is completely weird the first time you do it, but it's actually kind of fun! It's exactly like outdoor softball, but there's walls and ceilings. It depends on the tournament you are going to, but most indoor tournaments, you are aloud to slide on the turf. Also, some tournaments count it as a foul ball if the ball hits the ceiling.
One thing that is tough to get acquired to is the bouncy floor. On a softball field, unless the dirt is packed down real tight, the ball doesn't bounce that high. In an indoor place, you could bounce a softball off of the ground like a bouncy ball. It is spectacular if you are a slap hitter (which I am yay), but it is absolutely terrible if you are fielding it. Also, sometimes if you hit a line drive into the outfield, it can bounce over the makeshift fences. That turns it into an automatic double. This can be a bummer if you are fast and it could have possibly been a triple, but it is a life saver to the slower people who would have otherwise only gotten only a single.
Another thing to get used to is the ceilings. If you don't pay attention and the ball is hit up into the air, it could actually be potentially dangerous. When the ball hits the ceiling, it kind of just ricochets all different directions, and rather fast too. It can be a good thing too, if the ceiling is low enough, it can stop homeruns and save the pitchers butt! One of my teammates would have definitely gotten a homerun last weekend when we played had the ceiling not been there!
My favorite part about indoor is sliding on the turf. For me, I steal almost every time I get on base, and I use a slide by instead of a regular pop up slide. It's the most fun thing to do because when you do a slide by, you purposely try to slide past the base, but at the last second, you grab on to the base and flip over on to your stomach. Fun in any kind of situation, indoor or outdoor. But when you are indoor, you just fly all over the place. The first time I did it I flung by the base so fast that I took the base with me! Good thing or I would have been out!
A lot of people don't enjoy playing indoor, but it's a time to get all the kinks out and get ready for the softball season. Try some new things, and just try to have fun with it!
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Image: http://archive.inside.iastate.edu/2011/0217/0217.php

Too Cold for Comfort!

Since it's track season, and its February, I feel it's important to address the need for stretching. Stretching is important in any conditions, but it's extra important when it's cold outside. If you think about it, it makes sense. People use the phrase "warm up" when stretching out, and if it's warm outside, there is not much warming that your muscles need. That's why it's always easier to play sports in stifling heat rather than the freezing cold.
For a runner, it is a good idea to start out with a run. Get your muscles moving. For my track team, we run a mile on our track, but since its February and in Iowa it snows so much I want to cry, we have to run in our school parking lot because the track is covered. Usually we run for about 10 minutes.
After we run, we do all sorts of different stretches. Most of them are dynamic, because you need to get your muscles nice and loose by moving them around. First we start with hamstring and quad stretches. There are many different stretches for these muscles. Knee pulls, toe pulls, toy soldiers, walking RDL's, lunges, side to side lunges, and Spiderman's are my favorite. Then, you get into the running stretches. These work on your running form, like high knees and pushing off of the ball of your foot. "A" skip works on picking up your knees, and if you do them correctly, it stretches out your hamstrings. "C" skip is my favorite. It progresses off of "A" skip, but instead of just putting your foot down, you kick it out and put it down real fast. This also stretches hamstrings. Quick step is very similar to "C" skip, you just add running in. Then there is anklings and straight legs. These are practically the same thing, you just bounce off of the ball of your foot, but in anklings, you are aloud to slightly bend your legs. Obviously in straight legs, you have to keep your legs straight.
These are just a few different stretches you can do, but I highly suggest you do something before you start a run in the cold weather. It is very uncomfortable, and there is a very high chance you can pull a muscle, which believe me, is no fun at all. Be smart and stretch!
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Image: http://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/stretches

Qualifiers: soak it all in

The best part about the club volleyball season is going to the qualifier tournaments. For those of you who don't know, a qualifier is a tournament that if your team does well enough, you can qualify for Nationals. These qualifier tournaments are the most amazing things. You walk in to these giant convention centers and there is just court after court. There are like 100 of them! If that's not cool enough, there's venders set out all around. You can get really cool things like headbands, clothes, and I've even seen phone cases and random stuff like that. Going to these tournaments just makes me feel like a professional. 

These tournaments are incredibly tough to win. It depends on the division you play in, but all of them are hard. I'm not sure what all of the divisions are, but I do know that the top division is called the open division. In this division, you have to be super really absolutely fantastic otherwise you're going to lose almost every game. Yay for my team because we are playing in the open division for most of the qualifiers we go to. We have to be on our game! 

I wish that I could have been on good teams every year I play volleyball because the qualifiers are the best part and I haven't been to one since I was like 13. That makes me super excited for next weekend because my team is going to our first qualifier in Minneapolis. It's a 3 day tournament and we have to do good on the first day for any of it to count. Wish us luck!

Let the running begin...

The time has come!!!! Yes you guessed it, track season is almost here! Exactly 23 days until first practice! How do we feel about this? I'm feelin a little shaky, considering there's still snow on the ground, but I am very excited.

Last year, the season at my school was a little rough. We have over 2000 people in our school and yet only 30 girls go out for track. Doesn't seem right does it? So if you didn't already guess, that means we're lacking in the speed department. We only had 1 girl go to Drake Relays this year and my freshman year I had 3 events go, plus like 15 more events.

Track is an individual sport, but it's also a very team dependent sport too. If your not fast enough to make it to State in open events, your whole team has to be on point. One messes up hand off and all your hopes and dreams are over (maybe I'm exaggerating that!). 

I am dreading the first, maybe 2 weeks or so of season because those are the days where your getting back into running everyday  and your legs feel like they are going to fall off. This happens to me every year! Last year was a little worse because I'm vitamin D deficient and apparently if you don't have enough vitamin D in your body, your muscles can't get rid of lactic acid (the stuff that makes it sore). It was a terrible time! I recommend taking ice baths, they actually work. It is terribly hard to make yourself do them, but it's worth it I promise! Once you force yourself to get in, stay in for like 10 minutes. Your legs will eventually go numb so it won't be as bad!

Practicing is a hard thing to do for track because if you're not already fast, there's not much practicing can do to help you. Plus, practices at our school are outrageous. One day last year, we did 17 200's at 100%. I felt like I was going to die! In the long run, I think those kind of days paid off because we turned our season around and ended up bringing 18 girls to the State Track Meet. Always a really fun experience. It is very important for every runner, may you be distance or sprinter, to work on your fast twitch and your slow twitch muscles. Alternate days of practicing hard sprinting and days of longer strides. For sprinters, long strides are not as important unless you are a 400 runner. 

Hopefully you are all ready to get runnin, because first day of practice is right around the corner!

Volleyball: refing and scoring clinic

Worst part about club volleyball season, the refing and scoring clinic. My team was just told that we needed to get certified. One of my teammates actually wrote a blog post about this too! It takes a solid 4 hours to complete, and you already know how to do all of it! Or maybe you know none of it and it's just a lot of rules you don't understand. But push through it, you need to be certified to play club.
Fortunately, you can now do your clinics online, when I was younger, you used to have to actually show up at a lecture and listen to someone speak about refing and scoring. REALLY boring. But, you didn't have to take a test at the end. Now, after you've watched the lesson, you have to pass a quiz about it by at least 90%. Fortunately, you can take a pre-quiz and if you pass it, you get to skip the whole video. That saves a good 20 minutes! Unfortunately, the pre-quiz has like all these trick questions and its just terribly confusing. You probably end up having to listen to the whole video.
Thank goodness for me I passed 3 of the pre-quizzes and didn't waste and hour of my life!
They really should make the videos more interesting because it's very boring. The voices in the video are very monotone and slow and who wants to listen to that on a weekend when you have to listen to that all week at school? NO ONE! 
Now that I've done all of my complaining, I do understand why we have to do it every year. It surprises me a lot how much I actually forget from one season to the next. It's a good refresher. Also, some people desperately need the help. I have had teams ref for me that have absolutely no clue what they are doing. What I'm wondering is how the heck did you pass the clinics! It also is really awesome when you are refing and you make this super weird call (like an illegal block, I had never seen one EVER until last year!) and your like , yeah I did know that! They should really make the parents take the clinics too so they wouldn't haggle the refs so often. Parents, settle down, you have no clue what's going on!
Yeah I know it's the most boring 4 hours of your life, but sit tight, it'll help you in the long run!
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Everyone hates a poor official

I think every single athlete can agree with me on this, EVERYONE HATES POOR OFFICIALS! Unless the calls are going your way of course..:) But, 99.9% of the time, a bad official is going to make bad calls for both teams. Sometimes it is so blatantly bad that your just like, baffled! It has happened to me before MANY times in softball and volleyball. It's just... UGH. That's my best explanation of it. UGH.
There are many different kinds of sports officials. There are referees for many different sports like football and volleyball, an umpire for softball/baseball, and there are judges for gymnastics and diving. I think there are a few sports out there that don't really have an official (consider yourselves lucky). There are people that look for false starts in swimming and track, but that's not something you can really mess up.
The worst thing of ever is that very blatantly bad call. I've had this happen to me more times than I can count because in softball, I am a slap hitter, and almost every single at bat it is a close play. But, it is the most frustrating thing when you have an umpire that calls the play before it already happens. They see the ball hit in the infield and they automatically think that you're going to be out. I have beat a ball out by a solid 2 steps and the ump still called me out. Believe me I wanted to storm out there and give him a good slap in the face!
I can bet $100 that pretty much everyone has seen a professional game where the calls are just botched so horribly. It just happened a week ago in the Steelers v. Ravens playoff football game. I have never seen so many horrible calls against one team in such an important game. It especially peeved me off because the Steelers are my favorite team. My whole family was just yelling at the TV so loud. It would be very unfortunate to be those refs because they probably get a lot of hate afterwards (even though they deserved it in the Steelers game...)
I think the only people who take poor calls worse than the athletes are the parents. I know that it's the worst thing that could ever happen in my dads eyes! He yells at those officials like its his job! I can think of this specific time during softball when I was called out (but was clearly safe of course) he was yelling how horrible the umpire was, and the umpire turned around and said to my dad "I know how hard it is to accept the fact that your daughter was out. I had a kid who played too, and eventually I had to learn to think with my brain not my heart" and this is the best part, my dad said "Yeah well I think with my eyes!". I literally love him so much for that!
So, I think we can all agree that bad officials are the worst thing to plague the planet earth! But if there's one thing I do know, you can't let it affect how the rest of your game is going. That is the worst thing you can do. Just let it go and prove it to them the next time. As my favorite saying goes, "The ball never lies!". Cause it really doesn't. You'll see!
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