Michigan Preseason #6
As I look back on my years at Virginia, one thing sticks out to me the most, that I have been to preseason 6 times! Every year in early August, our women's soccer team takes a 15 hour bus ride throughout the night to Leland, Michigan. The purpose for this long distance travel is so that our team can get the most out of training in the cooler temperatures, be stuck together and forced to bond, and play Notre Dame at the end of camp. I am the first to admit that I absolutely hate the outdoors so you can only imagine my objection when the bus pulls up to the wilderness camp also known as The Leelanau School. When we arrive and unload the bus we warn the first years about the three a day trainings and daily dips in the lake and also throw in the occasional lie just to make them nervous about the week ahead.
The first day in Michigan consists of a light training in the afternoon to loosen our legs and get "the bus out of us" as Steve would say. The next three days are packed with a tough training in the early morning followed by breakfast, another training, lunch, and then the final training before dinner. Two of the three early trainings consist of a sand dune workout. The first dune workout consists of short sprints up a steep incline and usually involves carrying a 6 pound medicine ball. The second dune training involves a 450 foot vertical climb that can only be accomplished by walking in a zig-zag pattern to avoid serious exhaustion. After we are over the hump of three-a-days we move into our phase of tapering until our game against Notre Dame. While in Michigan, we also had some fun with team bonding by having a Minute to Win It challenge where we were separated into four teams and given challenges to complete from the television game show. I am happy to say that my team, The Leelanettes, won the challenge and took home the prize of a bag of M&M's plus the pride of having completed meaningless tasks faster than our teammates.
The best part of Michigan has to be the time spent with my teammates. It is great to be together in an environment where we are all close to each other and have the opportunity to bond before the season starts. We played intense games of ping-pong, watched episodes of Jersey Shore and Bachelor Pad, made up raps and beatboxes, played card games and read the popular summer book, The Help. Even though going to Michigan may seem like a terrible idea, I can't imagine doing anything else for preseason with any other group of people. My team is so amazing and fun that Michigan turns into a vacation rather than a training camp. Being on this team makes it easy to come back for a sixth year and makes me want to stay for a seventh (don't worry- I won't be able to play a seventh year). I love this team and I can't wait for everyone to see the talent and potential we have this year. We are stronger than ever and will not settle for anything less than a National Championship! I guess I saved the best year for last!
