Aug. 5, 2009
DAYTON, Ohio - With the 2009 volleyball season just around the corner, DaytonFlyers.com asked a select number of players to journal about their summer of volleyball Rachael Broerman leads off with Aug. 5's edition of Volley|Blog.
SUMMER ON STEWART STREET
by
Rachael Broerman
We started this summer off by pushing strong and having fun. After a week and a half off we were ready to get back to work. I was especially ready to get back to training because my activity level had been seriously restricted due to micro-fracture surgery in my knee three months prior.
Once the summer hit, I was finally going to be able to run again. The rehab was frustrating, but I am finally getting back to where I was before surgery and I am so excited to be moving into the preseason healthy and ready to get after it.
Being on campus in the summer involves a lot of hard work. We worked out every Monday, Wednesday and Friday lifting weights and conditioning. Workouts included jump training, stair sprints, cone agilities and sprints. The workouts were tiring, but afterwards I felt great, like I got something accomplished for the day.
We had open gyms on Tuesdays and Thursdays where we split into teams and played. These nights were my favorite. Summer training is tough, and there are a lot of days where we were sore, but our results will show in the fall during season. There is nothing we want more than to be the best we can.
Summer went by so quickly, probably because of all the things everyone had going on. When we weren't working (most of us had some sort of job ranging from working at the RecPlex to being a teaching assistant for chemistry lab), working out with Mark Thobe, or having open gyms, we would watch scary movies or Family Guy or play with bunnies.
Tiffany (Gaerke) and Amanda (Cowdrey) thought it would be a great idea to get two pet bunnies for their apartment. They were cute at first, but then the smell started to take away from the cuteness factor (Actually, I'm not sure how welcome they are going to be at our new house--just kidding...kind of).
Lounging by the pool (and when I say pool, I really mean "over-sized bathtub") at our apartment complex was another one of our favorite pastimes, especially on the weekends. We would bring out Frisbees and a football to throw around. It was really upsetting when our Frisbee flew over the fence into the dark abyss of the forest behind us. The summer was fun and I will miss our nightly adventures to Speedway for 89 cent slushies.
Some of my friends ask me why I stay in Dayton during the summer, or why I don't come home more often. I tell them that while I miss them and my family, I wouldn't want it any other way. I am so lucky and honored to be part of a team that is so dedicated and has such a strong desire to succeed. By working together all summer it brings us closer together on and off of the court. Plus, it is really fun too!
While it is sad that the summer is coming to a close, I am so excited for preseason. We have some good talent coming in that only adds to the great group we have now. This year is going to be amazing, so expect great things from us because we are ready to take teams down!
- Rachael
