October 19, 2009

Hey SWG Fans, This week was our cross training week, which means we spent most of our time outside of the gym instead of being boxed inside all day. On Monday we went to the pool to play some water polo. The Stanford water polo coach came to give us some helpful pointers as well as inform us of the rules. One of the game rules, which was very challenging for us, was that you can only have one hand on the ball at all times. In case you have never played water polo before, it's hard! We had a great work out just trying to stay afloat. Shelley and Skoly were naturals (at least compared to the rest of the team) and easily took control of the ball. After water polo we went to the basketball courts to play some water jug baseball. Basically we used an empty water jug as a bat and a wiffle ball as the baseball. Boxes marked with athletic tape served as our bases. Tenaya knocked one out of the park, getting a home run and adding 3 extra points to her team's score. Next we played dodge ball, and finally we finished with some yoga. It was very relaxing and a perfect way to end an eventful day.

On Wednesday, Weedge (Allyse Ishino) warmed the team up with an amazing hip hop dance she choreographed herself. Kristen and Lindsey, our athletic trainer, even joined in. We had fun learning all the complicated moves and trying to look coordinated. At the end of practice we had a guest come in to talk to us about mindfulness. We practiced being aware of our body functions, feelings and consciousness. We focused on being in the "here and now", and learning how to remain focused on the task at hand by not letting the mind wander.

Thursday, we had our beginning of the year meetings with the coaches where we told them our goals for the year as well as anything else that was on our minds. The coaches gave us feedback and told us how they planned to help us achieve our goals.

On Friday and Sunday, we did some actual gymnastics with routines on all the events. Carly Janiga and Ashley Morgan performed gorgeous beam routines, which were flawless. Jenny Peter, Nicole Dayton and Alyssa Brown showed amazing bar routines. And Allie Skoly did double layouts on the tumble track, which were extremely high and incredibly awesome. Everyone is pumped up for the opportunities that lie ahead and the challenges we get to face both next week and throughout the year.

Thanks for joining us for Inside the Locker Room,

Dani Ikoma