At Last!

Only 6 hours before practice. I doubt I'll be able to focus in class.

Went to an open gym with a couple teammates Friday night. Was really pleased with how everyone played. More importantly, the team just gels better this year than the previous two. Last year, we were ridiculously deep, but we were practically split into two cliques. This served for good purposes when we would scrimmage, as neither team would be willing to take a play off to give the other team an edge. However, it saddened me to realize we went an entire season without one team get-together with everyone... that's just not healthy in my opinion. I think this year's team will be much more close-knit, and that will most likely help in our cause.

Individually, I'm very excited for this season. I feel like I'm in better shape than the previous two seasons, and not by a small margin. The things that normally concern me, my blocking and shoulder stamina, have been really strong. The irony is, my passing feels a bit shaky, and that's normally my bread and butter. I think that the time away from playing to work out had a small effect on it, but I hope that with 6 practices a week, it comes back quickly.

It'll be interesting to see how the body holds up this season. Although I haven't had an injury that's kept me out of any matches in my two years here (knock on wood), I did deal with a weak shoulder all Freshman year, and shin splints last year. I'm hoping that this off-season will keep me from dealing with anything like that, but I'm certainly not getting any younger, and although I'm only 23 I do put quite a bit of mileage on the body.

Anyways, I should start my day. I'm sure I'll have an update tonight on how it went.