Words of Wisdom
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| Entry #1 |
With the 2008 presidential election coming to a close, "change" seems to be a key word. Not only is change happening for America, but change is happening for the Purdue Women's basketball team. With the departure of last year's seniors, the addition of the freshmen and the return of Jodi Howell and myself, the style and tempo of our game will be changing this season.
I am a fifth-year senior, back from an ACL injury. We have four starters returning from the 2008 Big Ten championships team. Jodi's back from a shoulder injury and we have a freshman class that was ranked in the top 10 recruiting classes last year. All of us worked really hard this past summer conditioning, lifting weights and playing basketball to get ready for this year. Our team is expected to do great things this season and only three weeks since the official start of practice, I feel as though we are on the right path. We are bonding well on and off the court. Coach Versyp is a big believer in team building exercises, so we've already navigated a corn maze (this is Indiana after all) and played "Would You Rather".
On Nov. 4, we had a closed scrimmage at Ball State in Muncie, Ind., which went well. It exposed some weaknesses (like boxing out and rebounding) and showed we have some more work to do on our full court pressure, but it was good to have all of us Boilermakers in the same color practice jersey. On the bus ride home we got the news that Barack Obama had won the presidential election. That was an historic moment and really cool to share with my teammates. It meant something extra-special to me since I'm from the Chicago area, Naperville, Ill., to be exact.
We will be put to the test on Dec. 9 when we have our first exhibition game. You'll have to check back with me later to see if we're living up to expectations.