Jan. 9, 2009
Puerto Rico - The following are the final journals from the swimming and diving team's annual training trip to Puerto Rico. The Fighting Illini are returning to the Midwest for their meet in Bloomington, Ind. on Jan. 9 against Indiana, Michigan and Tennessee.
Monday - 1/5/09: Head Coach Sue Novitsky
Today we competed in a meet against LaSalle University and Southern Illinois. This meet would be an opportunity for the coaches to see how well the athletes were doing executing all of the things that we have been working on in practice, be it when to attack in a race to solid fundamental skills.
Before the meet we completed our weight workout and then warmed-up in the pool until 5 minutes before the meet started. I had decided that I was not going to let the swimmers know who was entered in an event until one event prior, typically 2-5 minutes. I wanted to see they would respond and step up to race when they were taken out of their normal routines. As much as we try to keep things the same, sometimes things happen that are beyond your control and I wanted the athletes to see that they could get up and compete cold.
As we keep working through our season we keep trying to remind them that the goal still lies ahead and it will stay there until we learn how to take it. Sometimes that involves taking a risk to take your performance to the next level instead of settling for the middle pf the pack.
Most of the team went to the beach after lunch. The sun was shining and the waves were crashing. It was good to get back in the ocean for some body surfing.
Tuesday - 1/6/09: Head Coach Sue Novitsky
It was another early morning with a dry land circuit workout before our swim practice. Today we only had one workout to let the athletes recover a little from the increase in intensity. In Puerto Rico the Fiesta Día de Reyes is a very important holiday. Most businesses are closed for the day in order to celebrate. The coaches went over to the festival and a different beach. There was music, games, food and many other events going on. All of the kids at the festival received either a soccer ball, volleyball or basketball. The beach was not very crowded and the water was refreshing. We headed to El Hamburger for a snack before heading back to the hotel. The seniors and freshman came up with a team activity for after dinner called "Create a Monster". We have one more day of training before we head back to the states.
Tuesday - 1/6/09: Diver Britni Fisher
Today was absolutely amazing. It was an off day, so we had practice in the morning like normal and then the rest of the day off. Chris took the divers on a 40 minute walk around the park and rec complex as the first part of our warm up. It was incredible. We walked by the water, and saw fist-sized crabs, hundreds of dime-sized crabs that scurried into holes in the sand when you walked by, a bird with red eyes and beak, a pelican, fish jumping out in the water... and then we saw these fish that were at least four feet long, swimming right at the surface of water that was probably two or three feet deep. They were basketball sized at their bellies, and they all grouped together and swam about when they saw us, expecting us to throw food to them. They were massive.
Once we got around to diving, Trinity, Houston, Army, Notre Dame, and Illinois were in the pool together. Most of us crammed onto the two one-meter springboards for a mini meet which we titled the "Coconut Cup," and Nikki, Bridget, and I are proud to announce that we won the first annual Cup.
The team went to breakfast afterwards, where we finally saw the infamous brown pelican we were supposed to find on the first day of inter-team competition. Everyone bounced around excitedly and made sure to take pictures of the bird.
Then back to the hotel for fast showers and a cab ride to Old San Juan... which was phenomenal. Today is a local holiday- 3 Kings Day- so a few restaurants and stores were closed. But most were open, since it's a prime location for cruise ships to dock and mass amounts of tourists to explore.
Since there were more than a dozen of us there, we split up into smaller groups to wander about. My group walked halfway across Old San Juan, up and down brick roads lined with people, shops, restaurants, and stray cats. We went to the main fortress of the fort and explored inside it's walls- there is so much history there, it's pretty well preserved for surviving a war, and tons of photo ops which we took full advantage of.
Then we walked back, taking pictures of all the incredible architecture and sculptures that give the city some of it's character.
Before hopping on a taxi home, we ate at a tapas restaurant by the water. Tapas style means that the food you order comes out in smaller portions, meant to be shared around all around the table. So we all ordered different local entrees and that's exactly what we did.
We got back to Condado Plaza in just enough time to shower and take a power nap before dinner with the team at Waikiki.
Then we played another team building/bonding game, called "Create a Monster," where you divide into small teams (we did teams of five or six) and have to join together to make a monster that has one less arm than the number of people in your team and one more leg. So if you were on a team of six, you could only have five hands touching the ground and seven legs. Once you were assembled, you had to be able to move as a unit. So, being the competitive people we are, we had to race our monsters once they were finished. (team two dominated, by the way) It was quite the experience.
After that was over, the three teams were given our final assignment of the trip: make a Ricky Martin music video, live or taped, to be shown or performed the next evening after dinner. So we split up into our teams to do that. Now, I'm up in my room writing tonights blog and some girls are at the casino, while others are in the pool and hot tub.
Practice at 6.45 tomorrow morning, so I'm out. Goodnight!
Wednesday - 1/7/09: Head Coach Sue Novitsky
Today was our last day of practice and I was anxious to get in a great day of work. We started the day early at 7:00AM in the weight room. Ten minutes of abs followed the weights. We hit the pool at 8:00AM. The morning practice was all about power for both groups. One tradition of training trip is for me to hit the pool during warm-up and dive bomb members of the team (April McKee, Rachel Japp and Jen Ivarson). Amy Johnson was worried that I would get her so I snuck up on her as she was finishing part of her warm-up. Being in the water can be beneficial too, as you can see strokes underwater for a better angle.
In between practices most of the team was at the hotel pool. Coach Steve, Coach Ryan and I went kayaking. There were numerous wildlife sightings. For the last practice of the trip the middle distance and distance swimmers were descending down to fast and the sprinters were doing some fins and paddles work. Overall the training on the trip was very high quality and should help the team in our continued preparations for the Big Ten Championships.
The intra-team challenge continued to heat up. At breakfast on the 6th the elusive brown pelican actually hovered over our restaurant. There was a mad scramble for cameras and to find me with the proof. Going into the last challenge PR Fierce had a slim 25 point lead over Shark Bait...Ooh Ha Ha with Coquí in third 50 points behind. After the senior/freshman team activity the team found out the last challenge - create a 60 second Ricky Martin video. The team congregated for a meeting to go over the logistics of the travel day and to reveal their creative work after dinner. Each of the teams picked Livin' La Vida Loca as their song. Coquí went first with the only live version complete with water special effects. Shark Bait...Ooh Ha Ha presented a video that included choreographed dance moves. PR Fierce also had a video version complete with a surprising choice for Ricky Martin - Jen Ivarson. The judges then submitted anonymous ballots and Coquí came out the winner in a tight competition with PR Fierce with Shark Bait...Ooh Ha Ha coming in third. The overall team score:
1. PR Fierce 225 points
2. Coquí 200 points
3. Shark Bait...Ooh Ha Ha 175 points
It will be hard to leave the sunny weather and great training at the Natatorio de San Juan. Next up is a competition in Indiana and then back home to Illinois!
