Ice Cold Generals

And we’re off again to Mary Washington. In preparation for this weekend fourteen W & L women’s tennis players participated in the Fall Kickoff Classic last weekend. It was very successful with both Trelsie Sadler and Sallie Griffin winning their flights. The tournament was split up by flights according to singles and doubles standings on the team. Mary Washington, Longwood, Liberty, and Washington & Lee all competed in the tournament. Each player competed in six matches for the weekend for a total of three doubles and three singles matches. Each day ended with lots of water for hydration and unfortunately an ice bath as well. Our new couch, Bianca, started a new ice bath tradition in which each day after match play we have to sit in her selfmade hotel ice bath with another team member for ten minutes.  Sallie and I were the first ones to try this new concept. We walked into Bianca’s hotel room to find the tub filled with water.  As we touched the water we realized it was warm. Bianca swore she turned the knob to cold and touched the water to find it was warm. She said that someone on the team must have come into the hotel room while the tub was filling and turned it to warm. Typical of our team. Bianca sent us away as she emptied the tub and filled it with cold water, guarding the bathtub the whole time. She called Sallie and I back in to the bathroom. We hesitantly stepped into the FREEZING water and started screaming. It was so cold! Bianca told us to settle down because it was 10:00 pm and people in the hotel may get scared when they heard a bunch of girls screaming. When our legs were fully immersed in the water Bianca dumped a huge trash bag of ice into the bathtub. Luckily I was smart enough to sit on the inside of the tub so all the ice was dumped on Sallie whose skin got so cold she looked like a reptile (After all, her animal is an alligator).  After 5 minutes went by, I lost all feeling in my legs and the rest of the ice bath went by pretty fast. The worst part was getting out of the ice bath. Once I stepped out of the tub my skin started burning and stinging. After about 5 minutes the feeling of my legs came back. During the next hour or so I could hear screaming outside my room as more and more of the team entered the ice bath in Bianca’s room. At one point I looked out my door to see Bianca carrying Laura Simmons down the hallway and into the room. The best reaction to the ice bath was when Lauren Lukas entered and instantly started crying her eyes out. She said that she had not cried in years but she “just hates ice baths so much”. As self-proclaimed jaguar Lauren Lukas might need her animal changed back to her golden retriever. Even yesterday I told Lukas I would pick her up from the tennis center after she was done icing. I walked in to find a crying Lauren Lukas, and the ice bath was only for her one foot.  As we walked out she continued to hysterically cry and I could not help but snap pictures of it (I promised Lauren I would not put them on the blog). Although it was painful, the ice baths were definitely worth it because no one was sore the next day. It was like we didn’t even play the day before.

Sallie and I in the ice bath with Bianca

Lukas and Reed in the ice bath (notice Lukas' red, tearful eyes)

Bianca carrying Laura Simmons into her room for the ice bath

On the way home from Mary Washington we had an interesting encounter with a strange man at a McDonalds in Staunton.  When we stopped at McDonald’s for a bathroom break I walked in to find a tall, creepy man talking to Eric and Bianca. He asked them if they were soccer coaches and they told him that they were actually tennis coaches. He continued to say “Well, you know I just wanted to tell the soccer team that even though they lost they still need to keep trying. Now, that applies to tennis too. I played football, basketball, soccer, tennis, everything. I have some coaching advice for you too…” At that point I walked out the door and hid in the van. Five minutes later the man appeared at the van. The side doors were open and he approached Lauren Lukas who was sitting on the end seat. He started his speech over again. “Oh, are y’all on the tennis team? Now I played football, basketball, soccer, tennis, everything. I have some advice for you. You just gotta keep trying you know?” As he went on with his speech Lauren Lukas proceeded to slam both doors in his face and jab the lock button down.  He moved towards the closed window and continued with his speech until he finally took a hint and walked away. Thanks Lukas!

Another highlight of last weekend was when Eric and Bianca cooked us a spaghetti dinner at Eric’s new house. We spent most of the night playing with his roommate’s Labrador who could give high fives and lots of other cool tricks. Eric even let us eat cake for Chelsea Mixson’s birthday. This was a big step for Eric considering he made me run a suicide last year after eating a small piece of cheesecake.  After dinner we went out to Bianca’s car to get our uniforms. She organized all the uniforms for us. When we were collecting our uniforms a whole basket of balls fell out of Bianca’s car. Since Eric’s house was on a hill the whole team had to spend the next ten minutes chasing balls down the street.  Finally we collected all the balls and we went home to get some sleep. The next morning we had to be at school by 5:55 am. It was the earliest I have ever woken up and hopefully the last time I will ever have to be up that early.  I slept the whole way there until we stopped and I rolled between the seats and woke up.

Although there are a lot of changes this season we are off to a good start. We love our new assistant coach, Bianca, and we miss Ann and Ellen who are both abroad in Scotland. There is more to come next week after our weekend at Mary Washington for regionals. Wish us luck!

PEACE OUT,

Jen

P.S. In response to Ellen’s post I would like to say that I did have lunch with Elliot the next day when my eye was fully healed. We miss you Elliot!

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