You are getting me (Scooter) again tonight as everyone is on their way to bed in preparation for our early morning match tomorrow and Alaina has taken Crash to the waterpark which is about 100 yards from our rooms to take one or two slides down the tubes! In the coming days however, I will have the girls give updates, with coaches putting in their two cents also to keep everyone up to date. I will post scores after each set during the match, live from the bench so keep in touch with the blog. Keep in mind that Wisconsin is in the CST so an 8:30am match means that it is 7:30am in Utah.
So, that being said, let me give you a rundown of the day. Our flight left SLC at 9:50am. Check-in went very smoothly and the flight to Minneapolis was nice and smooth. We had a layover in Minneapolis for a little over an hour and then our flight from MN to Madison was complete with seats in the back with a full window view of the engines which were the loudest we have ever heard and water leaking (literally a stream of water) all over us. Thank goodness it was only a 40 minute flight :)
We only had to wait for about 10 minutes for our bus to arrive to take us to the resort. It was a good ol' yellow school bus. The driver's son was on the bus and was entertaining the girls by showing how his toy cars would roll up the aisle from the back of the bus to the front. The ride was about an hour through beautiful countryside. Lots of farmland and everything is so green!!!
We were greeted by the Willey family when we arrived so McKenzie was very happy, as were the rest of us to see familiar, smiling faces! We checked into our rooms and then made our way to the tailgate party and opening ceremonies. We got there just as they were ending the tailgate party so we got what was left as far as food. they had hamburgers, bratwurst, corn on the cob, macaroni salad, chicken breast and cole slaw. There wasn't much left so not everyone got full, but were grateful that we got there in time to get something.
We then lined up by region and marched in to the opening ceremonies. The ceremony was in the facility where we are playing which is a big bubble dome (like you see the tennis courts around Salt Lake in the winter time). It's a nice facility but we will see how the solid white roof affects the ability to see and judge the distance of the ball. Hopefully it won't affect anything.
After we all marched in (every region was announced), we were welcomed by the Chula Vista resort president and by USA Volleyball. Tracy Stalls (women's national team player) and Tom Hoff (Men's Olympic Gold Medalist in Beijing) spoke to everyone with some inspiring words and then the ceremony was over. The girls walked back to the hotel (about a 25 minute walk) and Alaina checked the team in to the tournament. Alaina and I then walked back and the weather and walk was very nice. The smell of woods, sound of crickets...made me feel like I was back home in Indiana again!
So that brings us to this moment....the girls are in bed as of about 30 minutes ago and we will be eating breakfast at 7am, off the the gym at 7:30am and play at 8:30am vs. Southern California. We will then come back to eat lunch and prepare for our 2:00pm match vs. the USA White team. Stay tuned for live updates via the blog on scores and during the match.
Some of us ran into Kaitlyn Van Hoff tonight also....she was a member of the Intermountain HP team that competed in Tucscon 2 years ago and finished 4th. She is now competed and earned a spot with the USA teams that are here. So exciting to see her moving through the pipeline. Another success for the IM region!!!
Oh, and as I write this, I'm watching the Cardinals vs. the Cubs on ESPN....VERY exciting game, going into the 11th inning...so.......GO CARDINALS!!!!! :)
Also, I have been trying to upload pictures from Opening Cermonies but the internect connection is very slow. I will try and find somewhere I can get a quicker speed and it won't time out and get some pictures up tomorrow! Sorry about that.
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