One of the things I've learned since getting here is that people who are used to living somewhere with distinct seasons really love the spring. Coming from San Francisco, spring really didn't mean anything to me because it was basically the same weather as the rest of the year (with the exception of maybe a little more rain). So coming back from spring break, I was pretty interested to see what the fuss was all about, and all I can say is that I really had no idea how accurate all the raving was - the spring really is pretty amazing, and I can't believe there are only three weeks left until we go back home.
It's been so much fun to have the rest of the team back, and it's felt a little bit more like being in season because we had a few team practices, two weekend tournaments, and we're lifting and conditioning with more people than I can count on one hand which is always nice. Getting to play our two tournaments in Boston at Northeastern and Boston College brought back so many fun memories of the bus rides, dancing in the locker room with the team, and getting to put all of our hard work to the test with getting to experience one of the best parts about playing a sport - the games. Being able to play together again definitely made it obvious how much everyone was missed during the winter, and it's definitely a different atmosphere in the gym with everyone back and ready to work. We are definitely missing the 12s on and off the court, but luckily Dartmouth is a small enough school that we get to see them around, and they even came to our game at BC to cheer us on! Now that the sun is out, we're getting to play some volleyball out on the Green as well, which is helping with the whole "Hanover winter tan" situation that us Irish folks get to deal with, although it appears to be starting with a few sunburns...oh well.
The Ivy League is strict in terms of how often we can be in the gym with coaches, so our soon-to-be seniors Alissa and Kylie came up with the idea of Gold Star Competition Days, which happen on Sundays for an hour in the afternoon (preceded by an hour of open gym). Basically, we divide up randomly into two teams based on position every week and we play a match, and at the end the winning team gets a gold star to hammer into their backpacks. The girls with the most stars at the end of the spring are apparently getting a nice fancy badge to go on their backpacks so there's some fierce competition, as one could imagine. It's great just to get into the gym for a few extra hours this term given how limited our time is, and it's helped us adjust to playing together again.
Because the spring is fewer hours of volleyball than the fall, it's a great time for us to get to take some more time-intensive classes as well as do some of the other activities we've been wanting to do but hadn't necessarily had the time for, especially trying to navigate everything freshman year. I've become involved with two programs this winter and spring, called Indian River Mentoring and ASPIRE (Assisting Special People through Integration, Recreation, and Education). Indian River Mentoring is actually led by Amber, one of our 12s, and matches Dartmouth athletes with middle school kids from Indian River Middle School to tutor, mentor, and just become friends with by going to see them at least once a week. It's an awesome program and it's been really interesting to travel back into the mindset of middle schoolers and try to help them navigate whatever situations are on their minds at the time. It's definitely nice to get off campus for a little bit each week and just get to hang out with some really sweet, great kids and help them out. The program that I've been the most involved with since the season ended, ASPIRE, is also one of the highlights of my week. It works with children anywhere on the Autism spectrum and helps them with social integration through a few hours of swim group on Fridays and play group on Saturdays. The kids range from 4 years old up to the girl I work with, who's 9. Not only are they adorable, but it's unbelievable to see the difference even just being in the water makes and how they come out of their shell and become little fish the instant they jump into the pool, and it makes such a difference building trust with them in a more comfortable environment for a sometimes more stressful one at playgroup the next day. Even just things like underwater tea parties and having breath-holding contests bring the biggest smiles to everyone's faces. Recently, swim group has been going on at the same time as an Aqua Zumba class, and the kids get so ridiculously excited for it that we talk about it pretty consistently for the hour and a half before it starts. Not only do they love getting to dance in the water, but it makes swim group even more entertaining for us, and we've been having a blast trying to teach them the Zumba moves (although sometimes they're the ones teaching us!). This part of ASPIRE has been such an amazing experience that we're looking into starting an Aqua Zumba class for the kids next year, but if nothing else we're hoping to continue to get to do that every week. After all, how often as a college student do you get to take and help lead a dance class in a pool with a giant water slide?
Between the sunshine, team reunions, and the amazing other opportunities that Dartmouth offers that can be easy to overlook with everything being an athlete here throws at us, the spring has turned out to be better than I could ever have imagined - I'm even starting to get over the fact that the winter I'd been looking forward to for many years turned out to be unbelievably mild for Hanover. The whole term, and really the whole year, has really flown by faster than I expected. But as the term is coming to a close, we're getting closer to summer training and then fall season, when we get to welcome all of our '16s onto campus, and we're all so excited for what the next season and year has to offer!
Alexandra Schoenberger '15
