Spring is here. . . finally. . .

Hello from (now finally warm) Hanover!

As Scud (Elisa Scudder) said on our walk to get breakfast from lift yesterday, it seems like the entire campus has bloomed overnight. The trees are finally covered in leaves again, there are BEAUTIFUL flowers popping up everywhere, and the Green is actually green, which is always a nice change from the mud that's been there for a few months. The spring is definitely one of the best terms on campus because it seems like the whole campus is in a great mood, especially coming off of what was a ridiculously long winter with a snowstorm in the middle of April. With new puppies all over, barbecues, sunrise hikes, and trips to Ice Cream Fore U, it's pretty easy to see why people love it. However, after the first few sunny days there were definitely a lot of very red people walking around after trying to reverse the Hanover "tan".

With regards to volleyball, we're still rocking the early mornings. It's definitely different playing with a team of only 11 in the spring, but it's a nice chance to reconnect as a team after being apart all winter. Our two conditioning sessions per week with our amazing new strength and conditioning coach have been preparing us to crush the sprint test next Thursday and getting some competitive spirit going with relay races as surprises. We're in the middle of max week right now, which is our favorite week of the term for lifting because we get to push ourselves as far as we can go and see all of our lifts from the term pay off in the numbers. We even have an all-athlete record board that was recently put up in the weight room, so hopefully we'll be representing on that! 

Outside of volleyball, the spring gives us a chance to get involved with some of the incredible things Dartmouth has to offer beyond athletics. While we tend to take our hardest classes in the spring, the whole atmosphere is more laid-back and it's definitely more relaxing studying on the Green or by the river than in the library! Most clubs and organizations also go into overdrive in the spring, so there are even more opportunities than usual to get involved in community service projects like Relay for Life, cooking at David's House, or volunteering at the Upper Valley Special Olympic, just to name a few. Paige, Kaira, and I had the chance to volunteer with the swimming events at the Special Olympics last weekend and had a blast! We met some wonderful swimmers from around the area, did a whole lot of cheering, and Paige and Kaira did a great job handing out awards :) 

Given that it took the weather a few weeks to realize what term we were in and actually get warm, it seems like the spring has gone by absurdly quickly and it's absolutely crazy that 13S is wrapping up already. The rest of the 15s and I are lucky enough to get to come back after two weeks for our Sophomore Summer, but unfortunately it means another term of our team being spread out across the country. However, this spring has been a great time to refocus on getting better and stronger with each opportunity, and I know that we'll all be working as hard as we can wherever we are so that when we reconvene in 3 short months we'll be ready to crush preseason!

Alex Schoenberger '15

First Year Family Weekend

First-Year Family Weekend

A couple weekends ago was First-Year Family Weekend, a time in which families of first-year students are able to get a taste of their child’s life at Dartmouth. Our parents and siblings arrive on campus, receive info about the scheduled events and activities, and experience a beautiful, spring weekend at Dartmouth! One of the many activities sponsored by the school was the Tower Room Tour. Students and their families are able to climb through the tower of Baker-Berry library to experience an incredible view of the entire campus and its surrounding beauty. Kayden climbed the tower with her mom and younger sister, and was able to take brochure-worthy pictures of the Dartmouth campus! 

Another school-sponsored event was the Family Weekend Cookout behind the Baker-Berry library. All of us freshman volleyball girls were there with our families, chatting and eating delicious barbeque, while enjoying the splendorous spring weather. After the cookout, many lectures were held, ranging from talks on Off-Campus Programs to academic department lectures. In this way, the parents become more familiar with the opportunities available to Dartmouth students, and the students are able to showcase their bright expectations for the future.

Later that night, Dartmouth’s a capella groups gathered together for a performance known as the A Capella Showcase. Families and students got the chance to listen to some of Dartmouth’s most talented singers in their element. On Saturday morning, Dartmouth Football played in their annual spring game! Many of the volleyball players and families went to watch, enjoying the warm weather while cheering on fellow Dartmouth athletes and friends. 

On the last night, the volleyball 16s gathered together for a tasty Italian dinner at Stella’s with their families. Most of us wanted to showcase Hanover’s delicious dining throughout the weekend; Katie even took her parents to the original King Arthur Flower in Norwich, Vermont, a five-minute drive from campus. King Arthur Flower is America’s oldest flour company, and Dartmouth has their very own K.A.F. shop in the library, where students can buy the most amazing pastries, ciders/teas, and sandwiches! All in all, First-Year Family Weekend was an eventful, tasty, and beautiful spring weekend spent in the company of our parents, siblings and teammates.   

Alli

Allison Brady '16

Spring Competition

This past weekend (April 13) it was so great to play with the team again. Getting to see everyone’s competitiveness surge out once more was very exciting, especially to see it as a precursor to next seasons attitude. All the hours and hours of very very very early morning conditioning, practices and weight lifting is starting to show in our play. I never thought I would be capable of getting up almost everyday before the sun is even out. But regardless of the hour of the day, the team seems so driven to improve from our last season. Some of my favorite moments out on the court is when we have been tediously and meticulously working on little things – like deep corner shots, diving out six feet for a ball, etc. – and suddenly you see it click in a game like scenario. My teammates at times seem startled by my high-pitched squeals, but sometimes I just can’t hold in all the excitement.

The recent warm-ish weather has allowed us to finally wipe out the sundresses and show off our new bruises from our awesome defense work. At times I feel like it’s almost a competition to see who has the most bruises. But I feel like other people on campus must thing we are in some sort of fight club.

We also had our banquet this past weekend- a very bittersweet moment. On one hand it was great to eat all the incredible food at the Hanover inn and see everyone with her parents and reminisce on the great moments last season. But on the other hand it was very emotional hearing the seniors farewell speeches and thinking that’s only three more seasons away for me! I’m definitely nowhere near ready to a) say goodbye to volleyball and b) go into the real world.

Overall I think this spring off-season has been great. I can feel everyone’s motivation and commitment getting stronger each passing day. I can’t wait to see it translate into our upcoming season!

Kayden Cook '16

Learning to Lead: Dartmouth Peak Performance

DP2 (Dartmouth Peak Performance) Leadership Exercise

We all woke up a little early last Wednesday for our ‘Leadership Exercise’. We had about as much information going into it as you have now. That it was a leadership exercise, and that it required rainboots. We all packed into cars, and headed to base camp, a pullout on the side of the road. Mist was lying low all around us. It was getting intense. Steven Spaulding, a.k.a. Dartmouth’s leadership advisor pulled aside Elisa Scudder, a ‘14 middle, and I to get the lowdown on the morning’s activity. We each had to lead a group through the New England forest to a clearing with a large stump, from which we would find a camera attached to a tree in the surrounding woods. Trick is, you had to travel in groups of 2, and had to pre-select the tree you were going to look at from the center, go look on that tree and if it wasn’t there head back and do it again. No looking around in the forest! Then we would cross the Appalachian Trail, find a rope tied to a tree and do a variation on the human knot challenge. The first group back to the cars wins. Go!

Both groups ran through the forest to the clearing, which ended up being more of a marsh. I remember thinking to myself, “Wow, this is a really rocky marsh!”, only to find out later that in fact I was stepping on unfrozen ice chunks left over from winter. We all turned out to be exemplary icy swamp muckers however, and my group raced through the camera finding mission with the help of Holly and Kayden, 16’s, who found the tree on their second time out. We then raced to part two of the mission and completed the knot task, but soon realized we had dropped an essential item (one of the ropes) on our way. We combed the forest, not wanting to give up our lead, and after a long and fearful 10 minutes we heard a coyote call of success and started our race back to the car. Albeit the icy water and long trudging all of our faces were lit up with smiles.

Having that kind of morning is awesome in many ways. First I love nature and being out there with the mist, flying geese and rising light was gorgeous. Secondly, walking into my statistics class at 10 am after that while everyone else had just grabbed breakfast in the cafe made me feel pretty accomplished. But most importantly, the leadership exercise was awesome because it enabled our team to work together in new novel situations and teach us new things about what it meant to lead and to serve. We learned a clear definition of leadership, and were able to see where we fell short. Fortitude and a positive attitude are particularly important to our team because of the high standard of focus and dedication we all agreed was necessary to take us to the level we want to be playing at. I know the team is so grateful for the opportunity to learn these lessons and to have such great resources available to us through the Dartmouth Peak Performance program.

Till next time!

Lucia

Kaira's tryout for the USA Junior National Team

 

Waking up at 4am on a Friday is not my idea of fun but I was so focused on the tryout for the USA Women’s Junior National Volleyball Team that sleep deprivation was the least of my concerns. I arrived in Colorado Springs at the Olympic Training Center early in the afternoon of Friday, February 22^rd and two hours later I began the first part of the tryout. Actually two tryouts were going on simultaneously, one for the Junior National Team (WJNT) and the other an open tryout for the National Team (WNT). We started by playing 6 on 6 wave drills. Although doing the same drill for two and a half hours can seem daunting and repetitious, the level of play was fast paced and extremely competitive. Since I haven’t played since September 1^st, it was exciting to play with athletes who understand what it means to compete at a high level.

   

The second day began with physical testing. This included a one-meter sprint, standing reach, block touch, agility test, height, arm speed, and attack contact height. The interesting thing about all of the physical testing was that all the measurements were done electronically and many were recorded on camera to be reviewed later. At our second practice we learned the USA Volleyball blocking system that involves a split step and intense focus on reading the setter. Then after a short break those trying out for the JNT played timed matches with different teams. Even though I was just playing with college freshman and younger the level of play was still so high it felt so good to be playing.

On the final morning we were divided into teams. We played a mini tournament (my team won all three of our games). It was a great experience and I hope to bring back a high level of play to Leede Arena this spring. The hardest part at the end wasn’t the physical and mental exhaustion but trying to return to college. Mother nature has a way of intervening in travel plans and my trip back to Hanover, never an easy place to get to under normal circumstances, was stopped dead in its tracks. A big snowstorm in Denver and the surrounding area caused the cancelation of many flights, including mine. I would have been stuck in at the airport in Colorado until Tuesday if my dad hadn’t been there to drive me home to NM so that I could travel from Albuquerque where the sky is almost always blue.

Observations:

-       the majority of the players at the tryout were 6’ and above, the tallest player being 6’9.5” and the highest reach 11”

-       some schools send a large number of their players to the tryout and they travel in packs and some schools like Texas and Penn State send none at all

-       the Olympic Training Center has an awesome dining hall where we all ate more than 3 meals a day

-       in the end it doesn’t matter how old someone is or what school they come from, just that they are playing their best not only for themselves but especially for the 5 other people on the court and above all USA