Aug. 28, 2008
HONOLULU - Hey all! We experienced some changes in our usual schedule today when practice was moved to the evening instead of the usual 8:30 to 11:30am. The team slept in today and relaxed in our hotel until about 10am. The view from our room on the 32nd floor is amazing in the morning.
At 10 o'clock, we went to brunch and vowed to eat as fast as possible to create more time for shopping. After our speedy brunch, we split into small groups and headed to the strip. Meryl was my buddy for today and she and I put a serious dent in the list of shops we wanted to explore. We were given about two hours to roam the strip, which undoubtedly flew by. Meryl and I found ourselves about 15 blocks away from the hotel with a little over 10 minutes to get back. Needless to say we rushed back, sprinting the last few blocks to make it back to the hotel in time. We also encountered a statue in the street that was in fact a real person! When the faux statue waved to us we both screamed and jumped back. We would have taken this as a picture opportunity, but like I said earlier, we were pressed for time.
When we all met back up at the hotel, it was nap time. I'm sure all of the girls slept instead of showing off their new purchases. After our nap, we had a video session and Kyle gave us a scouting report on the UCLA players. We watched more video clips of their defense and of attacks of key players.
Following video, we walked to Duke's for dinner before practice. Duke's is a semi-outdoor restaurant along the beach with a live band. Brian has being doing a great job at finding culture-rich places for us to eat on this trip. Once we were finished eating, the team loaded up in the vans and headed to practice. Luckily, we practiced in a huge dome on Hawaii's campus so when Kyle took a wrong turn, we could still find the gym just by seeing it from a distance.
Practice was shorter today, only two hours, so we did things a little differently to attempt to get the maximum repetitions for that amount of time. We worked a lot on passing and serving to adjust to the feel of the gym. After practice, we drove back to the hotel, watching mimes at red lights on the way. The strip is very active at night. Once in the hotel, we made some deli sandwiches and retired for the evening.
Tomorrow is our first game of the season, and I could not be more excited. I encourage everyone to follow the game live on the web or check the website for the score. Wish us luck!
Goodnight and go Bobcats.
