Today we woke up early for out last morning in Bled, Slovenia. We took a couple of buses up to a beautiful path above an amazing gorge between the mountains. The color of the water was crystal clear and we all wished the water was warm enough to jump in! But we learned that the water was snow on the mountains a couple of hours earlier, not nearly warm enough. We stopped many times throughout the trail to take team pictures.  We then all piled back into the buses for a 3 hour drive to Italy. When we woke up (stopped on the side of the road) we wondered where we were, our driver responded “close, but if we don’t find a gas station soon we will run out of gas”…just our luck! We made it to our hotel right outside of Venice and walked about a minute down the road for some home-made Italian pizza from Crazy Pizzeria. We then had a couple of hours to relax and traveled to a “pedestrian place” (not the city of Venice) for some Gelato before our match. After we played our second to last match against San Donoro, and although we learned a lot about ourselves the match didn’t end the way we had wanted it to. All if us were exhausted and starving so went back to Crazy Pizzeria for the second time of the day. This time we had pizza, lasagna, and some pasta… delicious! The end of the night came sooner than expected but we are all excited to go to sleep because tomorrow we get to go to Venice!

Next on our to do list was go on a hike that over looked all of Bled and is said to have even more breath-taking views than the castle.  This hike to the lookout of Bled was long, steep, and treacherous, but worth it.  Our lungs burned and our legs were shaking while we  took pictures of what I think is the most beautiful city in Europe.  I led the way on the hike down and with my extremely accurate sense of direction led myself off the trail to the edge of a cliff, Tim and Jeff had no intention of telling me and were already 30 feet ahead on the actual trail before I realized I was no longer being followed. 

Once we reached the edge of the lake we met up with the rest of the team and ate lunch at a quaint cafe overlooking the lake.  After lunch a group went to see if they could ride on the Alpine slide that occupies a side of a hill in Bled, only to discover it was closed.  The rest of us went out in a boat ride to the middle of a lake, where the most beautiful church sits upon an island.  The boat ride was a small craft manned by one person rowing, and it seemed he was having difficultly manuevering his vessel due the unaccounted access weight on the craft, the unaccounted weight being Tim, who tipped the boat a considerable amount.  Once we got to the church we walked around to take in the insatiable views that Bled offers at any view. 

After the boat ride back, Meghan and I convinced ourselves that after all the hiking we deserved a treat of gelato and made our way back to the hotel to prepare for our game.  I will not go into detail of the game due to, I will put this nicely, technical difficulties we encoutered during the match. 

After the hiking and the games we played we were all a little bit delirious after the game, but no one so much so than myself. For 30 minuties during dinner myself, followed by a number of other girls started hysterically laughing at nothing in particular. Ending with me going up to the front desk with Melissa and while I asked for the key proceeded to duct under the desk while the attendant retrieved it so she would think I disappeared; which brought on another bout of laughter. 

After a day filled with hiking, sight seeing, and unrelenting laughter I am excited to see what our hike to the gorge of Bled will bring tomorrow.

     Today was our first day in Slovenia. We woke up around 7 AM to eat breakfast and catch our 8:24 train from Austria to Slovenia. The next train that we were supposed to transfer onto ended up having some technical difficulties, so we had to catch another train which we didn’t have reservations for, so it was first come first serve. With our luck there were already 80 highschool kids waiting to get on that same train. Our team strategized and spread out in front of the kids so we can somehow get on. When the train arrived we realized that we had to get on the last car, our team raced  to the end of the train swerving around little kids with our huge backpacks and 50lb suitcases. For the first time, I felt like I was at home trying to catch a train in Penn Station. At the end, we all made it and when we reached Bled we realized it was all worth it.

     This place is absolutely beautiful! The mountains look like beautiful painted pictures, its amazing. We had free time to walk by the lake and get a glimpse of what we were going to see tomorrow. The view of the lake was unreal. There is an island in the middle of the lake with a church on it, and in the background there is a castle on the mountain, that we are supposed to take a hike up to tomorrow.

     Then at 6 it was game time. Our first match in Slovenia was against Montenegro’s National team. They were pretty good. We ended up losing 13-15 in the  5th game, but it was fun. Afterwards we got to eat dinner with the girls. Interacting with these girls was one of the best parts of the trip. I met my new friend Tanja. She was really really really good, so I ate what she ate, and I drank Strawberry juice just  like her. She gave me her sweaty volleyball t-shirt and I gave her my spandex since they don’t wear spandex here. All the girls are saying that I have a girl crush but it’s not true! I’m super excited for tomorrow because we are supposed to canoe to he church and hike to the castle. Some of the girls and I are going to start off our morning by running a mile with Little Chris Catanach around the lake and by the mountains. It should be a fun day!

Today, the UT volleyball team and coaches said their goodbyes to Munich and were off to a different country: Austria. Traveling by train, we passed beautfiul mountains covered with green vegetation and scarce wildlife. The temperature was chilly and we all wished we had packed warmer. The trip took less than two hours. During the trip, some slept; others taught coach slang words, but to our surprise he already knew many. Exiting the train could have been a problem for our team, but our teamwork attitute kicked in and we got off like we had been riding the train for years. We walked to out hotel in about three minutes and then we were off to explore Innsbruck.

The team split up into groups to shop, eat lunch, and enjoy the town square. Not even the overcast weather could take away from the beauty of the surrounding mountains and gorgeous architecture. Being a Sunday, majority of the shops were closed; however, we managed to find a restaurant with an English-speaking waiter. After lunch, the girls souveneir shopped and wandered the city for several hours.

At night, we met as a group to head to dinner. We took a bus up the mountains to a quaint little restaurant that served traditional Austrian food. The dinner was going great until Camille, Melissa, and me smelled something a little disturbing. One by one, players started smelling a myterious odor radiating off an undetermined object. Being the quiet reserved girls that you all know us as you can imagine how we reacted. The smell got so bad that Melissa could not hold back the tears and other girls started to gag. We ended up moving across the room to a different seat. Some didn’t believe that the smell could be that bad until they walked over to our seats and experienced the horrid stench.  Most of us lost our appetite so we decided to catch the next bus in six minutes. I think its safe to say we won’t be returning to that restaurant.

Today was another unforgettable day and we can’t say thank you enough to those who made this trip a reality for all of us. I personally would just like to say we miss and love you A LOT and we will be back in the States before we know it!

On the way over to Dachau (the “parent” concentration camp that all other Nazi camps were modeled after) we remembered movies that we’ve seen about Nazi Germany, facts about Auschwitz and other famous camps, and gruesome details we’ve all learned in history class. It seems like we all think of the Holocaust as some far away thing in a far away time, but standing there, in Munich, only 65 years after it all happened, was moving.

Stepping off the train and walking into the entrance of Dachau–seeing the the real place where humans were torchured and murdered by other humans–was something you can’t be taught, only experience. We began the tour at the execution wall, which was lined with bullets, and walked through the barracks where the prisoners of Dachau were kept. We looked into rooms where people were forced into “standing chambers,” where they were given a two-foot square to live in.

The museum we walked through included historical information about how someone like Hitler gained so much power, and how something like the Holocaust was possible in the 20th century. Pictures and stories of real life victims gave realness to the buildings, cells, showers, and gas chambers we walked through. Although it was sad to be reminded the realness and horror that was the Holocaust, I think we were all glad to experience a part of history.

After lunch, we had to aggressively get back on the train (perhaps taking a few old german ladies down on the way…) and had a fabuloous time at dinner–eating our weight in italian food, learning Chris’ favorite female traits, struggling to a glass of TAP water, and devouring an entire pan of Tiramisu (We’re SO American…).

Thanks to everyone for making my 21st one that I will never forget.

(…and a special shout-out to Steven and the german kids who macarena-ed with us. As Jairka would say, “we liked you, so we miss you!”)

The trip took approximately 6 hours from Praha to Munich. As we traveled into the country, I noticed a lot of green rolling hills and beautiful homes that sit upon them. When we got to Hotel Ibis, we loaded our bags into different rooms and left for lunch. We went in groups to find our own way around Munich and experienced different places. A common food item we found was spätzle which is similar to mac n cheese in the states. After we had lunch, we walked around the city looking at all the architecture and also the shopping stores. Compared to Praha, Munich is more like America. There are only a couple of buildings that have very detailed structuring and in those select buildings held churches. The churches were fantastic! They were very similar to the ones in Praha.

At 1930 we met up in the lobby to get dinner. We went to the Ratskeller which was underground just like the one we have at the University of Tampa. The only difference is that in Munich, there are a lot more options than just a sandwich. We varied in tastes from veal to salmon to pork. We left Ratskeller at about 2200 which gave us an hour to get back to the hotel for curfew. Throughout the day,  a religious holiday celebration had been going on throughout the city. There were concerts and dancing everywhere. Some teammates even joined in on the dancing with the locals. At 2300, we all arrive back at Hotel Ibis and getting ready for day 5 of the trip; day 2 of Munich.

– Jessica Yingling #22

Hello Everyone!!  Today in Prague we had our second match against the European teams.  We fared much better than yesterday and beat the Europeans 4-0!  I think we finally got the hang of the ball After we played, Cory and the other tour guides had a delicious lunch waiting for us.  There was delicious Czech pizza and some interesting Czech sandwiches!  Following lunch we had the whole day to ourselves, which we were all very excited for.  The group of girls that walked around with me was Bri, Janae, and Julie.  We braved the tram on our own and made it downtown to the shopping district.  Everyone bought a few things-I got a new skirt!  We were super hungry after our exhausting day of shopping and we found a restaurant off of a side street in downtown.  It looked a little suspect; we were the only ones in the entire restaurant, but it ended up being delicious!  I had roast pork with potato dumplings and fresh sauerkrat.  After dinner we were planning on all going to the disco as a team, but no one really wanted to, so we decided to go and get coffee together instead.  I had a latte and Sam and I shared a dessert called a honey cake.  YUMMMM!!!  We leave for Munich at 8am tomorrow morning so it’s bedtime now!

The third day of competition is taxing on both the mind and body.  Your body is feeling worn down from the previous 2 days of competition and your mental acuteness is beginning to dull from the familiarity of repetition.  Every swimmer has a pre-race routine that they use to get them ready to swim fast.  A quick walk through of mine will show you how after repeating it for 8 plus times can be exhausting.  First, I begin warm-up with a 600-800 yds (75 free 25 back) depending on how loose I feel.  Then, I will kick a 200 straight alternating between back kick and butterfly.  Next, I will do 3-4 75s of catch-up freestyle to get my legs warm.  After that I add 2 50s where I swim 25 underwater, to help expand my lungs, and then a 25 easy backstroke to recover.  Finally, I do 2-4 rocket free for 3 cycles, which means I spin my arms as fast as I can for 6 strokes.  That adds up to about 1300 yrds swimming and takes about 20 minutes.

After I get out and dry off, I find an open area where I can go through my stretch routine.  It is a full body progression and takes between 15 to 20 minutes.  Then I change into my racing suit and do a quick warm up of about 200 yrds to get loose again.  Finally, I will do 1-2 starts where I sprint for 3/4s of a lap.  So, my whole routine takes about 45 minutes and I have to do it before every race.  I also did not mention that I will get in and warm -up again right before my race.  I have to do this because after my initial warm-up I more than likely have to wait over 20 minutes before I am able to swim my race.  Oh, and by the way, I am a sprinter, which means I do all of this preparation for a race that lasts between 20 and 45 seconds.   All swimmers have something similar and after 3 days of competition it can where you down.

With that in mind our day 3 proved to be a roller-coaster of results.  We  did not start out as well as we would have liked.  Both the men and women’s 500 freestyle where slower and no body qualified for a finals swim.  But, the team rebounded strongly in the next event, the 100 back, thanks to strong swims by Roman Sereda (12th) and Ellie (8th).  But, after doing well we dropped back down again in 200 fly.  The women failed again to earn a finals appearance, but our men did better placing 9th and 13th thanks to the efforts of Chris O’Linger and Roman Dagesh.  But, the night ended on a high note as both the men and women’s 800 freestyle relays placed 6th overall.

Day 4

It is the last day of competition, and although you are still physically tired, your mental outlook has improved because you know you only have a few more swims until you are done!  Because you know that these are the last swims of the season, you are really able to focus your energy into putting together some awesome performances.  The day was highlighted by Roman Sereda breaking the 200 backstroke school record in 1:50.3, while finishing 11th overall.  Although wanting a national championship, Chris O’Linger still finished strongly in the 1650, taking 5th overall.

That concludes our 2010 Division 2 Swimming Championship.  Drury, as it has done the past 5 years, owned the meet, taking 1st in both the women and men’s competition.  Although, we would have ideally liked to finish in the top 5, UT men and women finished 11th and 12th respectively, which is nothing to be ashamed about.

It was the No. 4 team in the land. It was in their building, in front of their fans (2,275 of them to be exact). A glance on paper and most would have probably said that Arkansas Tech would run away with it. They’re too big, they might say. They shoot too well, they might add.

But not on this day.

No, on this day, the team from Tampa battled toe-to-toe. The team from Tampa nearly had its biggest win in program history.

The Spartans have never reached the regional final, and they won’t make it this year. But the team certainly did not back away from the fight. With the pro-Tech crowd against them, Tampa roared out to a hot start. Not that I felt comfortable being up by 10 early on, but I knew it was a good sign.

The Golden Suns would make their shots as the game wore on and then just as Tampa had done in the first half, they seized the momentum out of the first half.

This team doesn’t quit though. Down by 11? No worries.

They battled back.

Questionable calls leading to key players fouling out? No worries.

They battled back.

And then they were back up. It appeared that just perhaps the storybook ending would go the way of the Spartans, something that would have been particularly sweet after last season’s close game in the regional semifinals.

But that girl can shoot the 3 ball. And the author of the fairytale granted another chapter to the locals from Russellville.

Yes, it’s tough now.

Three seniors walk away today from this squad ending their season and their career like so many will – with a loss. But in the Tampa history books, this class will go down as the most successful. 99 wins they have compiled. Two SSC regular season titles, and two SSC tournament titles, too.

Tiara Cook, Angela Guiu and Caitlyn Mitryk: they should do nothing but walk away with their head held high.

The foundation for the future is even stronger because of them.

—

I’d like to add a few personal words as today was likely my last working with The University of Tampa women’s basketball team. The past two seasons have been nothing but magnificent. I can only hope that through my career I am fortunate enough to work with people half as amazing as the group I’ve been around.

It started out with an awkwardly silent bus ride to Florida Tech, and it ends today. But, oh, how fun it has been. I will forever cherish the relationships I have cultivated while working with this team. Thank you to each and every one of you.

“Messina to Guiu… GUIU, IT’S GOOD! Angela Guiu…with 2.4 seconds on the clock…has given Tampa…a 69…68…advantage! Angela Guiu!”

You’ll find peace anyway.