First Official Practice

Yesterday was my last first official practice. It seems like there are a lot of lasts lately.

The first official practice is always something everybody is looking forward to. The players look forward to it because it means conditioning workouts are finally over (no offense Coach Mal, it was fun most of the time) and the coaches because for the first time since May they can see where we are and how far we’ve come since our last practice together.

We started off with the Beep Test, which basically is a 20m multistage fitness test. It is another test, besides the mile, to see where we are conditioning wise. The goal for the post players was to reach Level 11 and for the guards Level 12. Once again, everybody reached their goal and we started into our first practice of the new season feeling good about ourselves.

Do you want to know one of my favorite parts of every practice? Coach Barron’s quotes. Before every practice he gives us one to think about. Yesterday’s quote was “No one can whistle a symphony; it takes a whole orchestra to play it.”

I think practice went really well. We spent a lot of time going over our basic drills to kind of get everybody on the same page. It is always hard for the incoming players to get used to not only the different style of play, but also to all the things we’ve basically been working on for the last three years. Let me just tell you, they did really well.

We ended the practice with playing 5 vs 5. It gave the coaches an opportunity to see once again where we are and it gave us the opportunity to show them how much we improved over the summer.

It felt great to be back in the gym.

Also thank you to all the fans, who stopped by to get a little sneak peak! It was exciting to see you sitting in the stands.

Anna Heise

About Anna Heise

I am a member of the women's basketball team. I am currently a senior, journalism major with a minor in creative writing and child development. I am from Germany. When I am not in the gym I enjoy reading, traveling and trying out new food.