Blogging with the Buckeyes – Ohio State Buckeyes
7/21/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
July 21, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The summer for an Ohio State tennis player flies by in a frenzy of activities. Some of us are able to go home for the summer, visit friends and family, maybe take a vacation (to Florida, Colorado, Hawaii, or even Italy.) The rest of the lucky Bucks get to stay on campus and submit to the authority of grueling speed school, summer lifts and afternoon hits in the brutal heat. I am one of the latter.
While there is no “typical” day that I experience, there are a few common elements. One such element is speed school, which starts at 6:50 a.m., not a moment later, or there will be some unspoken punishment that involves running harder than you thought you could. Speed school consists of different agility and conditioning drills that leave you covered in the recycled rubber from the fields and your legs feeling like Jell-O. It is a great way to get your training in while meeting new athletes or rekindling old acquaintances. A quick shower leads the way into some study time. Taking online classes is a great way to get ahead on credits without hindering an ever-changing schedule. At some point in the afternoon, I’ll hit with a teammate, coach, or my favorite – the ball machine. A lot of tennis players find the ball machine tedious and rather pointless, but it gives me the opportunity to clear my head and get in a rhythm while jamming out to my favorite music.
Next on the agenda is a lift, usually with my teammate Fidan, which passes with some sweat and laughs while we pump some serious iron. After all the training and school work gets finished, I have free time. Sometimes I’ll go out to eat with some friends, cook my own dinner, watch a movie, read a book or just hang out. Now, like I said before, my days are never identical to the last. I lift three times a week, attend speed school twice a week and play tennis every day. My weekends have been filled with tournaments. I have been gone for every weekend this summer, between a short internship in Canada with Athletes in Action, to tournaments traveling from Buffalo, N.Y., to Indiana to Georgia to Florida. Each tournament is a learning experience and a chance to improve. I wear the Ohio State name proudly and I know that in each tournament I represent the Buckeye program, including my coaches and my teammates.
The beauty of the summer is that it holds the potential for great improvement in each individual, while bringing us closer together as a team. This intimacy is achieved through each person’s contribution in bettering themselves while representing Ohio State, strengthening our bonds as teammates and sisters. Lessons are learned by every athlete that is a member of the Ohio State family, growing as individuals in their own unique way, but remaining united in the honor of being a Buckeye.
God Bless and Go Bucks!
Kara Jo Cecil
