Remembering summer...in December
December 16, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Summer is long gone but it never hurts to reminisce about the warm weather and lazy days. This past summer, the Wisconsin women's basketball had very few lazy days as the Badgers were hard at work preparing for this season. The hard work must have paid off because the team is out to a 10-1 start and opens Big Ten Conference play Dec. 22.
Every home game, sophomores athid=6409&deptid=135"> --> Alyssa Karel and athid=6410&deptid=135"> --> Tara Steinbauer give Badger fans an inside look into the Wisconsin women's basketball team with their 'CDW Badger Chronicles' log that are available in the game programs. Today Karel takes you back to summer and talks about how hard everyone worked with summer conditioning and classes and of course, how everyone had fun in the sun.
Alyssa will be a guest on "The Badger Hour" with Lance Davis tonight (Tuesday) at 6:20 p.m. Tune into Madison's Sports Radio, 100.5 FM or click here to listen online.
We started this summer off adding five new players to our Badger family. With everyone living in Madison, the new players got to know everyone and became very comfortable fast. Everyone decided to take a class or two this summer as getting some credits fulfilled in the summer is always a good idea. It can take some stress off during the year, especially during the season when games, practice and traveling make for a good time crunch.
I think a lot of the team would agree with me that another positive of summer school is that the atmosphere of these classes are more laid back than classes during the year. Professors always seem to be in better moods during the summer.
Along with our schoolwork, we spent much of the summer in the gym and weight room. A main focus of this summer was improvement in our shooting. We had our 'daily 300,' which was a collection of different shots at different spots on the floor we did every day.
Along with our shooting workouts we had team scrimmages two to three times a week. In addition to the current Wisconsin players, often times former Wisconsin players, athletes from other sports teams and the occasional guy looking to play in a pickup game also joined us. For a few weeks, WNBA player and former Wisconsin Badger Tamara Moore also joined in on our pick-up games. It was fun to play with and learn from such a talented player. The scrimmages were really our chance to just have fun playing with each other again. It was a good for the new girls as well, to be able to get used to the Badger style of play.
The summer is a great time to improve on strength because unlike during the season, we don't have to worry about our bodies getting too worn like we do while competing during the season. We would usually have weight lifting sessions three days a week while the other two days were devoted to conditioning.
Most weeks, we lifted at the weight room in the Kohl Center, but on occasion we had sessions in the weight room at Camp Randall. Conditioning was usually done on the McClain practice field near the stadium. Every once in a while we would also run on the stadium field itself, which made conditioning a little more exciting than usual, especially when a few lone football players were left practicing on the field the same time we were. Our strength coach wondered why we always looked so good on those days.
Although we did devote much of our summer to improving on the court and in the classroom, we did find time to enjoy our summers a little too. The public pool was a team favorite. We especially enjoyed the pool basketball scene, when on more than one occasion teenage boys challenged us to a game and were shocked when we blew them out of the water, literally.
Trips to the movie theatre were another favorite nightly event. The Terrace on Lake Mendota was another fun spot to go to. Often times at night there would be free live music to listen to. Other times movies would be shown on a projection screen right out by the lake. It was a fun place to relax and unwind after busy days.
All in all, our summer in Madison was a success. We accomplished a lot as a basketball team. The highlight of it all, however, was just being together and getting to know the new players and allowing them to get to know us. The summer is always a good time not only to become a closer team, but closer friends.
On, Wisconsin!
#30 Alyssa Karel
