Preseason Is OVER!

Yes that's right. Preseason is over! I know I am not half as excited as the girls are about this fact, but I am very glad to finally be only days away from being on the court. Overall, I would say this preseason was a huge success. The girls have worked so hard and I can't wait to see it all pay off for them. I know they all think I'm a crazy maniac when it comes to planning their running and circuit training but I hope they realize that we only push them because we know just how great they can be. I am probably not the best motivator as far as the things I can say to them, but that's just not my style. I want to push them to what they think their limits are and ask them to do things that they thought they weren't capable of and then just smile when they find out they've got a little bit left in the tank and they can actually make it through the workout. If they learned how much they can depend on each other, how their teammates are willing to pick them up and drag them across the line, and how much we need each one of them to bring it every night over the past 6 weeks, then yes...preseason was a huge success. When this group of young ladies all come together, they are something great...something RU hasn't seen in a long time. This team can do something special this year if they put their mind to it...and if preseason has been any indication, they are on the right path.
Watch the countdown at the top of the blog...we do this for real on Friday night!

JRA

Congrats to Sarah, Shavon, and Tameisha on today being the LAST preseason workout they will ever have to endure!

Baby Update

Highlander nation! Greetings from Coach T (a.k.a. Pops).
Coach Ashley wanted me to give all our fans an update on how my little boy is doing. Cooper celebrated his six weeks birthday this week. He is 44 days old today. I always thought it was funny/weird how people keep up with the ages of babies. One baby is 17 months old, another is 48 weeks. Who knows? What happened to half a year or a year and a half?
He is doing great though, growing daily. He has not been weighed in over two weeks, but is over nine pounds now, maybe close to 10. He is sleeping a little better, some nights are great, some nights are not so good. One good thing about being up at night though is that it gives me a chance to spend time honing up my skills on NCAA Football for PS2. That is when I can actually wake up enough to see what I am doing. Mom (Bevin) is also doing good. She has been tired of course, but for the most part is doing good. I personally think that she is a great Mom to Cooper and is doing a smashing job taking care of him.
This past weekend he made it out to his first basketball tournament. He sat through a game or so and really did a nice job of helping me evaluate the talent on the floor. He has a good eye for talent already!
Well, we are getting ready to head out to the floor for another full team workout. Things are going really well so far. We just want to keep the atmosphere at a high energy level throughout the year.
So long for now, stay in touch!

Coach T

I didn't want to go swimming today.

I am soaking wet right now...Not because it's hot outside or because I've been working out. If you've been keeping up with my entries, you may remember that on Wednesdays during preseason, we do a pool workout. Today I went to the pool in khaki linen shorts, a Radford golf shirt, and flip flops. I looked cute as always ;) The play by play goes like this: In the weight room earlier, Coach Porter, Coach P, and I had pushed a few people around (you know like bumping cutters when they come through the lane). Since I must be too strong for a few of them, the girls decided to team up on me and take me down. The scuffle carried over to the pool and Vandy was encouraged by a few of her teammates to push me in. Thanks to Coach Appleby, Vandy has apparently been working out pretty hard because she picked me up with one arm and threw me in the pool with my clothes on. Did I mention that my outfit looked cute before she threw me in? Anyway, my attempts to drown Vandy were unsuccessful (only because Coach Porter would fire me if I really did drown her) so, I am plotting revenge. Anyone who reads this and has any suggestions as to what I should do to get Vandy back is welcome to post a comment. Just so you remember, Vandy is on the right in this picture with Johnette. All feedback will be taken into consideration and is greatly appreciated. I promise to keep you all updated on the situation :)

JRA

It's almost time.

It’s almost time.

Yesssss… basketball season is officially around the corner and we can taste it...And it tastes good. We are all extremely excited to get started with practice and looking forward to playing games. This year our goal is to go straight to the top and if anyone is in our way, we are taking them out. That may have sounded a little harsh, but it’s the competitive spirit that’s coming out of me. Everyone has worked hard so far, including our wonderful coaching staff. Lol. We have cried, sweat, beat one another up, and gotten up early in the morning for the last six weeks. We are ready to see the fruits of our labor.

We'll see you at our games soon,
Shavon

On the road again

Yep that's right. We're headed back out for a weekend of recruiting. We'll have coaches watching tournaments in Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina looking for the next generation in Lady Highlander basketball. Not much else going on late this week or weekend in Radford. Chelsea Clark's birthday is tomorrow and I think Sarah is hosting a birthday dinner for her tomorrow night. I hear Sarah is a pretty good cook, but she's never cooked dinner for me, so I wouldn't know! We had an awesome team workout last night on the court. The energy and intensity that the girls have been bringing to the court is unbelievable. We can't wait until we can do that 6 days a week during the regular season. The wait until next week's team workout is hard to take!

JRA

Team Picture Day

Yesterday was picture day for the Lady Highlanders. As you can see from the pictures, our team cleans up pretty well. All of these pictures were made around the center of campus and the headshots made by our sports information director will be used for the media guide this season. We love picture day as coaches because it is one of the few days all year that we see the entire team dressed up all at one time. The girls aren't shy at all...they will tell you without hesitation that they know they look good! I would never say this to their face, but we don't think they look half bad. If they only looked as good as their coaches, they'd be set!












Top Left Picture: Rook, Coach Porter, Johnette, and Vandy
Top Right Picture: Serena teaches Coach T how to do the "sprinkler".
Bottom Left Picture: Sarah, Shavon, and Corrie
Bottom Right Picture: All of our post players except Kelli D. Chelsea, Charron, Sarah, and Corrie.

Meagan Hilligas # 33

So we just finished Week 4 of preseason. On day 1, I never thought this day would come, but we’re over half-way through with our conditioning. I would consider this week to be successful. We turned some of our workouts into relays, and we had our first team practice on the court. Monday we ran hills, but we raced each other up to the top to grab a tennis ball before they did. We had girls diving for the ball, cutting each other off, and anything else to win. Wednesday we also did relays, but in the pool. We wore flippers and used kick boards (check out the pics). Each team was screaming to their partners to keep kicking and hurry up. We are a competitive team. We can turn the simplest of relays into a huge competition. We just don’t like to lose, at anything.

This week we had our first team practice. What can I say? We were ready. This practice may have been one of the most intense AND focused practices you could ask for so early in the season. We set the bar high for the rest of the season. We started off strong, now we have to go hard every day from this point on.

Finally! Everyone has made their mile time, even though we’ve all made individually. Each person on a different day has brought their A game and made their time. Now it’s time for everyone to bring it on the same day. The day that each and every person can bring their A game and knock this timed mile out of the way, as team, we will be taking a step forward to being a more successful.

I’m very excited for this season. We’ve been working out together for 4 weeks, and we keep pushing each other. We compete against each other. If we take anything from this preseason I want it to be how to compete against other teams, and how to work as a team on the same day and get the job done!

Meagan