Preparing for Provincials

Hehe... Just kidding. Provincials??? We aren't in Canada here. Or maybe we are, eh? No, but seriously State is super close (and by State, I mean High School Water Polo State Championships). I am so excited to go because we have about twelve people going! It's in Cedar City again, just like our last tournament called Summer Games.

So, our main competition at State will be Cedar City. I mean we are so much better than them but they think that they are awesome. At the last tournament they said, and I quote, "Park City's not going to know what hit them at State." What idiots. We are going to CRUSH them... no question. It will be like a 200-pound person stepping on a little ant. Except Cedar City is more characteristic of the person if you know what I mean :).

Sweet Dreams Cedar City
Photo Courtesy of : ATRL

Since State is coming up soon, we have to buckle down and work hard at practice. Unfortunately, half the girls on our team don't know what the word "commit" means, but we really need them so we can't kick them off now. We are doing more scrimmages and working on plays in practice to get us prepared. Practice is becoming a lot more fun now that we don't have to keep learning the basics which my sister and I (and a few others) already know.

We are also practicing our team cheers. Our team has the best team spirit out of all of them. Some of the boys aren't as enthusiastic as others, but that is their problem. We have made a whole list of cheers to do at different times during the game. Screaming them out is my favorite part of the games. The girls team (not so much the boys team) are doing a lot of fun things together. We just recently went to a movie with more social outings to come in the near future! Here is a pic of Jessi, Carolann, and I getting some healthy slurpees at 7-11:

Yum!
Photo Courtesy of : Ashton Strauss-Hook

Besides practices, social outings, and planning on defeating Cedar City, we are all just having a really fun time preparing. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and stay tuned for more posts coming soon!

Playing w/ The Cool Kids

About two months ago, I wrote a blog post on high school swimming called Swimming w/ The Cool Kids, but now it's........ WATER POLO SEASON!

So I am literally so excited because water polo is my boyfriend, besides the other twenty lined up at my door. The sport itself makes me feel so relaxed and happy because it is my passion. I only started about two years ago, but it was love at first sight. Okay, now I am going to stop pouring out my emotions and move on to the real details of Park City Water Polo.

The first day of it started February 17th, which, sadly, was during our school recess. This means that there were only a few of us there because who wants to spend their one week break at a pool?? Oh right, me. Basically the season is from the middle of February to the end of May, which is a pretty good chunk of time. We have practices every week day, and I think we are going to start to add Saturdays and morning practices (optional, of course). We mostly just have games during the week like a Tuesday or Thursday, but it depends.

Women's Varisty Team
Photo Courtesy of : Mike McDowell (my dad)

Practices are usually pretty fun. First, we pass on land while we wait for the elementary kids to finish their "swim lesson". Then, we set up the pool by taking out the lane lines and the flags and putting in the goals. Most people like to get the balls in and start shooting but Coach Josh gets mad, so we just swim to get warm. We do some drills and probably start passing again. Next, we either do a shooting drill or a passing drill which gets us moving. Sometimes, we scrimmage (which are the best days ever), but we mostly just do drills that sometimes don't make sense.

Most people think that they can just join water polo whenever they feel works for them, but that isn't going to cut it this time since we actually have a full girls team! There are about eleven of us girls who play, and some are still deciding whether or not they want to do it. Our team is coached mostly by Josh Loyens, but Jeff is also a major contributor. As captains, my sister and I like to plan all of the social events, since that's the best part! Last Friday, we had a team sleepover, which was so fun! We made really cool bags that had glitter and even fur on them! If you are looking for a fun team to be a part of, our girls team would love to have you!

Team Bags (notice the "Bite Me")
Photo Courtesy of : Me

ANYWAY (I realize that I say that a lot), I hope you liked reading about my life, once again, and stay tuned for more posts coming soon!

News Update

Hey guys! I hope that everyone is enjoying their February Break. It seems like there have been a lot of breaks recently which is obviously really good - more time for water polo! Haha just joking, more like more time for swimming. Ugh... Anyway, since it is break, I thought I would write about what's going on right now, past, and future.

So first things first, a few weekends ago, we had our ODP training weekend. It was basically the same set-up as the two camps, but only the people that made it went. I thought that I played a lot better at this camp and demonstrated my skills. At this camp, we did a lot more scrimmage, so it was easier for me and my sister to show-off our swimming skills. Also, we housed two girls from Colorado who were so fun to hang out with, and thankfully, they are on my team!

The next thing on our agenda was our UT High School 3A State Championships that took place on Friday and Saturday at BYU. Our team dominated, beating everyone by at least 400 points. Our team broke a few of the state records for the relays, and two individual events - the 100 breast and 100 back. Overall, everybody swam really well. You can check out our team's results here!

Park City High School State Team
Photo Courtesy of: Salt Lake Tribune

My sister, mum, and I are all leaving for St. George tomorrow for ANOTHER swim meet. Yay for me. This one is called the UT Senior State Championships. This is the championships for club teams, and swimmers that can't go to the 14 and under UT SC State Championships. I have never even to the Senior one but supposedly, its super fun. It is a prelims-finals meet, so you swim in the morning and try to make it back in the top three heats for the afternoon. At the end of the meet, there will be an amazing pool party with a foam cannon! That is basically the whole reason why I am going.

Foam Cannon
Photo Courtesy of: Wes 

In 3 weeks, my sister and I are flying off to Riverside, California for our ODP Nationals. This is what all of the ODP camps have been preparing us for. I am super excited to go, for I haven't been in a tournament in so long. I hope our team does well, for we have a few tricks up our sleeves.

Finally, we just received some exciting news a couple weeks ago. My parents surprised my sister and I and told us that we were going to be going to Costa Rica for spring break!! I am so excited to go surfing, hiking, zip lining, and many more exciting activities on the Osa Peninsula. We will be staying there for ten days, and I just know that it's going to be the trip of a lifetime. We will be going with another family as well which will be an amazing experience.

Osa Peninsula
Photo Courtesy of: Mar 1 Sport Fishing

Anyway, I hope that this wasn't too boring for you all to read only about me. Tell me about one of your Central America vacations in the comments! Stay tuned for more posts coming soon!

Swimming w/ The Cool Kids

I hope everyone is having a great winter break!! So, if you have been on my blog for the past few weeks, you may have noticed a little poll on the side of the page. I was asking what you guys wanted me to write about; and y'all said high school swimming! Let's dive right into it... (haha get it, "dive" like actually "diving" in swimming... OK never mind). The following picture shows major muscle action from a professional diver (and it's pretty funny).

Photo Courtesy of: Funny Place

The high school swimming season starts in October and goes until February. It's pretty long. You have to practice EVERY school day, but it is kind of nice because you don't have to swim when there is no school. Although, it is highly encouraged to swim on your own, but who wants to do that? There are a variety of meets, some dual, tri, or invitationals (which include a lot of teams). We just finished our annual PCHS Invitational, which was super-duper fun. A total of fourteen teams came! My team mates and I swam very well. We placed first in all of the relays, and in most individual events. The following are pictures from our previous meets!

Pre-Meet Talk
Photo Courtesy of: Coach Folber

Setting Up the Pool for the Meet!
Photo Courtesy of: Coach Folber

Post-Meet Victory Talk
Photo Courtesy of: Coach Folber

Swimming is a very important sport to do, if you want to get serious about water polo. It helps so much, especially on counter attacks, and coming back on defense. The high school season works perfectly with the water polo season because they are right after each other! Trust me, I know that swimming doesn't sound very appealing, but high school swimming is the bomb-diggity. I love being apart of the team and going to all of the parties! Get to know the team by following us on Twitter!!

Well, I hope that you guys enjoy the rest of your Christmas break. Make sure that you are having fun with your family during this holiday break because that's what Christmas is all about... JUST KIDDING! Everyone knows that it's all about the presents!! Stay tuned for more posts coming soon!