Kajsa Mertens: Freshman for Women's Soccer Writes About Day 1 of Preseason! 

     Today everyone arrived at SMC around 9 a. m. Most people had to go to the business office for their clearance card. After we received our clearance cards we then went to the Student Center. At the Student Center everyone received their packets. Once we received the packets we were allowed to go to our dorms and begin decorating. At 11 we had a meeting with Coach Kenneally and Jamie (our trainer.) At the meeting we talked about showing up to everything on time and if we do not, what the consequences would be. Then we talked about drugs and alcohol. With that discussion we talked about the consequences that come with the using of these items. The last topic we discussed was study hall. Freshman have to attend 5 hours a week and sophomores are not required to attend any. After the meeting was completed we had time to continue decorating our dorms and go and get lunch. The next event on our list was a meeting with our president and our athletic director. We sat as a team and quietly listened as the president spoke about a man that had inspired him throughout the previous weeks. He said the man's name was Brian and that he had taught him a lesson and said that he was happy and lucky to be the way that he was even though he seemed to be struggling. The president said that this made him realize that he should be grateful for what he has and that there are three keys concepts to life. The three aspects being, show up on time, have a good attitude, and work your butt off. This is all the president asks of us to have. I for one intend to have all three aspects. After the president was done speaking the athletic director came to the stage. She went over guidelines and rules and said that she was happy to be able to attend all of our games this season since she was no longer the volleyball coach. After this meeting was done we had time before we all met in the cafeteria for dinner. We met at five and ate as a team. After we ate we were allowed to go back to our dorms. At 6: 30 we were supposed to be in the gym and ready for practice. After the Freshman learned the warm-up and we completed the warm-up, we started a passing drill. The passing drill included some long balls, running, and diagonal passes. After this drill, we got in a circle with some in the middle and some on the outside. Within the circle players were working their way around to empty people on the outside of the circle passing to them and then receiving the ball back and finding another person. Although this is a very simple drill, it teaches us to open up, keep our heads up, and have clean crisp 1 or 2 touch passes. after both passing drills we formed a circle and played The Name Game. this consisted of us going around in the circle saying our name and everybody's names that had previously said their name before us. After we completed this drill we continued to have some conditioning. We ran the perimeter of the gym. Starting at one corner and sprinting to the next and then another group would go we continue this way for about 5 minutes. Although it was a simple running drill it managed to make all of us sweat. We then had an ab workout. After that workout was complete, our practice ended with some stretching. Coach Kenneally then told us that we would all be meeting at Yogurt Mountain at 8: 15 and to not be late. My roommate and I managed to make it back to our dorm in time to shower and then go to Yogurt Mountain. At Yogurt Mountain we continue to learn everyone's names and got to know each other better. We exchange Snapchats and talked about things that we would miss and really connected as a team. This concluded our day.

- Kajsa Mertens