I want to start out by giving a big shout out to all of the families who opened their homes and ovens to us this past week. Thank you to the Mullins family, Dr. Seale and his lovely wife Cecilia and the Hartsocks. Your giving hearts and delicious food fueled us through the first half of preseason! 

Because of the kindness you showed us, we decided to pay it forward and assist some freshman ladies as they moved into Burnette for the first time! Thankfully that was the only work out we had that day. I say work out because we were hauling mini fridges and teenage girl wardrobes up 3 flights of stairs for an hour and a half.  Thanks to the B.O.L.D leaders who organized the move in process, and many other clubs and organizations around campus like sports teams, the freshmen were all moved in in a jiffy. Not to mention we helped our own underclassmen move into their dorms too. It's crazy to think that three years ago that was me and my four other juniors moving in for the first time. 

During the summer we had decided that we were going to challenge ourselves to be in the top four teams in the conference. In order to do that we decided to come in two weeks early to start training, conditioning and team bonding. The only catch was that Coach Ahiers wasn't allowed to be in the gym with us (much to his chagrin) according to NCAA rules.  But now we have a leg up on our competition and because we are already in tip-top shape, we don't have to go crazy in preseason. But this past Friday, the rules were lifted and we started practicing as a unit.  After practicing with just the team in the gym it was great to get some direction from coach. Or should I say a lot of direction? Getting 15 girls to all flow in sync with each other is something we will continue to work on. But nothing beats the excitement of the first practice. 

We felt like a million bucks stepping onto the court in our new shoes, practice shirts and gear! Coach always says "look good, feel good and play good". And that's what we intend to do this year.  In order to "feel good" we have been practicing yoga 3 times a week with some pool workouts thrown in there. This keeps our bodies from getting too sore and stiff. Plus it's nice when none of our days look the same. We have to mix things up a bit! For example at the Mullins's house, we ran around catching chickens for about 30 minutes. You can find proof on our twitter account (@CNVolleyball1) which is also a great was to follow us through the week because I can't post every day! 

While we might sound like we eat, sleep and drink volleyball, we do like to squeeze in a little fun here and there. I hope you can pick up my Yankee sarcasm. This Saturday, Rachel Harper turned 21. Holla!! So we all got spiffed up and headed to Knoxville's Sunspot to celebrate. We were barely recognizable without sweaty hair and spandex but I like to think we clean up nicelyJ. And like females of all ages, we adore the movie Frozen so we popped that in on our night off Friday and learned to "Let it Go" when we made mistakes in practice the next morning. 

ALSO A BIG CONGRATULATIONS TO KIRBY ELLIS OUR GA WHO GOT ENGAGED OVER THE WEEKEND! 

Fun fact for the road, Rachel Cutshaw makes a baller Eagle impression so next time you see her ask her let out a big CAW for you. Just don't tell her I told you.   

Thanks for reading,

Kristina (Tina) Hill

God Bless!

Throughout the 2014 volleyball season, junior libero Kristina Hill (Lake Orion, Mich.) will write about her experiences at Carson-Newman. A new installment will be released each Monday afternoon.

- CN -