The Yellow Armband: Cookie Monster and Giant Walls
8/18/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Aug. 18, 2010
Each Wednesday of the 2010 season, one of the Michigan women's soccer captains -- Jackie Carron, Kylie Neschke and Clare Stachel -- will give you a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the U-M program.
The Yellow Armband with Clare Stachel
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18 -- Cookie Monster and Giant Walls
Well here starts another year for the Michigan women's soccer team! I'm new at this whole Yellow Armband thing so stick with me! A brief recap of the past two weeks can be summed into: three-a-days, eating, team bonding and more eating. Let me explain.
On the team-bonding front we have naturally meshed well together, but we also spent a whole day at a ropes course getting to know each other. It started off with splitting into two groups and further splitting into partners with whom we made goal 'celebrations.' Each celebration had to consist of a handshake, a song and a dance ... let's just say our team is quite creative. Some consisted of crawling towards each other on the ground, singing the song "dancing queen" and teaching how to Dougie. Maybe some of the celebrations will show up on the field, but that is only if we are in a mood to embarrass ourselves.
We proceeded to complete two challenges, one that involved a rope swing and two imaginary jet-skis and one that involved balancing on planks and an imaginary space station. The last challenge we had to do as a team was to get over a 13.5-foot wall using only our bodies -- good thing we have the tall Amanda Bowery on our team. We had two people at a time acting at bases and hoisting teammates up high enough for the people at the top of the wall to pull them up and over. We came away with a few wood burns and bruises but also with the accomplishment of making it over a huge wall. Overall, we learned a lot about our team; Courtney Mercier does a great Tarzan impression, Haley Kopmeyer should never walk blindfolded, Meghan Toohey loves helping people over the wall and Sarah Stanczyk thinks our team is pretty.
I did mention twice before that eating was an important part of our. One thing our team knows how to do VERY well is eat. We went through four gallons of chocolate milk in about two days and have already had to restock the snack cabinet. We like food so much that we now have a problem because of it -- a cookie monster. Every time we order our meals, some people add a cookie to their meal and some do not; the problem comes when the orders arrive. Somehow, we never end up with enough cookies. The cookie monster is sneaking them away and still has yet to be found.
Overall it has been an entertaining, hard-working, yet fun-filled preseason thus far. Thanks for reading this Yellow Armband and don't forget to come to our first official home game in the brand new U-M Soccer Stadium on Friday at 7 p.m.!
