IU Water Polo Diary - Spring Break 2002 - Indiana University Athletics

IU Water Polo Diary - Spring Break 2002

3/14/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Water Polo

News Update

Indiana Women's Water Polo Diary: Spring Break 2002 - Pennsylvania to California

Junk - Kristen Jonikaitis
Breezi - Louanne Hovater
Gibler - Kim Steele
Deebs - Melissa DeBiasse
Pete - Melissa Pietras
Streef - Kristy Streefkerk
Butts - Sarah Butler
Manders - Amanda Mitchell (Trainer)
Smitty - Jeff Smith (Media Relations)

March 8-9 by Senior Molly Fonner

It is noon on Friday, March 8th...the Friday Spring Break begins. Students throughout campus can be seen packing their bags full of tanning oil, flip-flops, swimming suits and sunglasses into the trunk of their car headed for the airport. Simultaneously, the women of the Indiana water polo team pack their bags filled with swimsuits, goggles, sweatpants and flip-flops into the trunks of their cars and head towards Assembly Hall. Although these scenarios seem similar, they are not. While most IU students head for the sunny beaches of Florida or maybe Mexico, the water polo team will spend eight hours on a bus. Destination...Grove City, Pennsylvania - a Spring Break hot spot!

Nevertheless, sixteen smiling girls, a trainer, two coaches and one bus driver boarded the bus loaded with pillows, crossword puzzles, some homework, enough food to feed a small army, and most importantly...movies. The next eight hours were spent catching up on some sleep, watching one movie after another and watching the food supply quickly diminish.

Dinner at the Cracker Barrel brought more food and a splash of culture, as several Amish families decided to dine out at the Cracker Barrel as well.

So, the first day and night of Spring Break 2002 consisted of watching movies on the bus, television in the hotel room, and a 10:30 p.m. bedtime. Sitting on a bus can be tiring!

Alarms sound at 7:30 a.m. and we awake to a continental breakfast at the Super 8 motel. Unfortunately, the Super 8 has not observed other continental breakfast and is under the impression that some juice and a few old bagels are the making of a hearty breakfast.

Bagel filled, the team headed for Grove City College for the first of two games on the day. Grove City pool is under the impression that all spectators are wrestlers and would like to sweat out all excess weight while watching water polo games. Fortunately for the players, the water is only kept slightly cooler to prevent mass heat exhaustion.

As both teams warmed up, captains were called to the side where the referee was nice enough to give us a rundown and demonstration on every single rule of water polo. With a newfound understanding of the game, we started the game taking the lead that would never be lost. Grove City is a new team and is still learning and growing as a team. This allowed all IU players a chance to work on efficiency and accuracy. Everyone played and nearly everyone scored. The game ended with a Hoosier victory of 17-4.

Of course, lunch directly followed the game. Full of good food, the team boarded the bus and Ginger Wang, who had one too many drinks during lunch, headed straight for the bathroom. As we pulled out, a thump and scream was heard from the back of the bus. The driver was making a turn, curbed it, and Ginger was thrown from the toilet. We are just hoping she will recover from the bathroom accident in time for the next time. Speaking of the next game, 5:30 will bring Washington & Jefferson into the sauna to face the Hoosiers.

So, the first two days of Spring Break may not have consisted of sunny beaches and margaritas, but you can't beat good competition, catching up on sleep and good food.

March 9th (Saturday Evening) by Sharna Nelson

OK, don't get us wrong, we are having an awesome trip, but I know I speak for all of us when I say Smitty - we miss you. Anyway, we had a great day today, knocked up two awesome wins against home team Grove City and Washington & Jefferson. Everyone was on the scoresheet. Deebs especially shined, although she was under the influence of a performance enhancing - her "secret spring break pal" gave her Barbie Water Wings! Molly's "secret spring break pal" idea has been so awesome, except some of us are beginning to feel as though we've been forgotten! If anyone discovers my non-existent "secret pal," please contact me ASAP!

Right now we're sitting around waiting for our dinner to settle. Some people are feeling a lot more "full" than others do. A particular incident involving one foreigner who I will remain anonymous (but I will mention she's a legend) and a dare for $1 ended no so nicely in the restroom of Pizza Joe's. But hey, you can get a lot for $1 these days, but no I, (I mean the anonymous foreigner) wasn't dialing 10-10-220. I'm actually sipping water and Advil and turning in for an early night. I think I should've gone with the dinner boycott. Molly and I are super obsessive Seinfeld fans and an episode just started right when we were about to leave, tragic! Actually, Kirsten and Breezie almost didn't make it back here after our game. They were almost blown away Wizard of Oz style. It was like Cyclone Tracy hit Grove City! Don't know what Cyclone Tracy is? Don't worry, it's an Aussie thing.

I wonder how Pete's is feeling? She had a run in with a dryer in the changerooms. No, she didn't walk into it...it jumped off the wall and straight into her forehead. How bizarre? Anyway I guess we were just glad to get out of the hot maze, AKA the pool.

Hopefully we haven't left anything behind like at the Princeton tournament. Actually, things are getting intense between us freshmen over our responsibilities. We don't want to lose anything else! Well, we've reached the end of the day and Gibler, Molly, Pete's, Deebs and I are sitting around applying lip balm built into a ring, so graciously delivered by some random lady from my now existent secret pal.

Talking to the girls, we are all excited about the day ahead. Not just the outlet shopping, but the water polo too. Gibler and Junk should consider joining the cross country team. Their one-mile sprint from Elephant and Castle to Espirit was mighty impressive. Ryan Fagan, our teams' favorite diver might be coming to support us this weekend, which is great. He can't get enough of us in International Health...actually, I think he can! We love you Ryan! Well, its sleepy time, but first it's time for Seinfeld. Molly and I are excited! Good night from me and all of the IU water polo team.

Sunday, March 10th by Kristin Stanford

Well, we started the day around 8 a.m. with a breakfast run to Kings and then headed off to Slippery Rock to "get acquainted" with the pool a few hours early. The game was played in a pool that was a little smaller than we were used to, and it was shallow-deep, something that a lot of the team had never played in. We played Gannon at 1 p.m. and won 19-10. The game went really well with the exception of two off the bottom calls on the two tallest people in the pool (me and Molly...oops) for which the penalty was a 200yd butterfly per call (sorry guys).

After the game we hopped back on the bus for the ever-exciting eight-hour bus ride back. We watched Say Anything, Matrix and Big Daddy. We also had an Australian, who will remain nameless, run up and down the bus to win a dollar. It sounds stupid, but you should've seen what she was, or was not wearing! We made it back to Bloomington and are all getting excited about our trip to California!

Monday, March 11th

Today we are back in Bloomington for our one-day off. We practiced from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and were able to fix some things before we take off for California. It's going to be a pretty early night tonight. We need to get some sleep because we leave for the airport tomorrow around 5 a.m.

Tuesday, March 12th by Melissa DeBiasse

Welcome to the spring break adventures of Indiana water polo. Once we arrived at airport, Amanda realized that she did not have a ticket. She was able to get on our flight to Chicago, but when we got to O'Hare, the drama really set in. We thought we had a two-hour layover, but Manders just so happened to look at her ticket and realize that her flight was actually boarding at that time. So Amanda arrived at LAX about an hour-and-a-half before we did. For the team, our weeklong trip to California started with an encounter with a group of high school band members who didn't get the memo about airplane etiquette. All fifty of them decided to congregate in the aisle and we were forced to push our way through them to the back of the plane. While on the plane many of us decided to catch up on some well-deserved sleep. While she was asleep, Sharna tipped over a can of coke on her pants. Meanwhile her two unnamed teammates on each side of her, laughed as her pants became soaked in brown liquid while Sharna continued sleeping.

After we landed at LAX, and met up with Amanda, we had a two and half-hour drive to Bakersfield, (a.k.a. in the middle of NOWHERE!) California. We stopped at In and Out, the best fast food restaurant in Cali, possibly the world. So that made the drive a little more tolerable. The meat eaters on our team ordered the double-double animal style (that means with onions) and our vegetarians got grilled cheese with extra pickles.

Matt took off to go see a recruit Tuesday evening and the rest of us went to the movies. The only problem was, we left two movie critics behind. Petes and Krista were left at the hotel. Don't worry, Smitty went back to get them, so they didn't miss out on the movie going experience. Our options for the 7:00 movie were In the Bedroom, 40 Days and 40 Nights with the luscious Josh Hartnett, or John Q. Streef made a wise choice with 40 Days and 40 nights. "I found 40 days and 40 nights to be hilariously perverted," she said. I went to see In the Bedroom and Manders and I spent the entire two hours wishing we were back in C342 lecture. Believe me, compared to In the Bedroom, organic chemistry is like Saturday night of Little 500 weekend.

Wednesday, March 13th by Louanne Hovater

Wow...we got to sleep in until 9:00. One problem though, we just couldn't do it! Almost everyone woke up by 7:30. Matt made a trip up to San Jose last night and wasn't planning on returning until game time the next day. This left us out one van. So 17 girls, Barry, and Smitty piled into two vans to head out to IHOP. As we sat at our table watching Marley decide what she could eat off the menu, Kate complained about the bug in her drink. Marley's oatmeal came out first (you can only eat so much with a dislocated jaw). Our table watched very carefully as Marley attempted to put a spoon in her mouth (failed attempt), followed by an interesting attempt of eating the oatmeal through a straw.

We head off to our game around noon, only to find ourselves wishing we had started the U-turn pool for this trip. We drove in circles around the lovely Bakersfield campus glaring out the windows at all the brown dust fields. And we thought IU had the best campus! We got to the pool and suited up for the game. Running from the locker room to the pool FREEZING to death, we jumped in and were ready to make the roadrunners of Bakersfield roadkill. We beat them 9-2. We wish the game could have gone on forever though, because we knew there was a very long van ride ahead.

Three and a half hours in a van is not exactly what I call Spring Break 2002 Girls Gone Wild, but hey I guess that is as close as we can get. While riding along in our automobile, we hear all about everyone's first kiss. Awwwwww how sweet! Pete was telling us that after her first kiss, she didn't like it at all, so she spit in the guy's face. We then got to hear Matt belt out his favorite song while driving through the great LA traffic. Jessie decides she needs to make a potty stop, so Matt called back to the other van telling them to stop. Streef may consider this the worst decision of the trip. We stop at a gas station, get out of the vans and all look on as Smitty acts on how he thinks Streef should get a nose job. He decides to take the cheap way out and slam her nose and her hand in the van door. Oops. He didn't mean to! He later claims that he didn't even touch the door. Smitty also made sure that all the girls in his van knew Sweet Caroline and Piano Man by heart. It was impressive, but just a little out of tune.

We finally got to the hotel, where I hopped onto a bellhop cart and Sharna pushed me around for a bit. I love those Australian roller coaster rides. After putting our stuff into our rooms, we went out to Spoons for yet another meal! Imagine that...Indiana Water Polo eating again. Kirsten, being the smart Irvine girl that she is, puts lemon in my hair convinced that my hair will get lighter in the sun! Ummmm Kirsten, I hate to tell you this but California still has nighttime, and THE SUN IS DOWN! Streef and Kirsten then throw together a little concoction and offer Sharna $4 to eat it. But no amount of money could get her to basically eat Tabasco sauce and guacamole. We do our damage there and head home to finally go to bed.

Thursday, March 14th by Jessica Goldner

We started our morning around 8 a.m. with the Holiday Inn continental breakfast. Free food is always a benefit! After breakfast we went back to our rooms and waited for a call from the coaches about what we would be doing since our game was not until 6:30 p.m. A quick nap was definitely in order. We loaded up the vans and traveled to Newport Beach High School where the coach gave us pool time on his lunch break. Going back to high school was weird for many. It felt like this school should be in a movie, just by the way everyone was dressed, the school in general, and the music blasting during lunch. Never before have I heard hip-hop music being blasted during the lunch hour. This was over the outside intercom system too! So, with good tunes blaring, the team jumped into the salt pool and did a quick swim set to warm them up for the evening game to follow.

Our afternoon was spent at Balboa Island where everyone was allowed to go off and explore on their own. Most of the team went to the fifty-cent ferry to get across to the real island. A couple of us ventured out of the beach parking lot, but the wind was so strong and cold that we went no further. Instead everyone went to seek cover and lunch at the various little shops around. Pete, Stan, Smitty, Amanda, Butt, Krista and I ended up at BJ's Grill where we all sat and ate lunch. When we started to head back to the ferry, Krista, Pete and I, all were craving Cold Stone Ice Cream. We ran ahead of the group, but the problem was when we got there, the shop was closed because they were out to lunch. What store closes for a lunch break at 3 p.m. when it only opens at noon? That was a major disappointment. So we settled for cookies instead. When the team went back to the hotel everyone went back to rest up for the game ahead.

On our way to the Irvine pool, us girls had quite the adventure. Matt's van always has fun, but not as fun as Jeff's, because they sing and dance the whole time. All of the vans got to the pool safe and sound with only about 40 minutes to warm up. But obviously that was okay because the Hoosiers really took it to the Anteaters in the first quarter. Stan made three unbelievable shots from the hole. Not only that, every person out in the field played great defense and really shut down UC Irvine. By the end of the first half the team had a 4-1 lead and it was looking pretty good for the Hoosiers. But in the third and forth quarters, Irvine made a rush to try and reclaim the game but that was not what we had in mind. We answered every shot that Irvine gave us. We came out with a 6-4 win and were ready to go to Ginger's house for a great meal. Once at Ginger's house, the Wang Family had tons of food for the team and parents. The food was excellent. Everyone on the team gives the big "Thanks" to the Wang's. While we were there, we watched the end of the IU men's basketball game against Utah. Nice win Hoosiers! So by the time we loaded up the vans to head home, everyone was looking tired and when we got back it was off to bed. Everyone needed their sleep because we were to play No.6 LMU on Friday.

Friday, March 15th by Kristy Streefkerk

Well I am proud to say that the Indiana Water Polo team is no longer pasty white! However, we are still not as tan as the California teams. I guess that you could call it a shade of off white maybe?

Anyway, this morning started off with an 8 a.m. wake up call to eat our continental breakfast where we were joined by the UMASS water polo team who are also staying at our hotel. Afterwards, we were told to put on some clothes that we were prepared to get sweaty in... (Oh no...this could be scary, the Indiana water polo team running?) But never fear, Stefan (IU strength trainer), you would be so proud of us. We successfully completed our weight room warm-up, which included some forward and backward lunges and yes, even push-ups! Following our outdoor weight room extravaganza, we ran two laps around the park (some of us MUCH faster than others!)

After all that exercise, we managed to find some time before our game for a bit of a nap. But at 1 p.m., we all piled into our three vans for our hour-long car ride to the LMU tournament. Not without an ambush though! Before we left the parking lot the red van (Smitty, Junk, Kirsten, Wanger, Deebs, Kim and I) pulled a drive-by on the other two vans with some water guns given to us by our secret friends!

Our first game at the LMU tourney was against the host team, who placed third last year at NCAA Championships. After a long defensive battle, we fell to them 6-3. Tomorrow we play Cal Baptist and Redlands. We played Cal Baptist last month when we went to San Diego and we did a nice defensive job by shutting them out. We also did a great offensive job by scoring 7 goals.

After the game we decided to avoid the 6 p.m. gridlock on the California highway, which would have turned our hour-long drive back to the hotel into a five-hour journey. In order to do so, we took a short drive from LMU to an excellent Mexican restaurant where we filled our stomachs silly with chips, salsa, guacamole and delightful Mexican dishes!

While we were eating, we saw the sky light up over the horizon, which looked like a jet taking off and flying directly vertical. We thought this was strange because of the colors and flight pattern it was taking. We later learned on the news that this was a missile launch from a nearby Air Force base in Malibu. It looked like a rocket going into the sky, because the object kept turning different colors and appeared to be glowing at times.

The test rocket was an "intercept missile" that would be launched during a terrorist attack. It was a successful test, but man it was weird. We were just sitting at dinner, right on the water watching the sunset, and the stream in the sky just continued to turn different colors.

Finally our day was over and we headed back to our hotels with full stomachs and high hopes for tomorrow's games!

Saturday, March 16th by Melissa Pietras

Another 8 a.m. wake-up call and a continental breakfast to look forward to. This morning we werent only accompanied at breakfast by the UMASS water polo team, but a delightful high school choir. We headed off around 9:30 or so to face the L.A. traffic. To our surprise, it was not bumper to bumper the whole way. Jeff was lolly gagging around behind Barry and Matt and almost missed the exit. We think he was trying to look like a pimp and checking out the women of L.A. We dont think it worked however. The cherry red minivan that he was driving, full of college girls, spoiled any kind of game he had.

Anyway, all three vans eventually made it t LMU, where we played Cal-Baptist. Later in the afternoon we played our final game against Redlands. We shutout Cal-Baptist the last time we played them, but this game was a little different. We dominated the whole game and won 14-10. Now you all might think playing outside in the California sun is wonderfuland for the most part it is. But this was more like Antarctica! The chilling Santa Anna winds made playing conditions a lot worse. After fueling our bodies at the LMU student center for lunch, we played Division III No. 1 Redlands. It was a better game than most of us expected, but we pulled ahead and won 6-5.

Once we knocked away all the ice that formed on our noses and finger nails during the game, some of headed out to dinner with their families. The rest of us went to meet up with the IU alumni that live in the L.A. area at Grunions, to cheer on the Hoosier mens basketball team who were playing UNC-Wilmington in the NCAA tournament. While cheering Indiana to victory, we donated $10 to color a ceiling tile to put up in the restaurant. Its a tradition there that people can buy their own tile and decorate it with whatever they want. Its a pretty colorful and interesting ceiling. We decorated it with the IU logo, a water polo ball, and all of our names. We titled it Hoosier Mama?. All the IU fans accompanied us while we watched the owner replace the original tile with ours.

After such an exciting day and weekend, not to mention completing a successful Spring Break where we won seven of eight games, we celebrated with some Coldstone ice cream and headed back to relax at the Holiday Inn.

Sunday, March 17th by Jamie Marley

The last day of Spring Break! Most of us are ready to go home and sleep in our own beds. We woke up this morning around 6:45 a.m. and had breakfast downstairs in the hotel. We left for the airport around 7:45 and made our way back to LAX. After turning in the rental cars, we checked in and boarded on the biggest plane I have ever seen. We flew from L.A. to Chicago in a 747 double-decker. I have never been on a plane like this before. This plane was huge and the best thing about it is that it had a lot of legroom. So me and my turtle, dont worry its a stuffed animal, rested up during the relative short flight back. Once in Chicago, we were just dying to get home. Wallace picked us up at the airport in the IU bus and we made back home safe and sound.

Back to school tomorrow and back in the pool Tuesday. We have another tough weekend coming up. Princeton and Michigan are coming in for the Indiana Invitational. We really need to practice hard this week so we can get those important wins.

You think you know, but you have no idea. This is the Spring Break Diary of the Indiana Women's Water Polo team.

The Spring Break 2002 Wrap-Up: A Coach's Perspective with Assistant Coach Matt Anderson

Various things stick out about our spring break trip 2002...and why is a coach writing an installment? To tell you the truth and nothing but the truth!

From the beginning...the bus ride to Grove City was fun. The campus is nice and the pool allowed some of us to lose about 20 pounds in liquid weight. It was hilarious watching us try and play in a shallow/deep pool...except for a couple of our players it was an all-deep pool (Gibler, Junk, Pete!)

Leaving the pool in one of the worst downpours I've seen, a few of us decide to walk down to the other end of the building where the bus was parked, only to find when we got there, he had moved to where we once were! It seems you run faster when being pelted by frozen rain.

Getting back to Bloomington for about six hours of sleep was great. The flight to "sunny California" was smooth. When we got there though, it was "cold and blustery California." After driving by Magic Mountain theme park, the girls in the van
talked about what they would do if they had a real spring break. With two seniors in the car, I do believe that they will get their wish next year...sunburn and more sunburn!

A healthy lunch at IN-N-OUT has Sharna saying that she wants to buy a house right next to an IN-N-OUT. Actually I think she would like to just rent the storage room!

In Bakersfield, we found our hotel and I dropped my vanload off. I then took a 265-mile drive (after covering 120 miles from the airport) up to the Bay Area (San Jose/San Francisco) in Northern California to visit with a recruit and her parents. We on the Water Polo team will not be out worked when it comes to building the future of the 'glory of Old IU!"

At around 11 p.m. the mother said to me, "you must be tired". Well, considering it was 2 a.m. Bloomington time, and I still had 45 minutes to drive to my place of sleep, all 5 hours of it, yes I was tired.

After a 10 a.m. animal style double-double from IN-N-OUT, I was back in Bakersfield. IT WAS FREEZING! Sunny and A COLD ARTIC WIND made us long for Bloomington weather.

With a nice victory over the Roadrunners, it was time to take on the Anteaters. I will leave out all the food references because as you are aware, this team loves to eat! And some Canadians in particular (Streef), love to eat more then others!

Up the next morning for more food and then a workout. We went to a local pool in Newport Beach that has been home to more practices for our Olympic Water Polo Players then can be counted. IT WAS FREEZING!

So then it was down to the beach and windburn, not sunburn, was the theme. IT WAS HORRIBLE. All this is coming from someone who spent the last 20 years in California. I've never seen anything like it.

A nice victory over UC Irvine made us 2-0 on our trip. With both recruits and local parents watching, it made for a great crowd.

Off to Ginger Wangs for two things: an IU mens basketball victory over Utah, and the best home meal we could ask for! Sushi, chicken, dessert, fruit, dessert, salad, dessert, soup, and dessert. Between the Marley's in Michigan and the Wangs in California, they can invite me over anytime for a home cooked meal!

The highlight of the trip back down to LA (we spent at least 24 hours all told in traffic-some things in Cali never change), was when my van had to put in their favorite song and then sing with it. So seven songs later, and many reason why we are not in IU SING, I would have to say I sound better in private then in front of a rough crowd!

Our game against LMU saw us play four quarters against the No. 6 team in the nation. Two more victories on Saturday and we concluded our great trip. Winning seven out of eight, and beating three nationally ranked teams and playing tough against another, was awesome.

The highlight of the whole trip perhaps, was going to Grunions in Manhattan Beach, where the IU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION was overtaking the place for HOOSIERS ONLY! A former swimming assistant welcomed us in and we packed it with 75 other IU fans to cheer them onto victory. You're welcome Coach Davis.

The best part was two-fold. The owner gave the ladies a bunch of thick magic markers and told them to write on the ceiling tile. A big IU WOMENS WATER POLO with signatures now adorns the roof!

And when the game ended, our ladies stood up and did a GREAT version of the IU fight song. That was stellar! Simply outstanding!

Okay, so to finalize what we have learned about our team throughout Spring Break 2002, here now is a list of things that come to mind:

* Streef loves to eat.
* Smitty and rollaways are made for each other!
* With Lou in the van, you need to draw numbers for seat positions
* McCollum is going to marry a shamrock.
* Sharna loves to laugh...at her own jokes.
* Creighton (Barrys son) doesn't understand the difference between a game and practice. He wanted to talk to the ladies and coaches while the game was going on!
* Sharna and Creighton each say my name the same: MOOOOOOT!!!
* We proved we could play outstanding defense!
* Weather in Cali is awful.
* Junk is a pretty good shot against defenseless coaches walking out of their room...the theme for the trip was squirt guns.
* Barry can sleep through the night even with an unnamed coach snoring next to him.
* Marleys turtle is starved! Gain some weight McCharlie!
* All of the sudden...Butlers family is now on the IU basketball bandwagon and off of the Ohio State bus!
* Mayberry has the perfect INDIANA TAN!
* Krista is not deaf (as the ref thought she was)
* Amanda is here for one reason...to take care of the lefty's (Stan and Peterson) and the Canuck (Streef)...three peas in a pod!
* Peitras is a thug.
* Jessie actually did not blow away in the wind gusts
* Our team did not throw any chairs in the pool!
* Wang did not blow away either...see what tying her to the deck can do!
* Molly, Sharna, and Peitras love bedtime stories.
* Stanford actually is deaf without her glasses on! "Wait, I can't hear you let me put my glasses on!"
* Deebs was willing to miss the plane to watch Cincinnati lose.
* Kim Steele did not grow in the sun. We will try fertilizer next time.
* And all of that is sent with love...of course.

That's the truth and I'm sticking to it.

Matt