Indiana University Athletics
Elaine Harris Diary
4/5/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
April 5, 2006
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - For each women's golf tournament during the 2006 spring campaign, IUHOOSIERS.com will have an Indiana women's golfer who will keep a player diary for the fans enjoyment. Below is the daily journal written by sophomore golfer Elaine Harris during the Hoosiers' trip to Scottsdale, Ariz.:
Tuesday: The Hoosiers arrived late in Scottsdale on a Tuesday evening after a smooth flight from Indianapolis. We were welcomed by our host families. Instead of staying in a hotel like we usually do, the members of the Rio Verde community graciously invited us into their homes. Tired from travel, each Hoosier went to their host family's house on the golf course and hit the sack.
Wednesday: We teed off late for our practice round and were all able to sleep in until a luxurious 10! The course at Rio Verde was beautiful and the weather was warm and sunny.
Wednesday was Tara's birthday. Luckily the Western Michigan coach knew this information and had a big party for the occasion. Well, if it wasn't for Tara's birthday, it should have been. It was a rodeo type dinner that the tournament had for the teams and their host families. There was great food and live music for us. The band played happy birthday to Tara as she slapped a tambourine against her hip to the rad guitar solo. Shannon kept wanting the band to play the electric slide, but we were tired and the Hoosiers left before we could dance too much.
Thursday: Our first day of competition. Again the tee times were in the afternoon. Some girls went to the gym in the morning while others did homework or got caught up on sleep. We got done late and went straight to dinner at one of the host families houses. Again we ate a great meal and enjoyed the teams company over dinner.
Friday: By now we were used to the ritual and were getting comfortable with our host families and the schedule. We teed off at 1:00 and again had dinner at a different host family's house. They had a ping pong table and the team played a few games of "around the world".
Saturday: We got up early and were teeing off at 8:00. After we finished we headed back into Phoenix where we caught a plane to take us back to school and midterm exams.
The Arizona trip was a lot of fun. We loved the support from the host families and the parents that came out to Arizona. Being from the west, I felt like I was a little closer to home. We were surrounded by large mountains and an expansive sky that was full of stars. The air felt different as well. Katie and Molly brought a little of the west back to Indiana when they packed away part of a cactus to grow in Bloomington. It was a great trip and the team continues enjoy each other's company and support. We all look forward to Vegas!!!!
