Workouts with Joanne

So far on the offseason, we have had some very productive strength and conditioning workouts. As a team we have been working together to keep our stamina up for the spring season. We met with Joanna every Monday and Wednesday morning from 6:45-8:00 in Big Blue or in I-wing gym. Joanne's workouts varied in different exercises but were all set up basically the same way. We started each practice working with resistance bands around our legs. We did various exercises swith these bands such as "marching" forwards, backwards and sideways; "frankensteins", and movements side to side. When done with the bands we always worked on conditioning, focusing on increasing and decreasing our pace of sprinting. When we completed these, we then broke up into groups and worked in different agility stations. Stations included things such as jump roping, ladder drills, sprinting, skipping, shuffling, cone drills, hurdles, hand-eye coordination, ect. At the end of each practice we always did a "circuit" which consisted of things such as jumping jacks, balance movements, pushups, mountain climbers, and others. Lastly we worked on core exercises, that varied week to week from things such as traditional crunches and bicycle crunches, to things such as bridges and planks. Joanne's workouts have really helped keep us in shape during this winter and Im sure the things we did with her will help the team as a whole in our upcoming spring season.

Incoming Freshman

After a season where we will lost 8 seniors to graduation, it is essential to the team's success that we bring in a good amount of freshman girls to fill these positions. Over the past 8 months or so we have had numerous amounts of recruits come in for visits. Some girls just meet with coach, others spend the day with a few girls from the team and some stay for a night or two with us freshman in the dorms. The majority of girls come on two visits, one to meet with coach and another to spend a weekend with us. When recruits are here, it is our job to show them a good time. We are in charge of showing them what the college life here at Stockton is like. Usually recruits will come in on a friday morning and follow one of us to classes all day to get a feel for what a normal day of classes is like. We always take them to lunch and dinner on campus so they get a feel for what the food is like here. We like to take them out to "college parties" and show them how much of a good time we have here on the weekends. On Saturday mornings we always take them to breakfast and they usually leave sometime Saturday afternoon. We have yet to have a recruit that has not had a good time from what they give us in feedback. There have been a few girls that had rough nights and mornings for sure but everyone has had a good time! haha So far I believe that coach has between 12 and 15 committed recruits for next season. A lot of us keep in touch with some of these girls via facebook and text messages are we are excited to have them as a part of the team next year!

Costa Rica

As I have previously mentioned, this summer the Stockton Women’s Soccer team will be traveling to Costa Rica, South America. The team takes an international trip every 4 years and 2010 happens to be a year to travel. Just about all of the members of our team will be taking the trip although there are some girls who for various reasons will not be coming along. Before leaving for Costa Rica there are obviously many expenses that we must find money to pay for. All year we have been doing various fundraisers to put towards the trip. So far we held a beach soccer tournament, sold ads in our handbook, and sold apparel. In the next few months before our trip we will be doing a few coin drops, a business letter and looking for a few other ways to cover all of our expenses that include airfare, hotel costs, and food costs. The week Prior to leaving for the trip, the team will have a week of training here at school. In order to help us get back into playing shape this week will be essential. We then depart for Costa Rica on June 26^th and will be staying within the country for 10 days. While we are there we will be training with our team and also the Philadelphia University Women’s team. We will have a few games vs. international teams. Aside from traveling the country and playing soccer, we will also be learning about the culture and giving our service to a local orphanage. The team is very excited for the trip and everything that it encompasses!