| This season fans will have the opportunity to see first-hand what it it’s like to be a part of the women’s basketball program at Georgia Tech in a series of online journal entries at Ramblinwreck.com written by sophomore Shaday “Day-Day” Woolcock. |
Check out Day-Day’s latest entry below:
July 16, 2008
Entry #11
“PLAYERS ARE MADE IN THE OFFSEASON”
I can’t even count the amount of times I have heard this quote from my Georgia Tech coaches, coaches I used to play for in the past, the athletic staff members and even one of my professors, but I must say I agree with it 100%. I know I would be lying to myself if I said I was going to take the summer off and still be fully prepared when the season comes back around so I have made the commitment to condition and work on parts of my game faithfully. It hasn’t been easy though. Waking up early to run and take some extra shots has never been considered an ideal situation during summer season in my eyes. Like any other student, there are days I would much rather sleep in and not be awaken by an alarm clock, but when I look at the bigger picture, more than anything I want to be able to help Georgia Tech Women’s basketball to an ACC and an NCAA championship and if waking up and doing a little extra will get me even just one step closer, that’s what I am going to do.
Determination and commitment are important to me during this summer season. Besides the fact that I want to get better, I have to say what motivates me to go so hard is my teammates. The mornings that I wake up to condition and workout, they are doing the same. And when my legs are sore from weights, I can count on my teammates to be right beside me in the cold whirl pool. What inspires me even more are our freshmen. (It feels good to be able to say that now that I’m a sophomore 🙂 They arrived here with tremendous work ethic. I see each and every one of them making big contributions to our team. Small things like just having conversations or playing pick up with them gets me so excited for what the season will bring. And as for our upper classman, I can really see leadership skills developing. We are all trying harder than ever to take responsibility for ourselves first, then others. Last year taught me a lot about communication and how important confrontation is. In a sense, it has helped us grow so much. I think my team has reached a comfortable state where everyone respects, trusts and believes in one another, and these are definitely tools that championship teams have.
Although it would be great, basketball hasn’t been the only thing on my agenda for the summer. I am also back interning in Communications and Marketing department at Georgia Tech and I am taking two courses, Statistics and Computer Science. The internship is going great. I think I love it more because I actually work, have meetings and learn a lot of things instead of just filing papers and answering phone calls. I have been introduced to many different people and many fields of marketing and I know this experience will help me make a great career choice later down the line. My two classes are going well also. Computer Science worried me at first, but now I am a computer programming webpage making machine These courses are almost complete and I’m on track for making A’s in both of them.
In the midst of everything going on, I still take time out for just relaxing and having fun. Lately I have been able to get in a lot of family time that I might miss out on during the season and that has been great. I also go swimming quite often, out to dinner and I have seen just about every movie that has come out. Practicing time management skills as a freshman has helped me out a lot. I even have managed to sneak a couple of guitar lessons into my schedule. So at the end of this summer I plan on being able to say I got better conditioned, I got stronger, I improved on many parts of my game, I got smarter and closer to my degree and I had fun while doing it all.
– Day-Day #10
