Rising sophomore Elizabeth Kilborn and some of her teammates on the women’s tennis team are enjoying their summers on campus by taking classes and training for next year. Elizabeth has agreed to blog for RamblinWreck.com from time to time to update everyone on the team’s progress this summer on and off the court. Check back from time-to-time to see what Elizabeth has to say. Some of her teammates may pop up on here as well.
June 30, 2010
Entry #1
Hey Tech tennis fans! This is my first blog entry, so bear with me!
The summer is flying by, as always, and it is hard to believe it is already July. Right after we finished NCAA’s, I started my two summer classes (Inorganic Chemistry and Management Statistics), so I have been busy with that. You are probably thinking, why is she taking a management class and chemistry?? Well, my major is Biology, but I am doing the “business option” of Biology, so all of my electives are different business classes. I would love to work in the medical field one day, maybe even be a doctor (lots more school… yikes!), and I think it would be good to have some business background. Who knows what I will be doing a few years down the road… but its fun to think about!
I took about a week off from practice after the season ended, but was eager to get back on the court after that. I am just very excited to be here for the summer and have the opportunity to continue to get better every day. In collegiate tennis, I think that summer is a time to make big strides in your game, and that is what I am looking to do this summer. After the season ended, each of us sat down with Coach Shelton and Anca Dumitrescu and developed a plan for the summer and noted certain areas to focus on. I believe that we have the best coaching staff in the country here at Tech, and I feel very fortunate to have two coaches who are all-in and willing to work with us day in, day out during the summer. I have seen girls in the past make big strides from their freshman to sophomore years, and I hope to be one of those girls by the time fall rolls around! Irina Falconi made a tremendous jump in her game last summer, and Amanda McDowell did too before she went on to win the singles title her sophomore year. Couldn’t ask for better role models than those two, right??
Lynn, Christina, and Sasha are also taking summer classes, so we have all been able to practice together which has been great! Our practices have been very early in the morning (7 a.m.) because of camp, which starts at 9. Although the 6 o’clock wake-up call is very hard for all of us, it is nice playing early so we can stay out of this ridiculous heat! The early morning practices start to get to me towards the end of the week, so I try to take as many naps as I can 🙂 And so does Lynn, who is one of my roommates this summer. From after workouts till dinner we both have our doors shut, lights out, and curtains closed. I guess you could say we both like our sleep! Lynn claims that one of her talents is that she can fall asleep anywhere, anytime. I wouldn’t put it past her!
As far as practice goes, we spent a lot of time the first few weeks of summer doing different drills and point-play scenarios. Coach’s emphasis this summer has been the principle of “give and take”. We are learning when the right time in the point is to take the opportunity to attack and when we need to give a little and get back to neutral. The past few weeks we have started to play more sets as we get ready for some tournaments in July. It has been good to get back into match mentality and find a balance in point play situations. I am playing the 10K tournament in Atlanta during the second week of July, and I am looking forward to getting back into tournament play.
So… Let’s see… What else have I been up to the past month….
I have taken one very short vacation so far 🙂 On my mom’s side of our family, I am one of 15 cousins, and we all go to the beach together every summer. There are about 30 of us combined, if you count grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. This tradition started before I was born, so all of us have grown up going to the beach every summer together. We have so many memories from these trips and are a very close-knit family. This year I was only able to get down to Hammock Beach for three days because of classes, but I enjoyed all of the time I had down there! We went out to a few different seafood restaurants, and one night we just brought our take-out right to our chairs on the beach. We just couldn’t get enough of the beach that day! After dinner, we played big games of family kickball. Girls vs. boys. Boys get one out and girls get three. Everyone plays. My grandmom even kicks, but we let her have a pinch runner 🙂 We have a blast! This trip is always one of the highlights of my summer, and I am very, very blessed to have such an amazing family.
One of my favorite things about being at school during the summer is the balance I get between spending time at Tech and also being able to take the long 20-minute trek up I-75 to go home when I want to. I have the best of both worlds for sure. My sister, Katie, is interning in Atlanta for the summer, so it has been great being able to spend time with her, because she is usually up in Nashville at Vanderbilt. We have been exploring different restaurants in Virginia Highlands this summer. We love that area! Maybe we will buy a house there together one day 🙂 Anyways, my favorite discovery so far is the guy called “The King of Pops”. He sets up shop from his Popsicle stand at a gas station, and sells homemade popsicles. Some of them are really crazy flavors… like Mexican chocolate? Grapefruit mint? I went for strawberry lemonade, and Katie had raspberry lime. Another cool thing I have done is “Shoot the Hooch”. Some of my friends and I went rafting down the Chattahoochee river, which, by the way, is a perfect way to spend a summer day if you are looking for things to do in Atlanta! About ten of us hit up WalMart for cheap inner tubes, parked one car at the starting point and one at the finish, and just let the current carry us! As long as you don’t swallow the disgusting river water, you should be good to go! I got a little sun burnt, but hey, it’s ok.
That’s about it for now… Happy 4th of July! Until next time…
– Elizabeth
