Rising senior Remy McBain is in Puerto Rico training with the Puerto Rico Women's National Volleyball Team this week while the squad prepares for the start of the Pan American Games next week in Mexico. McBain will be providing us an exclusive look inside her trip over the next few days.
Here are her first two installments:
Tuesday, July 3
I woke up at 5 a.m. to catch my 7 a.m. flight to Charlotte and then onto Puerto Rico at 1 p.m. where the Director of International Affairs, Humberto, and two of my teammates, Daly and Pilar, greeted me. I soon found out that Daly was a 17 year old on her way to Minnesota in the fall to play for the Golden Gophers, and Pilar is 16 years old. They are the youngest members of the team.
Daly would be my roommate for the week and my interpreter. We drove to get some lunch and then headed straight to the gym for an afternoon practice at 4. The team practices at the Universidad de Puerto Rico recinto de Rio Piedras. Daly introduced me to the team and I soon found out that many of the women on the team were a lot older than me. We started practice with some drills and then played several games for a while until we were done.
Practice was definitely difficult because the entire session was spoken in Spanish! Daly was more than happy to translate for me and the coaches were very patient and understanding. They were helpful in explaining in English anything I didn't understand.
After practice, we went to the grocery store to pick up food for the week and then I headed straight to bed! I was exhausted from the long day of traveling and practicing, but overall it was a great day!
Wednesday, July 4
We woke up this morning at 6:45 to get to the University. Since today is the Fourth of July, the coaches held conditioning, lifting and practice all in the morning. We started on the track with conditioning and then went to the weight room where we lifted. The conditioning and lifting was very similar to what I am accustomed to at Maryland so it was an easy transition.
Practice began at 10 a.m. with butterfly, defensive drills, serve receive and attacking drills. We were finished by 12:30 p.m. and we were done for the day!
Daly and I met up with my parents and had lunch at a seafood restaurant which was very good. That night, we went to see the fireworks in Condado, which is a resort area on the island. The street was filled with people and the atmosphere was very festive for the holiday. It was a great time!
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