Sunday, August 26, 2012

Team Adventures



Over the weekend we had several team adventures to kick off the season.  On Friday afternoon, a group of student-athletes hiked up to the N.  The N, written with rocks spray-painted white by Nevada students, is legible from airplanes and reached by a short but humorously steep and slippery hike.  On Saturday, swimmers and divers hung out at Sand Harbor Beach at Lake Tahoe.  The combination of mountains and beach are spectacular and the collection of team members made for some great laughs.  Here are some highlights:

Near the N - see Reno in the background. 
1.  Guinea What:   Michelle Forman is definitely fit as proven by her ability to demonstrate guinea fowl “language” (a sort of screeching cluck) as we scrambled up the steepest part of our hike to the N.  When she first enumerated the animals (including rabbits and goats) on her family’s farm, I assumed guineas were rodents, as in the furry, tail-less mammals in pet stores.  I was mildly surprised that guinea pigs had such a central position on a farm, and only realized that an avian guinea exists when she spoke about their eggs and ability to kill snakes.  Thank you for the zoology lesson, Michelle.

2.  From lizards to magicians:  Swimming back from the Tahoe rocks, a conversation between Rachel O’Conner and Leslie Foley reminded me of the telephone game from fourth grade recess:
Rachel:  “Erin scrambles up those rocks like a magician!”
Leslie:  “Like what?”
Rachel:  “Remember you said Erin scrambles up those rocks like a magician right before you gave Abby a butt boost.”
Leslie:  “Magician?  I said ‘like a lizard’!”
Rachel:   “Oh, I thought you said wizard!”
LIZARD=WIZARD=MAGICIAN ??

Ashley:  WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?
3.  Determination:  Melanie Larson and Ashley Kunz finally made it to the beach after parking miles away, climbing over rocks, evading the guards, and making multiple phone calls.  The Hahl twins, Michelle and Megan, made to the beach a bit faster by simply riding the shuttle.

Squint to see Leslie standing between the boulders on the left to give Luiza a hand.
5.  Erin gets hosed:  Steve was slightly confused when Erin Fuss suddenly flung herself head first off the rocks.  After all, Erin had just pronounced, “I would never do a flip off this thing.”  From my stance on the shore, it looked like Erin was having zoological issues (see guineas above) and confusing mammals and birds.  What could have been a swan dive was alarmingly cow-like as she plummeted with her arms and legs extended directly toward the water.  The distinctive sound of stomach flesh on water earned her the typical “OOOOOHHHH” from the beachgoers, but she emerged from the water laughing.  Apparently she had slipped – not flipped.

6.  Legal Issues:  Nikki Jackson leaned down to spray paint a rock in the N and then jerked up her head:  “Is this legal?  I am 18…”  

7.  Alysse “Most Likely to Have Been a Leming in a Past Life” Ploussard:  She defied gravity in her ability to scale huge slick boulders and showed no hesitation in leaping into the water from the highest ledges.  If her boulder jumping is any indication of racing courage, it’ll be fun to watch Alysse compete this year.

8.  With a tremendous genetic advantage, Gabby Guieb won the tanning award.  Raquel Teran-Sanchez lathered Leslie like corn on the cob to win the friends-don’t-let-friends-tan award. 

Tahoe.  Saturday, August 25.
Tahoe.  Saturday, August 25.
Overall, the adventures gave Steve and me more opportunities to learn names (sorry, Kaelie!) and the team a chance to enjoy the last weekend before school starts.

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