Berkhamsted

First day of lax today and it was quite an experience. It reminded me of a club lax tournament. It was in Berkhamsted which was about 3 hours away and they had 11 pitches (fields) so it was a huge facility. It was rainy and cold and there was about a half hour of sun and I was so excited, then was told it wouldn't last long which it didn't. The coaches umpire and that was interesting..I am obviously still learning and a little hesitant but will get better:-) I got a compliment from one of the coaches on my new goalie and how she seems to have natural talent and will be really good. She did very well and all 3 teams we took did well-getting better throughout the day. First day is always a struggle getting back into the swing of things, especially with the weather being how it was. I am not phased by rain anymore or puddles in my shoes which is good I guess since it happens quit often. I just tell myself that I will be showered and dry at the end of the day-staying positive:-)
I saw a bunch of girls from the induction course we had earlier and that was fun..also saw Steph Schnieder who was a senior at Denver when I was a freshman. She is going on her 4th year out here which is pretty unbelievable. She couldn't believe that I graduated already which I said I couldn't either. Bittersweet day starting lax officially here and knowing everyone's back at Denver starting classes tomorrow. It is quite the adjustment but is getting easier and I am definitely growing up and becoming more mature with more responsibilities everyday which is good. I had the second senior team today who will primarily become the team I will coach. It is hard because they only have about an hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school so time is quite limited and limits what we can do and what I can teach them but it will be ok. Another week starts tomorrow with Assembly at 8.50am so it's back to the busy days with PE lessons and boarding house duties. Still can't believe I am done with college..it is very weird to think about.
On the way back from Berkhamsted, we had 3 hrs of "Ask Danielle anything.." so that became quite interesting. We compared everything we say differently, they asked about college in America and think playing lax there would be amazing which I said it is an awesome experience but goes soo fast. They said they all want my accent and love listening to my stories which made me feel special ha. I explained Thanksgiving and they asked if you just sit around and pray and I said it is a time to come together and be with the people you love and they asked if it's like the episodes on Friends haha. I said yes, but different for everyone:-) They asked about cliques, trends, sayings/phrases, high school, and everything imaginable. They also like when I do an English accent and say it's not so bad so I'll keep working on that I guess.
They said they have X-Factor on the bus going to games and stuff and basically they use the microphone on the bus and perform and sing..I was like oh man I was made for this:-) haha can't wait for that. I was threatened and told that I better not be good and create competition. I said that I think I'm good but I'm really not, I just love to sing! obviously you all know that already..
I told them I was going to have my mom bring karaoke revolution american idol edition for play station and we can have competitions and they also want me to show them DVDs of my Denver games-that made them really excited...and me because I miss it!
After we got back tonight, I worked with a girl who graduated last year and came to help today and she loves lax and plays point (they still do the positions) and I helped the vice captain of the first team who plays cover point and we played in the gym and I taught them some defensive things..just some basics with 1 on 1 defense but they really liked it so I'll probably do that more often-lax lax lax! haha. Anyways...it's late here so I'm going to go to sleep but I just wanted to fill everyone in on my first day of lax games and give you some Monday morning reading at work:-)

Miss you all!
xoxo
DP