As a collegiate athlete, preseason marks a time for improvement, unity as a team, hard work, sore muscles, sweat, and a lot of other things that cannot be summed up in one sentence. However, I do think that the following 15 thoughts effectively illustrate the preseason of a collegiate volleyball player.

1. "I feel as though I have been hit by a truck."

Anyone who has experienced any form of preseason knows the feeling of waking up and feeling unsure of whether or not you can move. Once you have determined that, yes, you can move, you still continue to lay in bed for as long as possible before making the initial move. Soreness in preseason causes rough mornings and dreaded warmups.

2. "How am I still hungry?"

This thought pops into my head very frequently throughout preseason. With two practices and a lift all within one day, food becomes an essential resource to keep the body going. However, when I say food... I mean a ton of food. So much food that your thoughts about it never seem to end. Oh, and by the end of a three hour morning practice you better believe I am daydreaming about a huge plate of lunch from the dining hall.

3. "WATER"

You know you did not drink enough water when you lose three pounds all within one practice. During preseason, one starts to drink so much water that the act of doing so becomes involuntary. Especially in a gym like ours (lacking air conditioning), preseason requires large amounts of water.

4. "How do the freshman have so much energy?"

Upperclassmen often have this thought. Unfortunately, time takes a tole on an athlete's body. By one's fourth season of collegiate athletics, your body has taken quite the beating. Also, you find yourself without as much energy with age. Freshmen always seem to be so, well... fresh.

5. "Hmmm... Did not know it was possible to sweat though two shirts within one practice."

Did I mention our gym does not have air conditioning? Also, our preseason takes place in the month of August.

6. "Why are there so many stairs?"

Due to the physical demand that volleyball requires, volleyball players tend to have very sore leg muscles. With sore leg muscles comes a hatred for stairs.

7. "Is it acceptable to go to bed at 8:00 pm?"

Absolutely.

8. "How many showers will we take today?"

You have two practices and one lift within one day and you usually find yourself drenched in sweat by the end of each one... you do the math.

9. "I have a love/ hate relationship with ice baths."

Ice baths definitely help our bodies recover faster between morning and afternoon practices, but man are they cold. The first two minutes of an ice bath includes the individual ice bathing hoping for their body to go numb. Once your body goes numb,you're home free.

10. "Didn't even know I had a muscle that could be sore there."

During preseason, you find out you have a lot of muscles that you had no idea really existed. You find out you have these mysterious muscles once they become sore for no apparent reason. I often find myself having this thought in the morning.

11. "Like, what day even is it?"

During preseason, days seem to blend together. You lose track of time very easily and days of the week quickly become very irrelevant. If coach did not hand out itineraries at the beginning of preseason, I would not be able to tell you the date or the day of the week.

12. "Why aren't there good protein choices today?"

This thought occurs when you walk into the dining hall after a three hour practice and can't seem to find any decent protein options. Grilled chicken... that is basically all we ask for. Instead, we find ourselves questioning whether or not to go for the steak salad.

13. "The damn football players drank all of the chocolate milk again."

Your heart drops when you approach the dining hall and you see that the football team has reached it first. When, in fact, the football team has reached the dining hall first, your hopes for chocolate milk quickly become crushed. However, when you do discover that there is chocolate milk and you are Kenzie Shand, you find yourself thinking, "The chocolate milk god has blessed us with another cup."

14. "The continuous banana debate: green vs. yellow vs. speckled"

If your team resembles mine, then you all love bananas. However, there does seem to be an ongoing debate on when bananas are at there prime eating stage. Some like them green. Others like them perfectly yellow. A few, like me, like them to have brown speckles.

15. "I really think I like these guys."

Through all the practices, lifts, meals, meetings, and team-bonding activities, you begin to realize that you really love your team. Your day would feel boring and lonely without them. The conversations and moments had together during the weeks leading up to season become fond memories that will follow long after preseason ends.