Before I tell you all about Murray State University women's basketball team, let me first introduce myself.  My name is Amber Guffey and I am a senior on this year's team.  I am a guard, but I will probably play mostly point guard this season.  This year's seniors are welcoming our third head coach in four years.  The one constant has been new head coach Rob Cross.  He is the only coach that has been with us all four years.  With a new coaching staff, including three new assistants, we are all learning each others strengths and weaknesses.

Our team has been practicing since October 17^th.  We get up early and practice at 6:30 every morning.  That means if you have to get treatment or your ankles taped that you have to be in the locker room at 5:30.  You might think that getting up that early is hard, but it really is not because we have been doing it for so long.  Our practices have been going fairly well considering we have six freshmen on this year's team.  Freshmen usually have a difficult time adjusting to the college game, but these freshmen  have picked up everything really well and let's just say that they keep us laughing.

Not only have we been practicing hard on the court, but we have also been in the weight room.  We lift three days a week now that practice has started.  We don't lift as a team because of our class schedules, but we all lift when it is convenient for us.  It is important to lift during the season so that we don't lose all the strength that we gained during the summer and preseason.

Our coaches have been taping practice so that they can see what we are doing right and what we need to improve upon.  This past week we watched film with our position coach.  I watched film with Coach Jones this past week because she works with the point guards.  I think it is good to watch film because you can learn so much from it.

Basketball is a big part of our day, but we also find time as a team to give back to the community.  Today half of our team went to North Elementary.  We did a program called "Movement and Math."  Basically it is a program that incorporates exercise and math.  Giving back to the community is very important and especially to kids.  Those kids look up to us and we should be good role models for them.

I look forward to helping you get to know our team throughout the season.  No doubt there will be some funny tales to talk about as we start this journey.  No matter what happens this year, I am going to have fun because this is my last year to play basketball at Murray State University.

Go Racers!