This morning I rose at 8:00 AM for our energetic wake up call by Coach Fiorentino.  There certainly is no better way to start the day than with his pleasant, high-pitched yell.  I immediately tied up my running shoes and hit the beach.  This morning's run was a total of 4 miles.  On soft sand, I would run to a point about 2 miles down the beach and return on the hard sand.  Running on the beach early in the morning is one of my favorite activities to partake in during our Spring Break trips.  Although there are handfuls of other people who are on the beach, it is very peaceful and serene.  After my run, I ate a quick breakfast before loading the bus for practice at 9:30 AM.  

Today's practice was to be held at a local park.  The field, unfortunately, was a choppy, moist version of the bermuda grass I am used to.  As we began line drills, it was apparent that our sticks had not yet become acclimated to the weather of the Orange state.  Balls were hitting the ground every other pass and players dropped out of the line one by one to adjust their strings.  By the time we started shooting drills, most of these problems were under control.  On one shot, there was a grand roar coming from the offensive end of the field as the net was completely torn.  At the end of practice, we ran around the field two times jogging the sidelines and sprinting the endlines while the coaches and goalies collected the balls.  We ended practice with a post-stretch by a lake which was located about 20 yards directly behind the endline of the field.

As the bus approached the hotel, groups of players were making their plans for the remainder of the day including napping, shower, food, and beach arrangements.  Freshman midfielder David Borcik, sophomore attackman Mike Yetter, and I ventured down the road to the sub shop in Publix grocery store for lunch.  I bought a footlong wheat sub containing roast beef, ham, turkey, prosciutto, and white american cheese.  I washed the sub down with a large bottle of Poland Spring water.

At the beach, we relaxed in the sun, played some football, and swam.  One nice surprise was the cameo appearance of former Sea Gull BJ Neller.  BJ came in 2007 for his freshman year as an attackman from Winter Park, Florida and had recently transferred to Rollins College to play for the Tars.

At 6:00 PM, we were to meet at a park adjacent to our hotel for a picnic dinner.  Dinner was early today because we were privileged enough to bare witness to an evening NASA Space Shuttle Launch.  The food was catered by a local Bar BQ restaurant.  It was a plentiful buffet of pulled pork and beef, salad, macaroni and cheese, rolls, a variety of chips, and lemonade.  We ate this meal fairly quick in order to see the NCAA March Madness brackets.  

During the walk back, I received a text message from Coach Fiorentino alerting me that the space shuttle launch had been pushed up to 7:00 PM from its original 7:37 PM lift off.  Since I have the team sorted into groups organized by position on my cell phone, I text messaged everyone to get to the beach as soon as possible.  To no avail, the launch was postponed to its original time and I received a fair share of rumblings from my teammates throughout the wait.  Our videographer, Justin Kelleher, was positioned on a dune designated by Coach Berkman which provided him the best angle to catch the spectacle on film.  This was certainly a once in a lifetime opportunity. 

There is some raw footage floating around of pre and post lift off interviews of select players and coaches.  If, someday in the near future, this material leaks out from the cutting room floor to the internet, I will be sure to alert you.

Please feel free to leave me comments, thoughts, protests, suggestions, and questions after each blog and I will do my best to incorporate these into my entries.