Monday, February 7, 2011
The Hockey Season Is Coming To An End For Ridgebacks Women's Hockey
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Back to the Grind
Well Christmas break is all over and we are well into our second week of school here at UOIT. Hockey is in full force, and coming off a tough weekend we are now starting our new schedule of three 6am practices a week. Coming up, we have five out of town games in a row. With our early mornings and travel it is going to be quite the start to the semester. Time management has never seemed so important. We currently have study rooms booked for every Wednesday at 6-9pm for athletes, so that is definitely going to be helpful. Personally I am going to be bringing my books and laptop on the road with me and by the looks of it so is everyone else. With the end of Christmas and the new semester costs it is no wonder everyone is stressed out.
Good thing coach is taking us for a nice meal before Friday’s game; that will help relax everyone before a big game against Western. I am really proud of how my team finished off the first half of the season. For a young, new program I feel as though we are making some very positive strides in the right direction. We have a challenge coming up with all of the travel, not to mention dealing with some injuries. However, if we all come together I feel we can finish the season out strong and make a big impact on the OUA for the first time. With all the travel it is important to make sure we are eating right and getting as much rest as possible. We are facing some diversity and coach says the most important thing to focus on is our character. If we do that then no matter what the outcome we can be proud of ourselves.
The playoff push is on...
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Back at school and feeling the pressure
Speaking of my athletics, here is a short summary of what has been going on the last two months:
The last week I was in the Czech this summer I hurt my right ankle. I didn't do anything special, but experienced sharp pain after doing some strides. While it hurt quite a bit to move my foot in certain ways I still ran the last meet in Czech. I figured that I would have two weeks in the Netherlands to heal any injury I had and that I would be ready for Nationals. Upon my return to Canada, my ankle was still causing me pain during practices but no one seemed to know what was wrong. While in hindsight it may not have been my best decision, I decided to run Nationals and Provincials with my still injured ankle.
Once provincials were done I would have two full weeks to heal up again for summer training camp at the University of Guelph. During these two weeks I was sent to a local sport doctor so I could get an x-ray and MRI. While waiting for the tests and the subsequent results I was told not to do anything impact training (i.e. no running or jumping of any sort). So at training camp I did a lot of abs, lunges and push-ups. My original MRI date was set for October 25th (a death sentence for my pending track season) but I was lucky enough to have it moved up to September 28th!
Just last week I had my follow up meeting with the sports doctor. Going into the meeting I figured there would be two outcomes. 1) Nothing was seriously wrong with my ankle and I had wasted the now 7 weeks of training or 2) something was seriously wrong and I would need further treatment. In the end it turns out that I did fracture a bone in my foot (and probably should not have run on it) but that my seven weeks off was sufficient for healing.
So in short- I have not been running since Provincials but just recently got the ok to start training again. I am more than a little apprehensive since I do not want to injury myself again, but at the same time I may have saved my indoor season! So tomorrow is the first time this year I will get to run with my group – wish me luck :)
Friday, July 23, 2010
I'm Back !
But of course the entire trip was not all about running! We visited all of the main attractions in Prague and even got to visit some of the countryside. The Czech is a beautiful country and I would recommend it to anyone visiting Europe. This year I visited one castle that was 900 years old and it was amazing. I was also fortunate enough to visit the Netherlands before coming back home to Canada. I have family in the Netherlands that invited me over since I was 'in the area.' While I did have to put my training on hold for over a week- it was a fantastic experience! Not only was I there for the final FIFA game (which although it had a disappointing result, I have rarely seen so much energy before an athletic event!) but I got to experience the Dutch countryside and Amsterdam for the first time in my life.
Now I am back in Canada and have just over a week to prepare for Track and Field Nationals. I am finally recovering from the time change and am no longer waking up at 4 am, which is good! After Nationals the focus will be on Provincials, which are in Sudbury this year, and then my outdoor season will be over....Just in time to start training for indoor season.
Hope everyone is having a great summer!
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Summer Plans
At the moment I am attempting to finish my packing check list for my trip to the Czech Republic. Assuming all goes according to plan, this Monday I will be leaving Canada with my coach, Zuzana Mares, and several of my team mates for Prague! I was lucky enough to travel with Zuzu last year to the Czech where I trained and competed in some small meets. This year I have been invited back to compete for one of the clubs in the 100m and the 4x100m relay ! Awesome. While I am trying to be excited for the trip, with the danger of volcanoes erupting and potential airport strikes I would have to say I am more nervous than excited right now. The group and I have been training hard for the last month preparing for the trip. In fact in the last two weeks we have been doing two practices a day…every day. Anyway I think this is a good start to my blogging career. The next blog I post should be from Prague, wish us luck!
Friday, February 26, 2010
March Madness begins
The theme of our season has been toughness which we have worked on in every single practice. Bumps, bruises and bleeding are common, but the Lancers Women's basketball team LOVE the pain of the game!
By the way my name is Emily Abbott, born and raised in Calgary, Alberta. You may ask yourself why in am I at the University of Windsor of all places (as a local once referred to Windsor as the "armpit" of Canada). I highly disagree, Windsor is a diverse and fun place where I have met only the most interesting people! When Windsor coach Chantal Vallee recruited me, I admit, I had never heard of Windsor. Yet her passionate vision about creating a succesfull women's basketball program had me sold. I beleived in her. And now here we are ranked no. 2 in the country with a 24-1 record in the OUA. We will have to keep this going.
I am in my 3rd year at U Windsor and am absolutely loving it. I am an english major, which is perhaps the reason I was chosen to write this blog.
Our team has to climb some mountains to reach our goal which is a CIS Bronze Baby -to be returned to Ontario! I know we can do it with our outstanding team, which has so much character. Even our rookies run the show! Our team is extremely deep, we just need to narrow our focus as the pressure mounts. Come watch Saturday fans, it will be tense!
Well, I am off to practice to go box out some giants (Iva Peklova 6'4", Raelynn Prince 6'3", are among them).
Sincerely
Emily Abbott
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Welcome to Official OUA Blog
This is long overdue, but Ontario University Athletics is excited to launch it's official blog. The purpose is to give OUA student-athletes from across the province a forum to provide insight into their day-to-day lives and experiences. Our over 9,000 student-athletes are doing remarkable things as they prepare for life beyond university.
We will debut our student bloggers very soon. Thank you for supporting Ontario University Athletics!