We have a new feature for you on the blog -- a blog.
Purdue incoming freshman and recent Snider graduate Liza Clemons agreed to give readers and fans an inside peek at what it's like to make the transition from high school student to college student-athlete at one of the country's best schools and one of the nation's most competitive women's basketball programs.
If you have any questions you'd like to ask Liza (pronounced "Lisa"), shoot me an email at sclardie@jg.net and I'll pass them along for a future blog.
Hope you enjoy it ...
First entry
My first week here at Purdue was great. I arrived Sunday (June 12) and we had a team meeting at 6 p.m. that night. Coach Versyp handed out our schedules, which between classes, workouts, study hall, meals and pick up games has every minute of every day accounted for. After the meeting, the whole team went to BDubs (Buffalo Wild Wings) to watch the Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks game. Since it was taking a long time for our food to arrive, we decided to play Mafia, a party game created in the USSR in 1986, modeling a battle between an informed minority and an uninformed majority. I remembered playing that game in U.S. History but didn't really remember how to play. So KK Houser explained it to me and we all played Mafia in the restaurant while waiting for our food. It was really fun and it gave me a good indication of how much I was going to enjoy myself at Purdue with my teammates.
Monday began with my alarm going off at 5 a.m., so I could be out the door by 5:20 to make it over to Mollenkopf for our 6 a.m. workout. Workout consists of weights, conditioning, and a lot of other "fun" things that Coach Christina Specos (aka Coach Spec) likes to throw in. After workout ends between 7:30 and 8 am, I find my way across campus to my psychology class from 9:50 to 10:50 am. My second class is a human development class that runs from 11 a.m. to noon. I have found that the day runs smoothly after getting the workout out of the way. It's nice to get it over with early in the morning so that you have the rest of the day to yourself. Don't get me wrong, though, the day is nowhere near over. I still have study hall, my individual workout which I go through on my own based on information my coaches have given me, and more study table. Just to put it real simple, I wake up at 5 a.m. and usually don't get home until 8:45 pm.
Tuesday is pretty much the same schedule; except for our workout is from 3:30 pm to 4:30 p.m. It's nice not to have to get up before dawn every morning, but there is something to be said about having it done before my day really begins. We have 6 a.m. workouts on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and afternoon workouts on Tuesday and Thursday, so three out of the five days we are waking up early to workout. Two out of the five days we get to sleep in a little while longer which is always nice!
Also my first week, Chantel (Poston) invited everyone over for dinner Wednesday night. Chantel and Torrie (Thornton) love to cook, and I love to eat so it works out perfectly. Most of the team went over to Chantel's apartment and after a full day, we were ready to eat. Chantel had us fooled though. We thought the food would be ready by the time we got there, which was about 7:30, but nope, she was just putting it in the oven. So what did we do? That's right! We played Mafia again. After you start to play it with your friends, you become addicted to playing it. Chantel had prepared lasagna and garlic bread for dinner. She said she never made lasagna before but had wanted to try it. And let me tell you…it was sooo good, especially considering it was her first attempt. I told Chantel that we should start a team tradition of Torrie and her fixing Sunday dinner for us each week.
Thursday after class, I headed back to Fort Wayne for my high school graduation and an open house. I couldn't believe how much I missed my teammates after being around them less than a week, but it was great to go through graduation and to spend time with my family. My mom did a great job planning my graduation party; you could tell she really worked hard on it. I'm glad it turned out the way it did, not just for me, but for especially for my mom because of all the time, effort and love that went into organizing it. Thank you Mommy!
Sunday came around and it was time for head back to West Lafayette to get prepared for another 6 a.m. Monday workout. I'm glad to be back with the team and am ready to work hard in preparation for a special season. I can gladly say that my first week was great and I'm ready for more.
