Our Traning Trip to Los Angeles, CA!!

Our team on Mulholland Drive



LOS ANGELES-

This past week, our team travelled to Los Angeles, CA to sight-see, practice, and play in a tournament at Occidental College. For many players, it was their first trip to the West Coast and for some, their first time flying! Our journey started early Tuesday morning with a flight out of Albany, a layover in Atlanta, and finally, after 12 hours of travel, landing at LAX airport.

Early Wednesday morning, after a night of getting adjusted and settled in to the hotel and our new surroundings, we left our hotel in Hawthorne to travel up to CBS studios in Hollywood for the taping of "The Price Is Right." We stood in line, had our picture taken, interviewed with the casting director and waited for our debut on national TV. Our team was lucky enough to be seated front and center, just a few feet away from the contestants. The host, Drew Carey, talked with some of our players during commercial breaks and finally one of our players was called to the stage as the last group of contestants was called. Ali Sisco, a sophomore, represented Hartwick well and her teammates helped her out with the bidding. We can't wait for all of our friends, families, members of the Hartwick community and fans to watch us on MARCH 20TH at 11 AM when our show will air! This will certainly help put Hartwick on the map across the country!

We continued with our Hollywood theme that night as we visited the Walk of Fame and Kodak Theater. After strolling Hollywood Boulevard, one of our players spotted a movie premiere happening next door to the Kodak Theater for "This Means War", a new movie starring Reese Witherspoon. Some of our players were lucky enough to spot a few celebrities! Overall, the day gave us a great glimpse of Hollywood life and how important it is to the city of Los Angeles.

On Thursday morning, the team loaded the vans for a lovely drive through LA's infamous traffic to Occidental College. (Fun fact: did you know Barack Obama attended Occidental College his first two years of undergrad before transferring to Columbia University?) The campus was beautiful with matching Spanish-styled buildings and palm trees- a typical California look. After a good practice and some down time in the hotels for lunch, we headed down to Santa Monica Pier to enjoy the beautiful 80 degree weather. In addition to the beautiful beach, the Santa Monica Pier offers a great boardwalk with street musicians, restaurants, shops, a roller coaster and a giant ferris wheel. Our luck continued with celebrities as one of our players spotted the actor who played Pedro in “Napoleon Dynamite” amongst the crowd. We capitalized on the opportunity, capturing the moment with some pictures. Celebrities are everywhere in LA! Our returning to the hotel, those of our players with family in the area enjoyed some time away from the team while the majority of the team made a feast of a cookout on the patio of the hotel!

Santa Monica Pier



Friday morning we loaded up the vans once more to take on the traffic-ridden highways of LA in pursuit of Occidental for our walk-through practice in preparation for our three games the following day. To see another view of LA, our team headed up in elevation on Mulholland Drive, a great scenic road that snakes through the mountains next to the city, offering a great panoramic view of the city below. We stopped at various overlooks that offered us a great view of the mountains, downtown LA, the ocean and the mansions in the hills of Hollywood. L.A. is unique in that way; it is incredibly diverse and massive in size, mimicking more of a cluster of cities, each offering something different to the many tourists and residents.

We continued with our packed schedule by visiting the Venice Beach boardwalk, a seriously unique place unlike anything we had seen before. Known for its alternative style, the boardwalk was loaded with tattoo shops, piercing studios, street artists, an outdoor gym and a skate park. We shopped around, people-watched, and walked the beach until a beautiful sunset engulfed the sky. There really is nothing quite like a California sunset; the sky filled with oranges, pinks and reds so concentrated in color that it looked fake. Luckily, our team escaped without any additional tattoos or piercings- at least as far as us coaches know!

Pacific Ocean

After a nice sit-down pre-game meal, our team was ready to take on Occidental, Chapman and USC in three 45 minute games.  We couldn’t have asked for better playing weather with temperatures in the high 60’s- such a great change from the cold and snowy weather of Oneonta! Overall, we performed well, showing moments of great potential along with some moments of frustration. The girls proved how hard they worked in the off-season and it certainly paid off. Our team looked fitter, sharper and more in control than we did in the fall.  This glimpse at our potential will serve to motivate our team through these next few weeks of practice as they recognize how far they have come since the fall and how much farther they can go in improving before our first game on March 3^rd!

The team after a game at Occidental

Our team, despite being exhausted from a long day of games and a long day of travel ahead, wished to make the most of their last night on the West Coast before their return to Oneonta. We explored the famous Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills for window shopping and some quality cupcakes at Crumb’s. Although the stores were all closed by the time we arrived, our team still got a good feel of how the wealthy and famous live in Beverly Hills and the beauty of the immaculate Rodeo Drive. We returned to the hotel later that night, passing the Beverly Hilton, the hotel at which Whitney Houston died in earlier that day, on our way home.

All in all, our trip was a great success. We saw Hawthorne, Santa Monica, Venice, Hollywood and Beverly Hills, some of the most well-known parts of Los Angeles, but we merely scratched the surface of all the possible activities and sight-seeing of LA. For those of our players who had never been on a plane, they survived a total of 14 hours in the air and are now somewhat seasoned travelers and airport navigators. And for those who visited the West Coast for the first time, many are already talking about planning their next trip out to beautiful California! This trip not only gave us great playing experience against quality opponents such as Occidental, Chapman and USC, but also the opportunity to grow closer as a team and see one of the most famous cities in the world. With this memorable trip, we are off to a great start for what we hope will be a special 2012 season. Thanks to all the parents and supporters of our program who made this trip possible! It is certainly one our team will never forget.

We hope to see you at a game soon!



Coach Dell's van




Coach Wallace's van