DePaul University

July 19, 2010

Hey everyone!!! 

I’m excited to start blogging and sharing news about all the progress and fun that have taken place at DePaul and with the volleyball program over the summer! 

I can’t believe how fast summer is going!  It feels like just last week we were all taking finals and watching the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup! All of the girls on the team made the commitment to stay on campus for a majority of summer break and to participate in workouts and open gyms to prepare for the upcoming season.  While the weight room was being renovated with a variety of state of the art upgrades, we mixed up our workouts with our assistant strength and conditioning coach Patricia Dietz.  Patricia is extremely creative with constructing effective workouts for the team.  This summer, we have done circuit training and workouts all over Lincoln Park!  From doing a circuit that wound around the athletic department to running up the hills at Oz Park, we have had some great changes of scenery with our workouts.  We also did circuit training on the soccer field that included fun and challenging exercises.  The team did entire workouts utilizing equipment like medicine balls, 25 lb. weights, jump ropes, and even monster truck tires!    We all had to squat, flip the tire, and then jump in and back out of it.  It was fun and a great workout. 

Being in Chicago, DePaul student-athletes have the great opportunity to train in a variety of great out door locations like parks and the beach.  Only a few blocks away from campus we have Oz Park, Lincoln Park, and the lake front.  Over the past few summers we have enjoyed some pretty tough workouts at the parks and the beach.  In addition to our workouts, many of the girls on the team like going to the beach to play some beach volleyball, hangout, and of course get tan.  Rachel Aumann and Chelsea Thurlby have both had a blast participating in different beach and grass volleyball tournaments this summer.  It’s fun to watch and even more fun to play!

Open gyms have been especially fun this summer!  Three days every week the entire team gets together to practice and scrimmage.  We have had had a lot of fun playing with both veteran Blue Demons and future Blue Demons!  Graduated players and even a past graduate assistant and manager have all stopped by McGrath Arena to play a few matches with us.  For open gym we take turns bringing music and have created some pretty awesome playlists.  In addition to putting in time with volleyball and fitness over the summer, many of us have started working on some dance moves that we hope to debut at the talent show that all DePaul student-athletes participate in during fall orientation. 

Summertime in Chicago is simply phenomenal.  With the food, festivals, and beach there is always something to do!  One of the highlights of my summer so far was visiting the Taste of Chicago with a bunch of the girls.  After a short ride on the “el” we were downtown and ready to eat!  The Taste of Chicago offers a great variety of different local restaurants and stores with the dishes that have made them famous.  From deep-dish pizza to gourmet popcorn, all my favorite Chicago style food was there.

Yesterday Lauren, Sammy and I met up with one of our friends on the tennis team, Doug, and spent the day on his boat.  We hung out on Lake Michigan and went for a swim and then capped off our day by cruising around the Chicago River.  The view from the River was spectacular and we got to see a side of Chicago that we never even knew existed!  We even saw where part of the city had been shut down so that Transformers 3 could be filmed!  Unfortunately, we did not see Shia LaBeouf.

I’m excited to see what the rest of the summer holds.  I can’t wait for season to get here and to get back on the court again! 

Go Blue,
Kate Letcher