After a wonderful, action packed summer which saw the graduation of the Class of 2009, the marriage of Jess Knight & Jared Beers, our very own faculty liaison Bruce Maxwell (Chair of Computer Science) qualifying for the Boston Marathon, crossfit training for Coach Burton, the moving of the Roberts Hall meeting rooms from the second to first floor so that Computer Science can occupy the entire second floor with two brand new labs, and the arrival of the newest Eck amongst other things, the arrival of the Class of 2013 three weeks ago marked the start of Fall. The days remain warm but the nights are cool resulting, as I notice this past weekend driving along the coast, in the trees starting to change colors. As I am sure many of our alums remember, Colby is an extremely beautiful place in the Fall.
The Class of 2013 is full of energy and talent;... I have enjoyed watching them bond as they discovered Colby together during Orientation and COOT, and I look forward to seeing what they will bring to our team this season. As with many falls at Colby, the arrival of the new first year class also marks the departure, for a semester, of our teams junior class. This year all but one of our juniors has decided to study abroad. Their experiences have taken them to Russia, Australia, Denmark, Spain, Chile and South Africa. Another of our juniors has traveled all the way to Dartmouth as a participant in our 3-2 engineering program. While their collective presence on the team is missed this Fall, we all look forward to their return for our annual training camp trip.
This year's trip will be to Deerfield Beach, Florida, not Puerto Rico which has been our historical destination. Due to the economic climate, the NESCAC Presidents limited all athletic team travel to the continental United States for 2009 & 2010. This knocked out Puerto Rico and we will miss Junior's pool, private beaches, and those 17 speed bumps along the golf course. The Deerfield Beach trip will be a good one as well...although maybe not as warm. We have arranged to have exclusive use of the pool (10 lanes 50 meters) during our sessions, the hotel is right on the beach, travel will still be by charter bus, and the team will be provided all you can eat breakfast and dinner buffets. While I am disappointed that Puerto Rico will not be in our plans this winter, I am quite pleased with how this trip has pulled together.
Competition wise - what we can achieve as a team is both unlimited and unknown at this point. What I do know is that we have promise and potential. Already in the first three weeks of school, many of our team members have become mainstays of the Athletic Center, working out in various venues and the new conditioning program which merges trimax and crossfit training has been a hit with the team (see sidebar link). Similarly, due to new NCAA interpretations, in-water conditioning training programs may now also be provided for team members to follow if they so choose.
The team is also becoming quickly involved on campus. Our 5 SAAC members have been busily working on the next 'Code Blue' weekend, several of our team members are spending multiple afternoons singing or playing in musical groups on campus, team members are serving on the Campus Life Committee, Library Committee and Athletic Advisory Committee as well as in SGA and as CAs (the new RA)....and of course, the water polo club is in full swing having already competed in their first tournament last weekend where they easily defeated Trinity and lost tough matches to Dartmouth and Amherst.
Last weekend also marked the first recruiting overnight visit for our team with several more already planned over the next couple of weeks. AND, this coming weekend is Homecoming and Parents Weekend! It is truly amazing how fast the 2010 Academic Year has kicked off and I look forward to sharing with you our team's experiences over the coming months.
