Black Mambaa

One day back in september, Dan told us in a team meeting that we were going to have to attend a BBQ that night for all of the athletes. We understood that we had to attend but we didn't understand why he was making such a huge deal about it. We've had athletic events before and they were never a big deal. Dan reminded us to be early and to have our picture ID's with us.

Later that night we found out the reason for the importance of our attendance at this BBQ was because this guy happen to be the guest speaker....

KOBE BRYANT!! It was awesome. He answered questions from the athletes for about an hour and a half and spoke a little bit about his mentality as an athlete and being a team member. It was amazing! Definitely one of the best perks the UC Irvine athletes had ever gotten. This was a very fun day!

Devin is a huge Kobe Bryant fan and was able to get him to sign her Nikes at the end of the night! We were so jealous!

Im still here!!

So I promise that I am still here and alive.. I just have completely postponed my blogging and remembered to do it after my dad reminded me about it.

Well I am still at UC Irvine, and this year has gone by so fast. I cant even believe that its almost christmas and that means I will be done with my first quarter of classes! This quarter I have taken, the biology of aids, art history, public health, and global economy. Its been challenging to balance everything but Ive been doing pretty well. Finals are coming up next week so that will be a little challenging. But everyone has to do it!

This year I am living in an apartment with Tiffany, Sharon, and a randomly selected roommate to us named Dawn. We get along pretty well and I love living in an apartment. It is so much easier that living in the dorms. We live in a beautiful apartment, with a pool, game room, jacuzzi, and barbeque pits.

Here are some pictures from the beginning of the year:

Me and Tiffany in our new house!

We invited our neighbors over for some cookies and cards.

One of the first nights in our new house!

Our neighboors kindly BBQ-ed for us one of the first nights we were there.

All four of us and our four neighboors

The four of us outside at one of the BBQ pits

UCI broke the world record for the largest Dodgeball game played! We are so proud:)

Banquet

Last weekend we had our end of the year banquet. This was the chance for all of us to reflect on our year and what we had accomplished. Dan presented us with a framed picture of our team that said Big West Champions on the bottom. It was really nice. Dan called the girls up by class and talked briefly about each one of us. He talked separately about each of the three seniors. It was a really nice banquet. Mom and Abby drove down for the day. It was nice to have them there. Here are some pictures from the day.

All of the freshman ( not including the transfers). Its very weird because in the beginning of the year we had 10 freshman and now we ended with nine. That day we had my two best friends on the team quit via email. It was pretty tough for me to deal with but just witnessing their decision to end their career in water polo reaffirms the fact that I want to continue this sport.

Me and Tiffany. Her last time with the team :(

Me and Dan, ignore the fact that I look like a cow. Dan has been great through this entire year. Yes there were times where he made us cry so much our eyes swelled up, but he pushed us. He is without a doubt the most passionate person I have ever met in my entire life and he carries that into the way he coaches. He is currently in puerto rico with the women's national team. He texts us everyday to say hi and that he misses us.

Mom, Me, and Abs

Me and Devin, another freshman girl.

BIG WEST CHAMPIONSS!!!!

I am soo proud to say that the UC Irvine Women's Waterpolo team has claimed the 2010 Big West Conference Championship!

We went through the tournament beating Davis in the first round, the University of the Pacific in the second round, and Cal State Northridge in the finals. It was an incredibly rewarding and emotional experience. I unfortunately did not travel to this tournament so as soon as we won I ran and jumped into the pool with all the girls. It was so exciting. Normally when a team wins their conference they get an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament for the national championship but because we just switched conferences we are required to wait two years before you can get an automatic. So next year if we win, we will be able to automatically compete.

Back to Back Big West Champs!

Me Tiffany and Sharon

All of the coaches. ( Andrew, Dan, and Andy) Dan was the most excited I have ever seen him, he ran around giving all of the girls big hugs and holding back tears. It felt so good to make him proud. Especially after the tough year we had.

Me and Layne.

Beat the Beach!

Hi everyone! I am so sorry for my lack of updates and posts! Life has slowed down for a little bit so I am gonna work to catch up on everything.

A couple of weeks ago we had a big mens volleyball game against our rivals Long Beach! Games against Long Beach are always super intense and really fun so we decided to go. We have something called the Black and Blue series with them where the schools keep track of who wins each game of UCI vs. Long Beach and at the end of the year who ever has more points wins the title and a trophy. It gets pretty competitive and we hate them! ( sorry Papa :) ) We ended up beating them in 3 games! Here are some pictures from the night.

These boys traveled to every volleyball game and painted themselvs.

(Sam, Kelsey, Michael, Layne, Jordan, Me, Chase)

We may look a little orange.. this is because we were practicing 5+ hours a day!

Kelsey, Neil, and Me

Kelsey really wanted to climb this tree. So we did.

We may have grown up a bit.....

So here's a fun little anecdote.... This was Easter Sunday 18 years ago.

Melissa, Me, and Elizabeth Graham.

And this was Easter Sunday this year:

Melissa, Me, Elizabeth Graham, and Elizabeth Dempster

Easter Sunday

This weekend I was able to go home for Easter. It was very nice to be home and we had a lot of fun. We played lots of Rummikub, had a Sandra Bullock marathon ( the proposal and blind side), and drove to Northridge and santa barbara to watch the UCI waterpolo games. ( sadly, I did not travel this time) Easter was especially fun this year because Maddie was baptized!! It was so exciting and really special. I was really glad that she was being baptized on Easter because that's when I was 9 years ago!

Maddie gave an amazing confession! She was completely put on the spot and she did great!

Dad gave an amazing talk while Mads was in the water. He left all the girls a little teary :) He talked about how exciting it is that she is the last of the McCardell girls to be baptized and now it means our family will be together forever.

Okay so Abby and I may have fooled around backstage while Maddie was getting ready.

The Foucar and the McCardell girls

When I was home I snagged a few pictures from Abby's CIF Semi-finals waterpolo game from my dad:

Abby and her friend that is a boy, Tanner.

Abby's first after game interview

Nana, Abby, and Papa