After being released from the San Antonio Silver Stars last year, former Middle Tennessee State forward Alysha Clark (@Alysha_Clark) is back in training camp for a second shot at making the roster. She has offered to provide us first-hand insight about her experience with a training camp journal. Today she writes about seizing moments to let your inner child takeover during the grind of training camp with roster cuts approaching on June 2.
Week 3:
I lost count of what day we are on, so I just went with what I was sure of: which week we were on! :-)
Today we got back in the swing of things. We had our travel day on Saturday and yesterday off. It was nice to just step away for a second and enjoy being here with this opportunity, because for the last two weeks we have been in grind mode. With my day and a half off I went and got a pedicure, cooked, laid out at the pool and slept. Ha-ha pretty exciting right??
Today we had some individual optional shooting at 10. After that, I went and got half of my lifting workout out of the way.
Practice today was a lot of learning. Coach put in a lot of new offensive calls. He put 3 series in at a time and then we would do some 5 on 5 and play with what we just learned. We also did some team shooting competitions. What I love about taking time out of practice to do those, is it makes you feel like a little kid again and helps remind you of why you're playing this game. :-) Not that any of us have forgotten, but its nice to just let your inner kid take over. You get all excited inside and start cheering and jumping around ha-ha. And then it's back to business and focusing on the task at hand. I love it!
We played a lot of 5 and 7 minute games today. We're at the point in camp now where you know the plays, and now you start building chemistry and executing every time. VJ [Vickie Johnson] suggested that for every turnover we had, they took a ball off the rack. If there were no balls left on the rack at the end of practice, we had to run. We started with 14 balls and ended with 7. They were trying to emphasize to us that we do have control over our mistakes, and it just comes down to concentration.
We shot our free throws as a team at the end and then were finished. We had weights after practice to finish and then we could go home.
When I went to the locker room Sho [Scholanda Robinson] had her Yorkie puppy in there and I just fell in love with him!! I took him out of his cage and just played with him for a good 10 minutes ha-ha. I told her he would make a good playmate with my puppy, but she said I couldn't have him! Ha-ha. I was ready to just walk out with him!
This week of training camp is always exciting because you know the first game is this week! At the same time, you are a little nervous because this is the same week for cuts! But after last year I learned to just control what YOU can control. I'm a worrier and stresser, so last year I was a wreck emotionally. This time around I feel good because I've worked my butt off and have left everything on the court every time I step off.
This year I changed my number to 20 for my friend Tina [Stewart]. It's been nice being able to keep her with me every time I get out there :-) I miss her and love her very much, so when I lace up my shoes and step on the court, I give it my all because that's what she always did #Inspiration #20Gether.
Until next time,
Alysha