Jim Leuck '09--We started this year’s training trip with an 8:00AM and 1:00PM practice on Thursday the 27th. After the second practice we headed to the Indianapolis airport for a 7:00PM flight to sunny Ft. Lauderdale, FL. It was interesting during and after practice to hear people ask questions about flying. There are apparently quite a few people who had not flown before. Jordan Extine ‘09 asked, “Will there be food at the airport?” or Zach Phillips ‘11 packing shaving cream in his carry on…only to have it taken from him in the security lines.

This was a different kind of trip for me too. The past two years we have always taken a 22-hour bus ride to Deerfield Beach, FL. This year was much different as we flew to Ft. Lauderdale instead, having a short layover in Atlanta, GA. In a way, I kind of missed the long bus ride--watching movies, playing cards, jokes, and a place to sprawl out to sleep. But, the plane ride was quicker and more convenient for our larger team this year. An interesting aspect of flying though is the hour ride from Ft. Lauderdale airport to Palm Beach Gardens (where we are staying) with only three 15-passenger vans and about three bags of luggage per person.

I was privileged enough to get to sit on the lap of Adam Petro ‘10 (and some of Craig Vetor ‘10) while holding my swim bag during our little road trip. The fun part of that was when Coach Dunaway decided that his stomach was eating itself…so we stopped at McDonald’s at 1:30AM. We ordered sixteen quarter-pounders and waited a good thirty minutes at the drive thru window for our hearty meal.

Glad to remove myself from Petro’s lap, I came into the Embassy Suites Palm Beach Gardens to see a massive pond, and marble everywhere, shortly after 2:00AM. Also in the pond were two live swans--Bach and Beethoven. We all woke up at 8:30AM to go have breakfast on the hotel--everything from waffles to made-to-order omelets—before we hopped back into the vans for our first practice. We took off for the pool at 9:20AM for our 10:00AM practice.

The Pool Village of Wellington was amazing. The lanes are extra wide (although a little shallow) and 50-meters long. We started the first portion of our training with a relatively light practice with a lot of focus on our legs. We ended at noon with a quick relay where our four divers started each 8-man team with a 50-meter sprint. After practice we headed to Publix to pick up some groceries (basically just lunch foods since everything but 2-3 meals is provided). Blaine Cooper-Surma ‘09 and myself made out with only spending $28.

We leave for our first afternoon practice at 5:00PM to get through traffic so we can make our 6:00-8:00PM practice. I know we are all excited to show Coach Weitz how much we CARE (which has been established as a key focal point to our training this trip--doing the little things to show how much we care about our swimming/diving and about the hard work we are putting in as a team to reach our year-end goals)!