Nikkie Viotto reports in from 'The Islands,' soon to be homeward bound

HAWAII -- Hey everyone!

Last day in Hawaii today and it's finally time to enjoy the sun! A few of the girls and I woke up early this morning for a nice walk along the beach to stretch our sore legs out after yesterday's tough matches!

Overall we did well this weekend, winning two matches and also loosing two, but we learned a lot about our strengths, what we need to work on, as well as our capabilities. (Check out www.goseawolves.com for game stats and details.) We beat two extremely good teams and that showed us what we can do. What's important now is maintaing those skills and becoming more consistent as we play more games. The games were a lot of fun, but Now it' time to head home and get back to reality. But first were going to have some fun!

Today we will be at the beach enjoying our day off! Some of the girls talked about taking surf lessons! We leave late tonight and don't get in until 5:14 a.m. With classes starting tomorrow this is one of the cons of getting to travel with the team. Many of the girls have 8 or 8:30 a.m. classes so they will have to immediately head to the school upon our arrival. We also have practice tomorrow of course; no time to waste before we head to California on Wednesday and we have lots to work on!

Among the Hawaii treats that will be missed!

During season time flys by! Once pre-season starts at the beginning of August we are always moving and preparing for our next practice, match, or game. Then before we know it school is starting and it's time for conference games and we're traveling every other week. Of course it's always fun, but there are some downfalls when you are constantly traveling. We miss a lot of class and it becomes even more important to get in at least 2-4 hours or more of good study time in every day. Not to mention the exhaustion our bodies go through then getting on a plane where germs are everywhere. If we don't take good care of our bodies its extremely easy to get sick. It's Go! Go! Go! for four months, then we get a break. Every good thing comes with a bad it seems like, but when it's all over you look back and the only thing you remember is that you have the time of your life.

PS:  One thing I'll be missing the most here is the fresh pineapple, bananas and coconut waters. Mmmmmm!