May 9, 2013
EVANSTON, Ill. - As the Stanford women's lacrosse team prepares for the NCAA Tournament, sophomore defender Chinna O'Suji blogs about the team's trip to Evanston, Ill., and Thursday's practice:
To an outsider watching us board the bus to head to the airport yesterday, it was just another Wednesday that Stanford women's lacrosse left campus for an away trip. They would've seen a lot of girls in travel suits, big headphones, a few neck pillows, way too many pillow pets to be considered normal for girls 18 years and older to have, and a big pink polka dotted pillow (belonging to the one and only Kyle Fraser).
In many ways, yesterday was just like any other start to an away trip, but with a big difference - we were heading to the beginning of the NCAA tournament!
Not to completely steal from Forrest Gump, but an away trip with our team is like a box of the most absurd chocolates, you never know what amazing craziness you're going to get excited about. You might end up taking part in making a video where the team and coaches casually squeeze into an airplane bathroom. You might listen awestruck as Annie Anton sings Alicia Keys' "If I Ain't Got You" over the airplane intercom to a plane full of people. You might witness (if you're lucky) or be selected to take part in a silent karaoke performance (when you listen to one of the non-singers sing along to a song only they can hear on noise-canceling headphones using the bus microphone).
You might get a new, crazy nickname from the oh so creative Caroline Scanlon (to give you some indication, my newest nickname is "Chi-Soo" - somehow it caught on). You might (you definitely will) listen as our coach Amy Bokker coins a new revolutionary phrase.
You never know.
With a few new guests on this away trip, I'm glad we were able to keep things somewhat tame on the way here to ease them into our one-of-a-kind team dynamic. Despite our "subdued" trip here, it has felt different than any prior from the beginning.
Because Stanford is one of the few schools still in session at this point in the year, a large portion of my teammates' time yesterday, on the bus and airplane, was devoted to assignments and problem sets.
But somehow, despite being overrun by work, everyone has had even more excitement and energy than usual. We were louder than usual (if that's even possible), and if I didn't see someone studying, they were watching film, continuing to prepare for our rematch against Notre Dame.
Going into pregame day, that attitude didn't change. We started out going through our scouting report, focusing on the fact that we have a great second chance tomorrow and that we're not the same team we were when we first faced Notre Dame.
After engaging our brains by watching and analyzing film as a team - being the smart players [head coach] Amy Bokker always reminds us we are - we loaded up the bus and headed to practice.
After a focused practice on the Northwestern turf, we did what Stanford students did best - we used our brains. Before every game, Amy leads us through a pregame visualization session that lets us mentally unwind and lets us envision exactly what we're going to do perfectly the next day.
We all laid there on the turf, listening to Amy's voice - which she's known for using on the sidelines - become so soothing and surreal. She honestly could've told me I was in the Caribbean and I would've believed her.
After she brought us back from our semi-hypnotized lacrosse state, we all opened our eyes and felt loose and ready.
Eight out of 27 players on the team this year have gone to the NCAA's before, but all of us know that the opportunity we have this weekend is bigger than big - it's huge. When we stepped off the field today we all knew we were ready to not only "eat to win" (a new motto Amy recently created) at team dinner tonight, but also to work hard tomorrow and capitalize on our second chance against Notre Dame.
And for most of us, including myself, our first chance in the NCAA tournament!