Viola Cooper's Road Diary: Day One (Travel Day)
January 16, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Viola Cooper is a junior guard on ECU's 2003-04 women's basketball team. One of the top scorers on the team, Cooper shares her thoughts as the Lady Pirates travel to take on Tulane and Southern Miss in conference play...
Day One: January 15, 2004
"Today was a travel day for our team as we are getting ready to play Tulane and Southern Miss this weekend."
7:00 a.m. - Woke up and packed my bags for the weekend trip.
8:00 a.m. - The team had to report to Minges Coliseum to head out to Raleigh Durham Airport for our flight. On the way to Raleigh, we watched the movie S.W.A.T. I thought it was a pretty good movie. It seemed to keep everyone on the buses interest. Usually on road trips, a majority of the team will listen to music or try to get some sleep. But not today.
9:30 a.m. - We arrived at RDU and had about 45 minutes to spare before we headed to Atlanta. A lot of the girls walked around the airport to check out some of the shops. Most of them bought some magazines to read for the flight to take their mind off of flying. Others just walked around to stretch and pass time.
11:00 a.m. - Boarded the plane to head to Atlanta, Georgia. On the flight we chit-chat with and joke around with each other to have a good time. To pass the time on the flight, we exchange magazines and cd's, some go to sleep, it's just a random do your own thing.
12:25 p.m. - We arrived in Atlanta 15 minutes early and had about 30 minutes to spare before our next flight took off.
1:45 p.m. - Touched down in New Orleans and after flying around the airport waiting to land. It seems that President George Bush was in New Orleans, and we had to wait for Air Force One to take off before wwe could land. After landing, we headed down stairs to get our bags, and we were off to the hotel.
2:30 p.m. - From the airport, we went directly to the hotel to put our bags up, before heading to the French Quarter for lunch. While unloading the bus at the hotel, we saw the head coach of the New Orleans Hornets (Tim Floyd) walking his dog in the median infront of our hotel. A few minutes later, he came back our way and stopped for a few minutes to talk to coach Baldwin-Tener and some of the players.
3:10 p.m. - The team left the hotel and went to the French Quarter for lunch. We went to this nice seafood place, and it was really good. We all sit together, joke with one another, and try to relax and have a good time. We all decided to try some alligator as part of our lunch, and it was pretty good. I thought it tasted like chicken, but a little more chewey. After lunch, we had some free time before going back to the hotel to get ready for practice. We took time to check out the different sites, people and the streets of New Orleans. It was an experience for me, because I am from Oklahoma, so it was really different. We took some pictures, bought some souviners, and just took in the atmosphere.
5:15 p.m. - We came back to the hotel to get ready for practice. I had to get ready fast and get over to the trainers room so that I could taped up.
6:00 p.m. - Left for practice. It took us about 20 to 30 minutes to get there because I think our bus driver got lost. Our practice lasted for about two hours. We went over our game plan for the Tulane game, mainly focusing on defense. After practice, the guard shot quite a bit. Coach has us shoot an additional 500 shots during the week and someof us had to finish our shots for the week.
8:30 p.m. - Wrapped up practice and headed back to the hotel. Coach let us stop off at a convient store so that we could get something to eat. Most of us spent our money on unhealthy things like: chips, pop, candy, sugar, and a lot of other things that we don't need to have.
9:00 p.m. - We are back at the hotel and showering after practice. I am looking over Tulane's game plan, trying to get familiar with their team and how they like to play. The coaches put together a pretty good scouting report for us, so I am at who I will be guarding and trying to find out who their shooter are.
11:00 p.m. - Well, it's lights out time and I better be getting to sleep and dreaming of another Lady PIrate victory. Good night.
