California Bound - Part I
March 01, 2012 | Softball
March 1, 2012
by Sarah Fetters and Jennifer Rangelova
East Carolina Athletics Media Relations and Athletic Training
Part one of four
Spring break, how we've missed you in the last 12 months! Warm weather and sunshine, we are almost on our way. Thursday morning, the East Carolina softball team leaves on its spring break trip to California and Arizona. The Pirates will spend March 1-6 in Fullerton, Calif., taking part in the DeMarini Invitational and a single game against Cal State Fullerton. On March 7, the squad will pack up and fly to Tempe, Ariz., for the Diamond Devil Invitational March 9-11.
While in Fullerton, three East Carolina players will be within 30 miles of where they grew up. Cicely Lopez, Alex Fieldhouse and Jill Jelnick will each provide a blog entry covering her time back home with her second family, her Pirate teammates.
Before we make the cross-country journey, however, we thought it would be fun to give Pirate Nation a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to prepare for a trip like this. Here are some details on what we do before hopping on the plane. Believe it or not, it's more than just throwing rolls of tape into a med kit or grabbing a computer and jumping on a bus to the airport.
Rangelova
Ten days in California and Arizona. Most people hear that and probably assume I'm going on a vacation over spring break. In reality, I've never taken a nonteam spring break trip. I've always been working and traveling with a group. Granted, I've been able to go to some fun places and have had a good time, like going to Hawai'i in 2010 with ECU softball, but keeping the players healthy is always priority No. 1.
Yes, when we travel to warmer climates, I am always concerned about keeping my players hydrated and do quickly hand out those bottles of water when needed, but I actually do much more than distribute water and pass out tape.
For me, a trip like this all starts with examining the letters I receive from visiting teams' athletic trainers. Those notes let me know what will be provided at the facility we're playing in. That information is vital as I base my packing on what we're going to be without. Usually, the only things I have to work with are water, ice in a chest for injuries, cups and sometimes, if we're lucky, Powerade. In those letters, I'm also given important phone numbers to other certified athletic trainers on campus, local medical clinics, hospitals and pharmacies. That's critical because we do not travel with a doctor, so if somebody gets really sick or injured, I have to know what to do and who to call.
Once I know those pieces of information, I start packing. One of the hardest parts: I have to wait until just about the day before we leave because so much of what I pack is based on injury needs. We leave Thursday morning, but if somebody gets hurt Wednesday night at practice, I have to be able to provide for her.
I start by counting out roles of tape I will use for each person on the trip. Then I think through supplies used by each person before or during practice, such as topical analgesics (big word, but think ActivOn or Salonpas), prewrap and heel and lace pads, and try to pack those. We have no training room on the road, so it's all about improvising. When we're at home before a practice, players might receive treatment with heat packs, electrical stimulation, ultrasound or a whirlpool. On the road, that's out the window. Everything we could possibly need has to fit in a bag that we can take to the field, so it's all about creativity.
Once I've determined what I'm going to take, I quickly remember I can't carry 21 water bottles, 21 stretch bands and the astronomical number of rolls of tape. I simply do not have enough room for everything in my bag. I have to divvy it up between players and team equipment bags, but that is done based on priority. If it's something really important, I want to be the one carrying it so it's my responsibility and not a player's. If we can somehow lose it and still get by, it goes to the players.
There's also the issue of taking extra of everything. I need to have approximately four bags of powdered Powerade. (1 bag = 5 gallons = 640 ounces = 40 bottles of Powerade per bag. 2 bottles per player per game day and 5 playing days = 10 bottles of Powerade per trip per player. Yes, I do have to figure out things like this each time we travel. And you thought I didn't need to know math!) But I always want more in case it gets really hot and humid in Arizona. I also need at least 120 bags for ice based on current injuries, but players can get hurt at any minute, so I need extra. I also have a full assortment of over-the-counter medicine in case somebody gets sick. But again, I always try to take more than I think I'll ever need. All that in mind, the bag has to weigh 50 pounds or less to meet the airplane weight limit.
Ready to pick up my bag for me and head out on this trip? Now that it's Thursday morning and about time to get on the bus, I'd better throw the last of my supplies into the bag and get moving. Spring break "vacation," here I come!
Fetters
Spring break has always been one of my favorite times of the year. Truth is, I grew up in northwest Ohio and do enjoy snow in the winter, but who doesn't love breaking out the shorts and flip-flops for the first time all year and forgetting about snow and a wind chill of -7?
When I was a softball player at Wittenberg University in Ohio, I knew spring break meant we could finally stop practicing indoors and begin our season. Practice clothes would be traded in for game jerseys. Free-throw lines would be exchanged with chalked foul lines. Ohio snow would soon be left behind and the Florida sunshine would welcome us. All we had to do was ride on the bus for 16-straight hours and we'd wake up to palm trees! (And today I'm worried about what I'm going to do on an airplane for four hours. How on Earth did I make it back then?!)
But these days I've traded in my playing apparel for some officially licensed East Carolina polos and my place at shortstop for a seat in the press box. Some of you might not know what I really do for Pirate softball, so here's a look at the prep work that goes into my 10-day trip to the other side of the country. (Note to self, remember to make sure I packed computer cord.)
As the media relations contact for Pirate softball, I write every softball release that is posted on ECUPirates.com. From pregame releases to live chats to postgame recaps, they all begin at my fingertips.
A trip like this involves lots of communication with other schools' softball sports information/media relations contacts. We constantly exchange e-mails that include overall team statistics, recent box scores, game-note packets and roster files for the computer statistics program we use. (Ah, computer, yes double check and make sure I packed that power cord.) I'm also on a hunt to discover if the stadiums where we're playing have Internet access. If not, there's no Gametracker, live chat or anything else because I have nothing to connect to.
Once I have enough information, it's on to the game-note process. Every pregame release is filled with information I've researched. For example, I want to know series history with the opponent, what we did the last time we played a team, what our record is against the opposing team's conference as a whole, who is playing well on our team and any notable streaks or accomplishments, where our stats are in a certain category at this point compared with previous seasons, what caused a loss, and on and on and on. (If you've never checked out the entire packet of information, here's the link.) While doing this research, I'm also answering any questions media here, in California or Arizona might have about our team, or setting up any interview requests they have with our coaches or players.
Then it's time for the artwork. I create every graphic that's used for the pregame release, so it's a hunt for correct team logos and a good action picture of an East Carolina player that can be made to fit seamlessly into the space provided. Think of it as trying to smash a perfectly good hamburger into a hot dog bun and you get the idea. Once all those images are created, it's onto a final graphic for this blog. No worries, just create something that looks classy yet fun and combines East Carolina, California sun and beaches, Pirate logos, and Disneyland. I hope I found the winning combination. (Dang, remember to triple check that computer cord or I'm in a heap of trouble.)
From there it's about time to load up the bag. I've got a brain full of knowledge about our team and who we're playing, I feel confident I have the correct statistics files to make Gametracker run, I've created the live chat platforms and linked them so everybody who is not out West with us can follow along, I've loaded all my graphics so I can simply click and use them when I post the blogs and pregame releases and I've scoured the Internet to make sure all the links within the pregame release, usually around 20, are correct and lead to the correct webpage. California and Arizona, here I come.
Pirate Nation, that does it for us as it's time to load up the bus and head to the Raleigh airport. We'll be more than happy to hand it off to Cicely, Alex and Jill. They'll check in with their thoughts Friday, Monday and Tuesday, as long as I remember my computer cord so we can write the entries ...
