Day 1: A great beginning to our trip to Grand Cayman THURSDAY, AUG. 7 — written by Stefanie Lang

This was many girls’ first time flying internationally and let me tell you it was definitely an experience. With two flights and an hour layover in between in North Carolina many curious bystanders wondered who we were. We are your Olivet College Women’s volleyball team. After spotting the Steeler’s and Cardinal’s planes at the airport, we soon began looking for our future husbands. Which was a complete fail. Now onto our next leg of the journey, Cayman Islands!

The first thing we noticed upon landing was the outrageous amount of roosters they have roaming throughout the island. We were welcomed by a very large rain storm. Which wasn’t helpful trying to navigate through the confusing, chaotic traffic. When we finally got settled into our rooms at the hotel we had an opportunity after the storm passed to explore the beach. Which was absolutely breathtaking! We have never seen clearer water and the fish would swim right up to your feet. This was a lot of the girls’ first time swimming in the ocean. They did not expect the salty water and soon found out the hard way with burning eyes. Some of the girls got to experience a stingray swimming right under them!

After a long day of traveling, we shared pizza together in coach’s room and called it an early night. Tomorrow, we have an early morning workout and then an afternoon surprise you’ll find out later in our next blog. Today was a great day to reunite the team and represent the college over here in the islands.

Day 2: Practice on the beach and once-in-a-lifetime experience FRIDAY, AUG. 8 — written by Danielle Bearden

Not a better way to start the day, but a nice morning workout on the beach. They ran sprints in the sand to our volleyball oasis. Once arriving to the sand courts, the girls officially started their first day of preseason working on their skills they practiced over the summer.

Later that day, the girls were all excited about what was in store. The girls wearing suits and sunscreen in hand, they boarded the boat and got ready for departure. On the 50 minute boat ride, the girls took in the stormy skies above crystal blue water. Finally arriving at the sandbar, where the girls took on their biggest adventure yet. Some scared, some excited, the girls jumped off the boat into the warm water full of STINGRAYS!

The girls couldn’t get enough of the slippery friends. The girls got to feed, touch, kiss, and hold the creatures. However, there were seagulls swarming looking for food also. One of the girls had some squid pieces in her hand when a seagull swooped down and snatched it! It gave the crowd quite a laugh!

Following the stingrays, the girls then traveled to the reef where they would snorkel to explore the fish. They saw an surprisingly huge eel! The girls swam around to see all the cool things the reef had to offer. Laying flat and kicking their flippers, the girls saw many different kinds of tropical fish. After a long swim in the ocean, the girls got back on the boat and enjoyed some pizza with the friendly crew.

Later that night the girls got dressed up for dinner and went out to see what’s in store for them on a night in Grand Cayman.

Day 3: Match against the Grand Cayman national team SATURDAY, AUG. 9 — written by Cecilia Bayne

The girls had endless adventures today, with the Cayman sand under their toes, over looking the ocean and a volleyball in hand. They started the morning with a beach volleyball tournament involving some local players. Then players intermingled with the Caymanians to play 2’s, 3’s and 4’s tournaments.

After a long morning in the sun, they either relaxed by the pool or took a much needed nap before playing a game against the Cayman Island international team. Neither team knew what to expect. It was really exciting for the girls to reconnect after a long summer. The girls learned some new language lingo, island time, which means time is veryyyy relaxed. One of the player’s son became our new mascot. His name is Gabrielle and he is five. He was very excited to lead our team cheers.

We then traveled to a beach restaurant where we sat by the ocean and ate a great dinner.

The Olivet College volleyball team is on a weeklong trip to Grand Cayman for its preseason training. While there, the players will be writing blog posts and sending them back to the U.S.A. to be posted on the website. The home page for the blog, where future posts will be linked to is: www.olivetcomets.com/sports/wvball/2014-15/cayman_blog/