Sissy Canfield Player Diary - Kentucky Wildcats Official Athletic Site

Women's Volleyball

Sissy Canfield Player Diary

Junior volleyball player will provide a diary throughout the season.

	Sissy Canfield 6-1 * Junior Blue Springs, Mo.

Every couple weeks, Sissy Canfield, a junior on UK's women's volleyball team will provide an entry to a diary she will keep during the season.

August: 9-24 | 25
September: 5 | 23

Preseason - Aug. 9-24, 2002
There is so much to say about preseason that I don't even know where to begin. It has been so tremendously different than in the past years that I get chills thinking about what else is in store for us. The past couple of weeks have been very important for us, in that this is the time when we become a team, not only on the court, but off the court as well.

I think that preseason is such a unique time because teams go through so many ups and downs in such a small amount of time. They have no choice but to band together and become closer as a unit. There a re always going to be t hose mornings that you don't know if you can get out of bed because you're so sure that you can hardly walk and are so tired that you can barely stand.

But the great thing is that you know everything will be fine when you get to the gym because there are 13 other girls that feel the same why that you do. They'll help you through the day and through the week. I also know that I have made a commitment to those 13 people. We're out there working as hard as we can, sweating our guts out so that at the end of preseason, we can step out on the court and push each other to victory.

Preseason is about finding out who you are as a player and what you're made of as a team. Just the other night in a team meeting, Coach Braden asked questions about where we were as a team and what ech of our teammates brought to the team as their own unique quality. Then we all shared our answers with each other. I have never been so proud to be a part of a group as I was at that moment. All at once my heart was filled with such gratitude for being blessed with the opportunity to be a college athlete at the University of Kentucky and I realized how very special this experience is. After the meeting, I thought, "this is what preseason is about." It is about at team finding themselves as a unit and each individual having a role in that unit.

Even though preseason can be extremely demanding of an individual, it is awesome to have a team to share it with. Even though we are all getting a little worn out toward the end, we need to keep pushing so we can use this as motivation during matches. I think that we are all getting very anxious for our matches to start so that we can go out there and show everyone what we're made of.

Blue/White Scrimmage - August 25, 2002
Today was our Blue/White Scrimmage and it was very exciting to finally get a chance to go out and perform what we have been working on for weeks in the gym. The day of the Blue/White scrimmage is always fun because not only do we get to compete, but the whole day mimics a regular season competition day which is, of course, very exciting. It's funny how no matter how many times you do the same game-day routine it never gets old or becomes boring. I guess that's just an example of how exciting competition is.

Anyways, back to the scrimmage. I think that it was a great starting point. The thing that I was most impressed about was that no matter who we were put on the court with, we worked together and pushed through. I think that is key for success for any team. It goes to show you that it truly is a whole team effort out there - everybody working together, not just a bunch of individuals playing for themselves.

One of the things that our team has focused on improving over the past couple of years is playing as a unit and it means so much to finally see that start to happen. I remember when I came in freshman year; it was as if everybody was on their own. We might as well have been playing an individual sport, like tennis. But now, it's so different that it's hard to believe. Not everyone is all for the team as a whole. We are all there for each other while we also keep each other on track on the court.

One of our main focuses throughout preseason has been our defense. There were some ups and downs in this area today at the scrimmage, but the most important thing is that our defense is definitely improving and that the skills are there. It's just a matter of trusting them and becoming more confident in that area. I'm a strong believer that defense is what wins games and I know in my heart that it is going to be one of the strongest parts of this program before the end of this season.

Overall, I think that today was very productive and gave us a glimpse of where we are right now and what is in store for our future. For me personally, it was the beginning of what I believe is going to be a major turnaround year for those team and program. I can't wait to get on the court for our first match of the season next Friday at Hofstra.

September 5, 2002
It's about 9:30 on Thursday night and we are on the bus on the way to Raleigh, N.C., for a tournament. We had a tournament at Hofstra in New York last weekend and we went 1-2. We got off to a really rough start but we ended really strong. Even though it was not the record that we had originally planned on, we definitely improved. So, I hope we can start off where we finished last weekend instead of where we began.

Not only are we getting into the swing of volleyball, but we are also getting back into the swing of classes. I think that having a tournament this first week of the school this year really got us off to a hectic start with classes. This week has been pretty stressful.

So, it's pretty quiet on the bus right now, but I think that the long trip is giving us time to catch up on some needed sleep. We had a pretty productive week of practice and I'm really excited about getting the opportunity to compete again this weekend. Last weekend, to be honest, I had the first-game jitters and it really showed in my play. But this weekend I feel much more relaxed and I'm just ready to get out there and play our game. Of course, there are always a little bit of butterflies because of the excitement of competition, but I think that we are all aware of where we are and feeling much more confident and solid in our game. At least that's the feeling that I'm getting. UA

While we were in New York last weekend, we visited Ground Zero, and I wanted to let everyone know that our prayers are with the families and friends of the victims of this horrible tragedy, now and always.

I can't wait to get back out on the court. But first I have to get some reading finished so I can rest up for the big weekend.

God Bless-
Sissy

September 23, 2002
I haven't had much time to write lately, so I'll catch up a little at first. We went 3-0 at NC State and took first place. It was awesome. We really played our game and had a blast. The next weekend, though, was a little rougher. We went 2-1 at our home tournament, losing a match to Dayton and beating Western Michigan and Wake Forest. T his past weekend we started conference play with a loss to South Carolina. They are a very solid team and I have a lot of respect for them, but we certainly did not play like we can. It was really disappointing to start conference play that way, but we are the ones who chose to play the way we did, so we have to own the disappointment too.

The good thing, though, is that we had a pretty extensive meeting afterwards and I think, or at least hope, that some things sunk in. I hope we know what we have to do in order to move forward. Sometimes it just gets so frustrating because we have these extensive talks about what we need to get done and about how much better we are than how we are playing, but I don't understand why we don't always do the things we say we are going to do. I know that every single one of us can do everything that we talk about and I believe in every one of my teammates abilities. I just want more than anything for us to put all our abilities out there and just play the game.

The second game this past weekend also was a loss, against Oral Roberts. They also were a very strong team, but we played much better. We just made too many mistakes. Even though we lost, it didn't feel as bad because we fought hard. We also had a different lineup and I think everyone out there was giving it all they had and working extremely hard to make things happen. We just had too many errors. Overall, the weekend was pretty up and down emotionally, but we touched base today in a meeting and I'm feeling better about things.

Go Cats
Sissy