WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PUERTO RICO TRIP 2019 RUNNING BLOG
The Rider University women's basketball team is spending the week in Puerto Rico for a training and team-bonding trip. Follow along daily for insights and photos from coaches and players.
DAY 1
Victoria Toomey and Amanda Mobley
Yesterday was our travel day. We had an early departure from campus (6:15am). The team had a lot of fun at the airport and during the smith plane ride from Newark to Puerto Rico. When we got here, we had lunch and then headed to practice at UPR Bayamón! Funny thing.... the gym was open air! The heat here is a lot more intense, so we had to adjust to that. After practice, we got back to the hotel and had team dinner. It was really fun to unwind with the team after our long day.
DAY 2
Daija Moses and Sophia DeMauro
First we woke up and had team breakfast. We are staying at the Embassy Suites and they have AWESOME breakfasts!!! Then we walked down the block to the beach with majority of the team and went swimming. We hung out for about 2 hours. (Couldn't get too sun burnt on our first trip to the beach!) We finished up at the beach and walked to playa papaya. We ordered açai bowls and walked back to the hotel to rest our legs and hydrate for game day! At around 3:30 we had our pregame meal and then proceeded to get ready for our game at 7:30pm at the Coliseo Tomas Dones. We played our first game and won 56-44. It was a great experience and can't wait for game day tomorrow!
DAY 3
Teresa Wolak and Aubre Johnson
We started the day off going to a clinic at Academia Interamericana metro school. It was super fun!! Everyone had a great time and most people even wanted to do it again!! (Even with how hot and humid it was) The energy was through the roof and everyone got a lot of great pictures. After that half of us went to the pool to soak up some rays, while the other half went to a great taco place. After a little downtime we heading out to our next game. At 7:30 we played a very intense and physical game. Even though we lost by 2 points, we were seen as a threat to a professional team, which is a great feeling. It was a fun day can't wait to see what comes next!
DAY 4
Lauren Saa and Maya Hyacienth
Day 4 in Puerto Rico and so far the trip has been amazing! But today tops it all! We spent the day exploring the El Yunque National Rainforest and San Juan. Today was about bonding as a team as we learned more about the culture and food of Puerto Rico whilst taking in some of the nature and capturing some of the moments in some great photos! Even though today was relaxed we get back to work tomorrow as we play our last game of the trip before heading home on Saturday!
Day 5
Lexi Stover and Sabreen Afiouni (manager):
We started off the day as we have all week.... team breakfast in the Embassy Suites. Then we went paddle boarding in Laguna de Condado. Some of us were a little nervous, but overall it was a great experience. We think everyone managed to stand up on their paddle boards. We even saw a family of manatees in the water! When we finished we saw an iguana on the way to the bus! Once back at the hotel we had a little bit of free time before heading off to our last game. Although we had our ups and downs, the team played a good game. The trip has been a great experience so far and we're excited for the last couple days. Thanks for checking in!
Day 6
Stella Johnson and Tracey Goodman
This morning the team got up early to eat and had a chance to do yoga on the beach! We do yoga at school all the time and it was awesome to have a change of scenery with the waves crashing. It was a fun team-bonding activity. After yoga we had the rest of the day to explore, lay in the sun and swim in the ocean or nap!
Towards the end of the day we got the opportunity to go kayaking on one of the bio bays here on the island. There are five bioluminescent bays in the world and Puerto Rico has three of them. We kayaked at sunset to Laguana Grande. While it wasn't as bright as we expected it was still very cool! We were in tandem kayaks, so kayaking with a partner forced us to communicate on which way to paddle to avoid crashing. Especially on the way back as it was pitch dark!! So in a way, that was team building (not sure if that was intentional). For a lot of us, this was the first time kayaking. It was a lot of fun. Great 'almost' end of our trip!
Day 7
Amari Johnson and Lea Favre
Everyone got up early to enjoy our last day in Puerto Rico. Some people decided to go get breakfast at our favorite spot, Playa Papaya, the Oreos pancakes were great! Others chose to eat at the buffet at the Embassy suites and then go to Mr. Frost. This became a popular spot for the team as well as they had hand rolled ice cream and other local treats. Checkout wasn't until 1pm so half of the team went to the beach and the rest stayed at the hotel to enjoy the pool. In the afternoon (our last afternoon 🙁) we went to San Juan. Some of our girls went on a tour of the Old Fort in San Juan while others went on a quick boat ride around the island. The visit of the old fort was amazing, we found some hidden tunnels and saw at least 10 iguanas. The boat tour was nice and relaxing! Also, everyone had time to walk around, try some local ice cream or shop for some gifts to bring back home. We then headed to the airport only to find our flight was delayed. Time to say bye to Puerto Rico. We had a great time and would like to thank all of our sponsors, coaches and school for donating, planning, and supporting our trip! Thank you Rider! Go Broncs!
