Laura Tomes USA Journal No. 4

May 2, 2007

NORMAN, Okla. - NORMAN, Okla. - Former Sooner volleyball player Laura Tomes led the Sooners to their best season in school history in 2006 as they advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 and finished with a final ranking of No. 12 in the country.

Now that Tomes has finished her collegiate career, she has begun a new journey with the U.S. Women's National Volleyball Training Team. Tomes was one of 11 members that were selected for the squad and has been training with the team since March 9. The team is training in the impressive Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The Sioux City, Iowa native will periodically write a journal for SoonerSports.com describing her experiences in Colorado Springs.
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Hello, Hello!

It's been a busy couple of weeks since I last checked in! We've had scrimmages, cuts, a week off and the semester is wrapping up at Oklahoma. I'll start with the scrimmages. Two weeks ago we had a scrimmage on Thursday against Denver University, followed by two scrimmages against New Mexico and one against the University of Colorado on Saturday. It was great to host some people at the Olympic Training Center!

On Thursday we played and won five total games. That was my first experience playing under international rules. It was nice to see how playing under the international ruling worked and to get the experience playing under them. Thursday was also our first time playing with all players in their natural positions as National Training Team members. We got in a new opposite hitter and a new outside hitter so we didn't have any liberos that had to swing or block!

Sooners Wrap up Spring Season | Tomes Added to USA Roster

On Saturday we won all three matches, playing again under international rule. The staff here pulled out the bleachers and people were welcome to watch any of our matches. We played New Mexico in the morning followed by an extended lunch break. During the next match against Colorado a 12-and-under club team from the area came to watch and cheer. After that match, we had an intermingling with them while New Mexico was warming up. It was so great to meet and share with them! Their coach had told them to write down questions for us about the game, training and our volleyball experiences. I talked with some of the middles and answered their questions - they were so cute and fun. I really enjoyed passing on what I have learned over the years.

That Saturday was also the day that cuts were going to be made. However, Coach Jenny Lang Ping ended up having individual meetings during the entire week. She told me before Saturday that she would like me to stay to train with the National Team as well as potentially travel and play in all of the different games and events that the National Team competes in over the summer. As I'm sure is obvious, I told her that I would love to stay and gain the great opportunity and experience!

After our final match my teammates started to leave for the week. We were given the week off so all but a few of us went home or to visit family and friends. I stayed to get some more gym time. I got here after most of the girls and really love being in the gym. It was really nice to be here during that time. I would have enjoyed the opportunity to visit everyone back in Oklahoma but I'm glad that I decided to stay.

We had practice for about two hours each morning, weights on three of the days, and voluntary conditioning on our own. Besides that, we had the rest of each day off - including all day Saturday and Sunday. I got some quality, nearly individual, court time and some good recovery and rest time. Actually, I spent a lot of time working on school work, as the semester is quickly wrapping up and I have a lot of work to do! Last week was good recovery anyway.

Last week also gave me a good opportunity to really make friends and get to know other athletes outside of volleyball. We had beautiful weather here, so we all got to play in the pool and outside during any free time. I'm typically in the gym during the day so I learned the hard way on Saturday that the sun is more intense at altitude. My burn wasn't as severe as some others that I saw the next morning at breakfast before church, but I was happy with my decision to spend most of the day out of the sun on Sunday. A total of six of us that are training here went up to Denver for the day to go shopping, have a little picnic, and see a bit of the city. It was really fun to get off the complex and spend time with some great people and athletes!

Well, that's about it from Colorado Springs. As usual, thanks for reading - Go Sooners and USA!

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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