Shawn and Samantha were invited to go the the Olympic Training Center in Colorado for water polo. Samantha as an athlete, and Shawn as a coach. What an awesome experience for a 13 year old girl!
This is Samantha with her new friend, Jenny Scott. They were the only two athletes from Utah.
Training where the Olympians train!
Samantha with Olympian Melissa Seidemann and Nicole and Morgan from the Junior National team.
Samantha with her team for the Snowball Classic.
Apparently the new car did it's job well and got them where they needed to be.
Smiley face. That's a good sign.
Running drills after dinner. Samantha said this was always the most exhausting session of the day. They'd already had a full day, then food in their bellies then back to work. Their days started at 7:00 when they headed off to breakfast, then 20 minutes of "chalk talk". There were four 2-hour sessions in the water the rest of the day broken up with either lunch or rest periods. Lights out at 10:00. But the after dinner session was always the hardest.
Listening intently to the coaches. (Black #11)
Samantha has always had a "thing" for Michael Phelps. I'm sure she would have liked to see him in person even more, but training in the same pool as him was pretty cool.
Shawn and Samantha with picture of Tony Azevedo. #waterpolohero
One of the paralympians was using this for training during the week. Samantha never climbed it but said the rope fibers were all over in the pool, got stuck in their suits and so on, but it was cool to watch them train.
The snap, quarter turn, up and shoot drill.
Passing drills. (Samantha is black #11)
One on one time playing with an Olympian - Melissa Seidemann.
"Pulling lane lines in this pool was the worst!" Much bigger, longer and heavier than our high school pool lane lines.
Selfie time.
Samantha enjoying a meal with some junior national players and Jenny at the back table, while Shawn eats with the coaches.
Awards and closing meeting.
Utah athletes unite!
More selfies.
They both had a great time and learned a ton! While Samantha was in the water with Olympians and learning form the National Team coaches, Shawn was also working with and learning from the coaches. Hopefully this all pays off in the water back home!
I think she spent the entire drive home in this state. She was exhausted from long days in the water and being sick the whole time. I'm guessing she had strep whileshe was there, but she toughed it out and made it through.
Shawn's views:
While they were away, Fred took the opportunity to nap in Samantha's bed.
