Hawaii Day 5

Hello Blue Devils Fans,

I feel the need to quickly introduce myself, as it is the first time I have the chance to be writing our daily blog. My name is Marianne Jodoin and I am the most recent addition to what we commonly call DWT (yes, I did have to ask what it meant in my first few weeks into school because I kept hearing it and still didn’t know what the letters stood for). I am originally from Canada and have resided in the U.S. for the last two years. I am a transfer student for Fresno State in California. So far, my experience has been unique and enriching. My transition has been better than ever expected, thanks to my seven lovely teammates.

            Enough about me, time to talk about the real stuff! Today was a very special day for me. A lot of what we call “firsts”. First of all, it was my first time writing on the blog. The girls on the team have been doing such a tremendous job that I want to make sure I won’t let any of the readers down. Another “first” for me was our team cheer. After dinner yesterday, the girls needed to meet for a “serious talk”. The seriousness of the meeting did not stick for long as we all started cracking up following our first attempt at our new cheer. After a couple of tries, we felt confident enough about making a good first impression to the numerous spectators, which actually only consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Ashworth. I cannot speak on the other girls’ behalf, but I was very nervous about the outcome. It went from potentially embarrassing to total success. I can now say that it was mission accomplished. Yes, we did scare our opponents, the ‘Rainbow Warriors’.

The last “first” that I will talk about today was the one that I was looking forward to the most: playing as a Blue Devil. I have been looking forward to this day since the second I got accepted into school. I had many dreams and also nightmares: I once thought I would show up on court forgetting my shoes and racquets, show up late to my match, etc… Let me reassure you, none of that happened. The season officially started with our three doubles matches. The energy was very powerful between the courts, as we were cheering really loudly for one another. About an hour later, it was time for our team meeting that followed our three doubles victories. Jamie did a pep talk to prepare us for singles and we were all ready to go. It didn’t take long for DWT to establish our dominance. We won on all five courts without dropping a set. I think there was no better way to break the ice, and it made us hungry for more.

            After the group stretching and ice wrapping, we all headed to dinner to celebrate the first 2012-2013 win of the Duke Women’s tennis team. Nothing better than eating at a very traditional Hawaiian restaurant called Lulu’s.

            Ok, time for me to let you all go! It was a pleasure sharing our day today, as it was a very special one.

            Stay tuned for tomorrow’s blog, as it will summarize our second match against the University of Hawaii.

Time to get our beauty sleep!

Marianne Jodoin and all of DTW.