Hello everyone!
It has been two weeks since my last post. I am finally glad to say that preseason is officially over! It was filled with very early mornings, twice-a-day practice sessions, meetings, naps, and late nights. Looking back at it now, it is incredible how it has gone by so fast.
For the last fun part of preseason, my team went on a retreat to Georgia. We got to spend a large part of the day tubing down a river. We also got to visit Helen, Georgia, which is a replica of a traditional German town. We spent a few hours walking around eating German-inspired food, getting funny temporary face tattoos, and eating ice cream while relaxing in the hot sun. The day-long trip was a very memorable experience and one that I will always remember as it was my last ever collegiate team bonding trip.
It is incredibly hard for me to believe that school has started and soccer season started last night at Auburn, Alabama. Luckily, the team won 2-0, which is a great result on the road and it was nice to score the 2nd goal in my final collegiate soccer season. Interestingly enough, my freshman year started against Auburn in Alabama and there was a rain delay. Three years later in my season opener, history repeated itself and we had another rain delay in Auburn. It was great to get the win to open up the season and gives us full confidence going into tomorrow night’s home opener against Georgia.
There will definitely be a ton of happy (and sad) tears these next few months. I often find myself reminiscing about all of the things that have happened to me since 2013 and, with this being the last hurrah, I am definitely looking to leave my mark in a positive way both in the classroom and on the field.
Now that school is in session, unfortunately, this is the last post I will do for Victory Press. I have loved being apart of such a great women’s sports outlet and I will forever be grateful for having the opportunity to write and share my stories. One day I would love to be a sports journalist, and I truly believe this internship has given me some of the experience to fulfill that dream. I have become a better writer and have been a witness to the fast-growing popularity of women’s sports. Thank you for following along with my experiences as a student-athlete at Clemson University. I look forward to reading work from the many great writers that contribute to the Victory Press.
Best,
Catrina Atanda
Editor's note: Catrina is a student athlete at Clemson University who received college credit for her columns this summer. Check out the "summer diaries" tag for her posts. — Zoë Hayden
(Photo credit: Chris Scott/Flickr)