TicketsThroughout the 2006-07 school year, select UC student-athletes will share their experiences on and off the field with Bearcat fans through CATSblogs. These student-athletes will take you in to the life of a Bearcat and share their struggles and triumphs. Fans can email their favorite CATSblogger here! Be sure to include your name and hometown.
Myanna Hellsten is a senior middle blocker for the UC volleyball team. She is majoring in interdisciplinary studies.
Natalie Dossman is a junior defensive specialist and team captain for the UC volleyball team. She is majoring in health promotions.
July CATSBlogs
August CATSBlogs
September 24, 2006
by Natalie
Well hey there everyone! This past week has been a little crazy with school starting and all. My classes are good so far, I have at least one friend in each which is always a good thing! The team left me again on Thursday, traveling to Marquette, while I stayed behind, went to class and did rehab. I had a stool race around the training room with my PT, Steve. He beat me by one second only because I nailed the bike as I was rounding turn 1! We are going to have a rematch, don't worry I will win next time. The knee is coming along very well! I should be totally off the crutches and out of the brace by the end of the week which means... I get to travel next weekend!!! YAY, well we can't get our hopes up because things can always go wrong, but that's the plan so far!
Anyways, since the team was gone I just kind of hung out this weekend. On Friday night I went to the girl's soccer game against Notre Dame, but it got rained out just after half time. After the game I hung out with a few of the baseball kids. On Saturday, I woke up late and went grocery shopping. I decided to go to Meijer and when I got there it was ridiculously crowded and people were EVERYWHERE. Well it turns out the one day I decide to go shopping it's double coupon day! What's even worse is I had no idea and no coupons. I could have saved so much money! After I went shopping I watched football pretty much all afternoon. I was happy when my Notre Dame Irish pulled off the win against Michigan State! I was also happy that Purdue won because I have quite a few high school friends who play there. Then I went to the men's soccer game last night and watched them beat Syracuse 3-0. It was a really fun game to watch!
Tomorrow morning I am babysitting for the Sunahara kids for a little bit and then my cousin is in town with her husband for the Reds - Cubs game so I get to hang out with her which is exciting for me! I also will be cheering on my Colts and doing a little stats homework! Well that's about all I've got for now so have a good week and I'll talk to you soon!
September 20, 2006
by Myanna
We had a good win over Western Kentucky in three last night on their home court! We and Western have a rivalry so beating them at home is always great fun! We traveled down there Monday after practice and toured Mammoth Cave Tuesday morning before getting ready for the match. We went on the short tour recommended for senior citizens because we're nursing some injuries and so we weren't on our feet too much before the match. It was really amazing to see some of the formations and think about how slow they grow and how long they've been there. They turned the lights out at one point so you can see how dark it really is. As you know if you've ever been inside a dark cave, you can't see anything. You could put your hand right in front of your face and not see it at all.
We got back late last night and started classes today. It is always a transition to doing school in addition to volleyball; life starts to get pretty crazy! We travel to Marquette tomorrow and then off to Syracuse on Saturday for the beginning of Conference!!
September 18, 2006
by Natalie
Hey there everyone! Let's see not a whole lot has been going on around here lately. We had a pretty quiet week as far as volleyball is concerned. We beat Morehead State on Tuesday in four and it was so exciting for me to actually be able to watch my teammates play again! It was the first game I'd seen in a long time! We took Wednesday off which was good for everyone's bodies. On Friday after practice a bunch of us girls headed over to the guys soccer game against Marquette. We had a good time cheering and being silly and the boys won! Saturday we had our alumni match and we didn't play as well as we should have but we still won and it was a fun event. We ate pizza at Martino's with the alumni afterwards and it was nice to get to talk to some of them. On Sunday we had the day off also and so me, Elley, Pete, Laurie, Jami, and Erin all made shirts for the soccer boys and wore them to their games. It was a lot of fun! Again we were being loud and cheering like crazy. And again the boys beat Notre Dame, I think us girls are good luck. Anyways we start school this week and we have some big matches this week, not mention the start of conference. It's time to go to work! Well have a good week everyone!
September 13, 2006
by Myanna
We've been on the road a lot lately and now have a week at home to get ready for our next match! We were in Colorado where we finished 2-1 in the tournament. While the loss was disappointing the sightseeing was great! We had the chance to go to Rocky Mountain National Park which was gorgeous. We saw beautiful mountains and all kinds of animals. We saw chipmunks, pikas, which are these cute little furry mice like things, and elk. The elk would just be along the roadside walking or eating. We were lucky enough to see two male elk interlocking horns. I think someone said it was part of their mating ritual or something. Whatever it was it was really interesting to watch.
We got back Sunday and then beat Morehead State last night at home. We played much better then we did in Colorado and hopefully we can just keep getting better. We play Western Kentucky next Tuesday. I always look forward to playing them especially in their home gym. They have really great fans who are always loud, which makes playing there intense. The atmosphere there gets your adrenaline going and just makes you want to compete! I can't wait!!!
September 10, 2006
by Natalie
Well hey there everyone! Sorry you haven't heard from me in a while, but I have been confined to the downstairs of my house for much of the past two weeks. As you heard from Myanna I tore my ACL, lateral meniscus, and medial meniscus in our match against UCLA 2 Sundays ago. Well last Friday Dr. Colosimo operated on my knee and there was actually some good news that came out of it! He repaired the ACL with no problem and didn't have to repair either of the meniscuses which was good because they would have made rehab tougher. Anyway, my mom came down Thursday night last week and stayed until Sunday so she could help me and then my dad came on Sunday and left Tuesday. It was nice to have them around and deal with me considering I basically laid around all day! I started rehab the very next day after surgery and I do it everyday of the week except for Saturday and Sunday.
This past week was probably the hardest week to deal with because the team left Tuesday and I had to stay here. Not being able to be with my teammates is definitely the hardest part of this whole injury situation. I am so used to supporting my teammates whether it's on the court or on the sidelines and missing the first few road trips isn't easy to deal with. I got through it okay though. I figured if I couldn't work as hard as I can on the court I would just do what I could during rehab. I went to rehab everyday and worked as hard as I could to get my knee to bend as far as it could. I was successful! The highlight of my week here in Cincinnati was being able to bend my knee to 130 degrees on my own, only one week out of surgery! Anyway enough about my stupid knee! On Friday I went to the football game with my roommates and then Saturday I went and hung out at the Sunahara's with Laura and the kids. They picked me up and we watched football and hung out all afternoon. It was nice to get out of the house I had been stuck in all week.
Alright so now a thanks is in order to Ms. Myanna for saying all those wonderful things about me. Myanna thank you so much for always being there to support me and making my experience here 10 times better! You're an amazing teammate and friend and I, too, am very sorry that our careers together had to end this way and that we will not be able to be on the court together again! I love you!
Have a good week everyone! I'll talk to you soon!