By sophomore middle blocker, Carmen Leitermann
During our preseason in August, our team spends a lot of time together off the court, getting to know one another. This season, we had 7 newcomers so that time in August was even more important than in past years. Each year, we spend one night going over our team rules with our freshmen and drawing names to figure out Secret Pals. Everybody writes their name on a piece of paper and we each draw a name - we become that person's Secret Pal for the season.
What is a Secret Pal you may ask? A Secret Pal is someone who looks out for you throughout the season, like an angel on your shoulder. She will make you cards wishing you luck, write you notes when you need encouragement and/or give you small gifts before matches - just little things throughout the season to make sure you know she's there for you. This continues through the entire season. It's important that you are very sneaky and make sure your person doesn't find out you are her Secret Pal which is half the fun. So sometimes you will give your gift to another teammate to give to your person, or have the coaches, trainers and managers help out as well. You have to try to disguise your writing, or have someone else write the notes to throw your person off track. The best is when you get your gift on the bus and you say "thank you Secret Pal" and everyone responds "you are welcome". That never gets old! Secret Pals don't have to buy something before every match, but the more you do it, and the more creative you get, the more fun it is. And the homemade ones are the best!
Before we start the "gift giving", we make a list of likes and dislikes which helps your Secret Pal get to know you. Your Like List may be things like: Gatorade, propel, Oreos, snakes, dinosaurs, headbands, etc. While your Dislike List may be things like: Vanilla spray, coconut, or maybe even puppets (Carlie!).
One of my favorite gifts was a small ceramic cat because I have an obsession with cats and I bring it with me to every match. A special thanks to my secret pal for that one! Also I have gotten my favorite dill pickle chips, Oreos, headbands, and a foam hatchet for L.A.R.P. (Live Action Role Play) Wars with my teammates. Some other gifts that others have received from their Secret Pals are: calendars, piggy banks, foam swords and shields, stuffed snakes, capes, hair ties, bobby pins, and magazines for our longs bus rides!
At the end of our season we have a team gathering and we give our Secret Pals one final gift for the year, kind of an early Christmas gift. But in order to get the gift, each player must guess her Secret Pal. Each person gets one guess before we move onto the next player. Now you find out just how sneaky you really were! Sometimes it takes 3-4 times around before everyone guesses their Pal! The secret is to pay attention to the guesses, so you know who has already been guessed - some players struggle with that!
Even though our gifts can be a bit outrageous, it's a good way to have fun with your teammates and learn more about each other as the season goes on. It is also nice to know you have someone looking out for you - that encouragement and support is important.
